Joshua 24:1-13 / Matthew 19:3-12
It is a strange human tendency to think that someone else is having a better deal than us.
Just like when we go to a restaurant and having ordered our food and when the dish is brought before us, we look at another table and we wonder if the food that the people are eating is better than ours.
And even while we are eating our food, we may be talking about types of food that we hope to eat in the future.
Somehow we don't seem to appreciate what we have before us. It may be out of dissatisfaction or just out of envy for what we don't have.
In the gospel, we heard the disciples responding to the teaching of Jesus about divorce. They think that it was not that advisable to get married after all.
So is being a priest a better and easier life? Is being a religious a better and easier life? Is being a single a better and easier life?
The reply of Jesus will give us a clarity. To whatever state of life we are called, we will also be granted the grace to live it out joyfully and lovingly.
Similarly we may think that the people of Israel had a better experience of God that we do. As Joshua recounted for them in the 1st reading, they had experienced the wonders and marvels of God.
So theoretically, they should have more faith in God than we do. And yet we also know that they had been unfaithful to God despite all the miracles He had worked for them.
So let us reflect about the blessings and graces we have received from God. Let us be grateful and give thanks and let us stay faithful to the Lord and our hearts will be at peace and we will have joy in life.