LK 13:31-35
At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work.
Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
An Ever Expansive Love
Jesus had an unshakable sense of purpose, and he would not be deterred. Not even death at the hands of Herod could turn him around. To do the will of the one who sent him was his purpose. This means Jesus made a conscious decision every step of the way to save us from an eternity without him, with the threat of the cross ever present. That is love. He calls us to love those close to our hearts, as well as those with which we have fundamental differences, with the same kind of determination, but with an eternity with him ever present. This ever expansive love will lead us to salvation. In the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius states that we are meant for this, “Man has been created to this end: to praise the Lord his God and revere Him, and by serving Him be finally saved.”
—Terresa Ford, M.Div. is a Resident Spiritual Health Clinician (Chaplain) at Emory University Hospital Midtown in Atlanta, GA and a Resident Spiritual Director in the Spiritual Direction Formation program at Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Sandy Springs, GA.
Prayer
Loving and merciful God, lead us home to you through the love of you and one another. Strip away anything in our lives that would lead us away from you and replace it with a determination to do your will. Let all our thoughts, emotions, and actions be for your glory. In your sacred name, Jesus, we pray. Amen.
—Terresa Ford