15th Tuesday- Towns Fail to Repent - When Jesus Walks Among Them

 In the Gospel today, Jesus reproaches the towns, which failed to repent, even though most of His mighty deeds had been done in them. He goes even farther by stating, “If the mighty deeds had been done in your midst, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day”. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire, even though Abraham wanted it spared.

However, the towns of Bethsaida, and Chorazin and Capernaum (the city where Peter lived and where Jesus healed the paralytic lowered through the roof) failed to repent even though these two cities received the extra ordinary grace of having Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, walk in their midst, work miracles of healing, and spoke about the Kingdom of heaven.

Today, Jesus does not physically walk among us, because He has ascended into heaven. However, He is here, with us, in the Eucharist. He comes down from heaven, here on the altar, and comes to dwell physically in us, in Holy Communion. St. Alphonsus Ligouri, said that Our Lord stays with us, in Holy Communion for about 15 minutes. How many Old Testament people, such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Solomon, Samson, would have been elated to come to the sacrifice of the Mass, the greatest of all miracles, and to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Or to hear Our Lord’s words in the Gospels, or come, to adore Him in tabernacle, where He patiently waits for us.

Now, as Our Lord becomes present, on the altar, and as we prepare to receive Him in Holy Communion, let us thank Him for the gift of Himself in the Eucharist, and for every grace and gift, He has bestowed upon us. And may we not be like the villages, which failed to repent.