Thursday in the Second Week of Christmas ‘a’

Jn 1:43-51

Prejudice is one of the sins and temptations that we all struggle with. Very often while hearing confessions I hear this sin being confessed, and I myself must confess that sin. The temptation is to make quick judgments of others. And no, we don’t need to vocalize these judgments that we make. More often than not, we make these judgments in our minds. Think about this, make a good examination of conscience, and try to see how many times you have sinned with prejudice in your heart and made judgments about others -- by the way they behave, the way they look, by the color of their skin, by their accent or disability. We must remember that we all are God’s children, and He loves us equally, no matter who we are or where we come from, we are called to holiness. We read today in the gospel that “Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.’ But Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come from Nazareth?’” We need to keep asking God to clear our hearts from all forms of prejudice and to teach us how to love and respect others.