Monday 26th week in ordinary time
"Lk 9:46-50"
John answered, "Master, we saw a man casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he does not follow with us." But Jesus said to him, "Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you."
The Apostles found a man casting out demons in the Name of Jesus but didn't know him. So they decided to tell him that he wasn't allowed to use the Name of Jesus because they hadn't seen Jesus giving him permission to do so. 'You are not one of us,' they may have thought. 'So you shouldn't do what we do'. But Jesus said to them, "Do not forbid him; for he that is not against you is for you."
The Apostles had received from Jesus power to cast out demons and they thought that no one else had received that power. But they were wrong. God can give His grace, His power and His mission to whoever He chooses without consulting the Apostles. The Apostles knew what God had given to them but they didn't know what He had given to others or what He asked of others. Everyone who works for God... works for good.
Many saints have been victims of what can be called 'persecution by good people.' Some Christians couldn't understand them, their teaching or their graces and tried to stop them. St Paul wasn't accepted by many Christians for a long while. St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross were also persecuted by 'good' Christians because of their writings; St Pio of Pietrelcina was regarded with suspicion for his stigmata; St Charles Borromeo was shot for promoting the reforms of Council of Trent; St JosemarÃa was persecuted for his apostolic zeal; St Alphonse Liguori, St Joan of Lestonnac and St Joseph Calasanz, among others, were expelled from the institutions they had founded by their own followers.
St JosemarÃa used to say that Christians should "never blow out any candle that has been lit for Jesus Christ," no matter who lights it. Everyone who works for God is on our side. We do what we have been asked and pray that each person in turn will do whatever the Lord asks of them. Mary, House of Gold, may all Christians and their apostolates be united in one single House as one Family.
