Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter April 21, 2005 Scripture: Acts 13:13-25; John 13:16-20 Reflection: Sometimes I forget the kind of people that surrounded Jesus and who served with him. Peter was a braggart: “Even if these desert you I will not,” and a liar: “I swear I do not know the man.” Martha was a whiner: “Tell my sister to help me,” and a complainer: “If you had been here my brother would not have died.” Judas was a thief and a traitor. The list could go on and on. What is more striking and even more consoling is not that Jesus knew the men he chose - their names or occupations - but that he knew the kind of people they were. The kind of people he chose to be with him in his final days of suffering and triumph were not the wealthy, the mighty or the influential; but rather, he chose the petty-minded, the selfish, the weak. Jesus knows the kind of person I am. Why is it I get so disappointed in myself and fail to recognize that he knows the kind of person he has chosen to serve him? And when I look at the people around me, why am I surprised by and even sometimes disappointed in the kind of persons they are? If I stop to look at their faults, be they petty or grand, I have missed the kind of people they are. Even more importantly, I have missed the fact that they are loved by God. Suggested Action: Today let God’s words influence your attitude toward yourself and those around you. Try to see that God loves us because of the kind of people we are. Sr. Bernadette Thomas, IHM Delran, New Jersey