The Gospel for the memorial of St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, virgin and doctor of the Church is taken from Luke 9, 51, 56. When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him on the way. They entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusale. The disciples James and John saw this. They asked, lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?

Jesus turned and rebuked them and they journeyed to another village. Jesus is on his journey to Jerusalem, so we know this is the end of his ministry. And he watches his disciples have a reaction to something that’s so foreign to what he’s been trying to teach them. If people don’t do what you want, you destroy them. And we see in Jesus a little bit of impatience, a little bit of disappointment, and he just turns and rebukes them and say, look, we’re going on. We’re not interested in judgment or condemnation.

I’m interested in the journey. We’re moving toward a truth, toward the kingdom of God. Take a few moments to reflect upon these thoughts, and I will close with a prayer. Satan Sam Sa Foreign Father we’re prone to judgment and condemnation. Two things that Jesus knows that are so opposite of the kingdom that he wants to establish. Free us from that habit of judging and condemning so that we can enter more fully into the light, the truth of the kingdom.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.