Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily from Wednesday, February 27, 2019

John and the other Apostles witness someone with whom they were not familiar, doing the very good deed of driving out a demon in Jesus’ name. It’s a somewhat strange image to imagine.  John sees this good act and tries to interfere by asking the person to stop. Then he goes and tells on this man to Jesus, hoping Jesus will intervene. But Jesus does the opposite. "Exclusivism” can be defined as a tendency to think that something is good only when I do it. It’s a form of spiritual greed in which we have a hard time rejoicing in and supporting the good deeds of another. This is a dangerous but all too common struggle for many. The ideal, in our Christian life, is to look for the works of God everywhere and within everyone. We should so deeply desire that the Kingdom of God be built up that we are overjoyed whenever we witness such activity. If, on the other hand, we find ourselves jealous of another for the good that they do, or if we find ourselves trying to find fault with what they are doing, then we should be aware of this tendency and claim it as our sin, not theirs. Shalom!