A reflection on this Sunday’s Mass by Sr Kym Harris osb

A reflection on this Sunday’s Mass by Sr Kym Harris osb and downloaded from http://www.prayasyoucan.com.au

A seal in the Jewish understanding of Jesus’ time was the sign by which something was attested to be authentic. That God had sealed the Son of Man meant that he, Jesus, was the one who truly revealed God.

In our experience, a person who is authentic lives from their deepest self and doesn’t allow transitory desires and whims to dominate their lives. We all know how difficult it is to attain some degree of authenticity. We experience ourselves as a bundle of contradictory, and often base, desires. But perhaps we start at the wrong place: we try to do it ourselves. Like the crowd, asking what they needed to do, to do the works of God, we place the emphasis on our own abilities. Rather, the journey to authenticity, in the Christian faith, is one of uncovering our deepest desires and bringing them to the person of Jesus for him to fulfil. We are to allow our hunger and thirst to emerge, to recognise our helplessness in the face of such need, and to bring ourselves to Jesus. Then will our hunger and thirst be quenched; then will we live from him; then will God set his seal upon us.