The gospel of this 26th Sunday brings to my mind some ideas: first, the insecurity that comes to us when others do good too; “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”  Of course, there are good reasons: he did not belong to the group of followers. The preaching and the healing go together.

Jesus answered them, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to speak evil of me.” Jesus is sure that he will not be criticized by those acting in his name. In the same way, we trust people who are with us. We are pretty sure that they will not betray us.

The second idea that this gospel offers me is that we do not need to move mountains to make good to others. Imagine just giving a glass of water to the thirsty, “…whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.” Jesus puts the gospel at our level of capacity. And, the third idea is about doing wrong, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone was hung around his neck and he was thrown into the sea.” Jesus is very firm but very clear. The choice is ours.

Blessed Francisco Palau, OCD, had a repeated ‘preoccupation’ in his life: he desired to be pleasant to the Church, “If I would love you, if in my heart there wouldn’t be anything unpleasant to you, but it could be filled of love for you, Oh Church…! (MR 4, 21). Let us have only one occupation: to do good!, like Sr. Teresa Mira, CMT, teaches us. For this, we do not need to perform miracles, but to be attuned to the gospel, to live in simplicity, to love always, to forgive always.