St. John the Baptist Church in Santa Fe, New Mexico shared a gospel meditation on the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time. 

“For some reason, it is easier to genuflect in reverence to the presence of Christ in the tabernacle of a church, than to genuflect in reverence to the same presence of Christ in another person’s soul,” the reflection stated. 

We have a flawed belief that somehow God divides himself up and that he chooses some and not others. This is a wrong belief because the command to Love God and Love Neighbor are intimately connected. 

“God’s presence is just as real in the one who is good, as in the one who is bad and the one who is just, and the one who is unjust,” the reflection stated. 

It is easier, however, to allow our brains to get in the way and separate out people as either deserving of God’s love or undeserving. But we must be honest and realize that this is not the case. We divide and categorize because we are human and need to, but that is not the way in which God views things. 

“We cannot be deaf to the world’s pain. It is not about having, hoarding, accumulating, acquiring, securing, storing, protecting, owning, claiming or any of the other human terms we use to distinguish mind from yours,” the reflection stated. “We put so much power in these words and that power, even though we may not always realize it, can cause those words and the distinctions they carry to wound and hurt others.”

God, however, does not turn his back on individuals simply because of the box that we have put them into. 

“What we do, directly or by omission, to one of the least of these little ones we do to God. It is quite possible that some of what we are doing personally, economically, politically, globally and even religiously is doing more harm than good,” the reflection concluded.