Tuesday in the Twenty-Sixth Week of Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: Zec 8:20-23; Lk 9:51-56                                   

“When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he resolutely set his face to journey to Jerusalem.”  Walking with his small company of disciples on the long dusty road from upper Galilee in the North to far off Judea in the South, this was not just another journey, but his final journey.  He had set his face to Jerusalem where he would be crucified. He would never go home to Nazareth or Capernaum again. The prophet Isaiah, speaking for Jesus as the suffering servant says, “The Lord God helps me, therefore I have not been disgraced; I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Is 50:7).  Jesus did not turn back, nor should we. 

Once Fr. Pius was asked if he ever wanted to go back to Ireland which he had left behind as a young man. He reflected for a moment and then said, “No, I don’t want to go back, I want to go up.”  May we also not look or turn back, but courageously face whatever is to come, so that we can stand with joy before the Lord when he appears.