Puppet Masters

I thought I'd share what we read in today's gospel because it pertains to yesterday's post.

Jesus said to the crowds:  "To what shall I compare this generation?  It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, 'We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.'  For John came neither eating nor drinking and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'  The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'  But wisdom is vindicated by her works."

Matthew 11:16-19

What I hear Jesus saying is that people who want to find fault will.  People who want to nay say and criticize will nay say and criticize.  At some point, most of us will try to play puppet master, playing the flute and pulling on strings to make others dance.  Pride, envy and insecurity guarantee that things will always be this way.  And if Jesus, the Son of God, was misunderstood and called a drunkard and a glutton,  I suppose we will be too.  Of course, true friends will always believe the best of us whether we deserve it or not and it is often their faith that gives us the courage to grow and change.  In the end, our works will speak for us.  Which is more or less what Cervantes was saying with "Cada uno es hijo de sus obras".  I love it when I find the gospel echoed in works of art--literature, theatre, sculpture, music.  It reminds me that the Hound of Heaven is always after us and will track us down any way He can.