Friday of Week 17 Year 1

Supposing one day your parish priest gets transferred to another parish, and you are to receive a new parish priest. Or supposing a religious sister who has been working with the parish community for years is transferred elsewhere and a new religious sister is coming to take her place. Would you be excited or anxious? Perhaps some of us may be quite excited about the prospect of working with "new blood" or with a different style of leadership. Some of us may be somewhat anxious, since we have not received news about who is coming to succeed the parish priest or the religious sister. Then the day comes, and guess who has come to take over? A son or daughter of the parish, that is, someone whose origins are from the parish he or she is now being posted to. What happens then? Some people may be become quite disappointed. Some may begin to feel resentment and frustration that the bishop or superior seems to have "played them out" so to speak, by sending someone they are familiar with, perhaps too familiar with.

In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us: "'A prophet is only despised in his own country and in his own house', and he did not work many miracles there because of their lack of faith." The people did not accept Jesus because he was a son of that community, people there thought they knew Him too well, and they already had preconceived opinions and ideas about Him. Their hearts were closed and they did not think Jesus had anything to offer them. As a result, they had rejected Jesus upfront, without even giving Him a chance to help and guide them.

Some of us too may have this attitude problem. Some of us think that a son or daughter of the parish is just not good enough to be our shepherd and guide. We know that we are short of vocations, and yet when we have a son or daughter of the parish in our midst, our preconceived ideas and opinions surface and rear their ugly heads, making it difficult for some to accept a familiar face. The question is: are we willing and docile enough to change our attitude and work with the son or daughter of the parish? Who knows, he or she may turn out to be an amazing and loving shepherd and guide. May we be willing to let go of our coloured vision and journey together even with someone we are familiar with, for God can use him or her as an instrument to transform the parish into something better.