Friday 2nd week of Advent
"Mt 11:16-19"
"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market places and calling to their playmates, 'We piped to you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.' For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon'; the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."
Jesus complained about those who are never satisfied with anything. St John the Baptist had been preaching for them and they wouldn't listen to him; maybe they thought he was too harsh or too radical or too rustic... Then came Jesus and they didn't like Him either. They were expecting someone different. This happened many times in the history of Israel: they were never happy with the prophets that God gave them or with the messages that Our Lord sent to them.
Have you heard the legend of Procrustes? He had an iron bed which all his victims 'had to' fit into. If a guest was shorter than the bed he would stretch him. And if the victim was longer than the bed he would cut off his legs... Some people can be a bit like Procrustes. Nothing ever meets their expectations. Not even God.
At the end of the day, it was just pride: 'St John didn't eat; Jesus ate too much...' When people don't want to change their way of life they always make excuses. Imagine that a doctor tells a man to follow an uncomfortable diet to stay healthy. What would you think if that man refused to follow the diet, claiming that the doctor smokes or drinks too much? Excuses! He just doesn't want to follow the diet. Or if a man doesn't want to take the medicine because the doctor who prescribed it is a gambler? Some people who are not interested in going to Mass or confessing their sins, praying a bit more, giving money to the poor or lending a hand to their neighbours... they may try to accuse someone else of other vices to justify themselves and not do anything. Mary, Mother of Good Counsel, do not allow me to make excuses when your Son makes demands on me and when His plan doesn't coincide with my 'project'. Mother, teach me with your life that God can never ask too much of me.
