Saturday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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Today's Word
Mi 2:1-5; Mt 12:14-21 Read at USCCB
Real Talk
Micah: woe to the people who plan iniquity on their beds and execute it at dawn because they have the power. Fields seized. Houses taken. Inheritance stripped.
Matthew: the Pharisees are plotting to kill Jesus. Jesus withdraws. He heals people. He tells them not to announce it. And Matthew quotes Isaiah: here is my servant, gentle and quiet. A bruised reed he will not break. A smoldering wick he will not quench. Until he brings justice to victory.
The people plotting on their beds use their power against what is weakest. The servant goes the opposite direction: the bruised thing, the barely-lit thing - he tends it. He doesn't push harder on what is already bent.
Your Challenge
Name one person in your life who is a bruised reed or a smoldering wick right now - reduced from what they were, damaged, barely lit. Name one act of the servant's tending you can do for them this week. Not pushing harder - tending. What would that look like specifically?
One Prayer
Lord, I am bruised in some places. I am smoldering in some places. Don't break or quench. Tend what remains. Precious Blood of Jesus, save us. Amen.
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