Mk 2:13-17
Jesus went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him.
When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”
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.
Called to Love As We Are Loved
It takes some self-reflection, honesty, and humility to relate to this Gospel. While I’d like to count myself among the righteous, I am in fact among the sinners. When we embrace the fact that we are all sinners who are loved by God, we can rejoice that Jesus came to save us – each and every one of us. He knows that we’re not perfect, that we’ve messed up time and time again, and yet he still loves us.
Because of that we are called to love each other – those we find easy to love and those who try our patience and our good-will. We are all children of the same God, and as such our vocation is to love all of our brothers and sisters just as God loves us. What might you do to live into that vocation and love each person you encounter today?
—Mandy Dillon is a Retreat Coordinator at Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House in Barrington, IL and is also in the Spiritual Direction Internship program there.
Prayer
Loving God, help me to share the love you have for me with each person I meet today. May your love shine through in all that I do. Amen.
—Mandy Dillon