The first reading for this 18th Sunday in ordinary times, Year B (Exodus 16:24, 12-15), details how the Israelites responded to the challenges they faced on their way to freedom. Generally, the journey of growth rarely happens without obstacles, difficulties, and tribulations. Change and growth involve pain which often leads to stress, so much so that, very often, the temptation is to fall back, to give up, and to seek a quick escape route. Usually, complaining and blaming others and things is a common tool of choice rather than taking responsibility and facing the challenges before us.
My friends, life has a way of perfecting what we practice. What we do very often we, also, will get very good at. If we complain and blame people and things about where we are in life, we will, sooner than later, get very good at it. In fact, we will get so good at it that we will find something or somebody to blame for every difficult situation in our lives. The Israelites had complained when they were faced with crossing the Red Sea. Then they complained about being in the desert, about not having bread, meat, water, and about Moses and Aaron. As the complaint increased so did their forgetfulness of all that the Lord had done to set them free from slavery. All they could see was lack and all they could notice was what was not done. Consequently, they could not express any gratitude for blessings received nor the need to trust in the God who was delivering them from slavery into freedom. Complaining kills the spirit of gratitude, appreciation, and hope.
It is very easy to negate the efforts of others, to forget the good others have done for us, and the blessings we have received from the Lord, and to focus mostly on people’s deficiencies, what was not done, and our sense of entitlement. A complainer rarely finds the opportunity to be grateful and to express gratitude. Truth be told, there is so much good and blessings around us, and so much that God and others have done for us. But what we choose to focus on usually determines how we respond to life.
May the good Lord grant us the grace to focus our lives on gratitude and on appreciating the good that God and others have done for us because, the more we see goodness for which we are grateful, the more good things are likely to come our way and abide with us. Moments of difficulties and tribulations are not signs that the good Lord has abandoned us for God does not abandon His people. As Scripture tells us, in todays’ reading, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread, so that you may know that I, the LORD, am your God.”
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