Saturday 13th week in ordinary time
"Mt 9:14-17"
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."
The Pharisees and the disciples of John had compared themselves to Jesus' disciples, coming to the inescapable conclusion that Jesus' disciples were just not measuring up to the high standards of their religion. Their complaint sounds something like 'we keep the rules and are therefore righteous, so why don't You and Your disciples keep the rules?' They couldn't imagine that God can ask different things of different people.
Just because an act of piety is good for you, it doesn't mean that it's good for everyone. The Church has given some commandments that apply to everyone; but even those sometimes shouldn't be applied to some (like sick people or children, or pregnant women...) The children of God form a family and in this family we are all different and all free. To compare what I do with what others do only generates distress. Moreover, what would happen if in your home everyone did the same task, if everyone loaded the dishwasher for example?
Let's not waste our time comparing our acts of piety with others. We have to become like Jesus, not like the others; we have to be saints, not clones. Jesus asks different things from different people, and we have to do what God asks us to do, not what other people do. Once St Teresa of Avila was thinking of the severe penance that another nun was performing and she wanted to do the same. But when she asked her confessor, he told her to do something else. She was complaining during her prayer to Our Lord that she couldn't perform that sacrifice to show her love for Him. In that moment she heard the voice of Jesus saying, "Do you see all the penance she does? I value your obedience much more." So let's not try to imitate anyone; let's just do the Will of God for us.
Holy Mary, if ever I start worrying about what others do and expect me to do, help me, only and in everything, to fulfil the Will of God like you - "be it done unto me according to thy word."
