Handling rejection

No one likes to be rejected.

No one likes to be “dissed”.

It makes people angry and even vengeful.

Today’s readings give us different ways to handle rejection.

In the Gospel (Matthew 10:7-15), our Lord’s advice to his disciples is simple: shake the dust from your feet and move on. Let God take care of it with his infinite and all-powerful justice.

The justice of God is referred to in the 11th chapter of Hosea (from which today’s first reading is taken, although those verses are skipped in this selection 11:1-4, 8e-9), but God’s response to Israel’s rejection is also infinite love and mercy.

My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.

When it comes to rejection, God is just, but he is also merciful and loving as he opens his arms to the repentant.

As for ourselves, we are human, not God. When it comes to rejection, we need to be prudent and careful, but most importantly we need to put those who reject us into the hands of God by our prayers, trusting in his infinite power to judge, to bring justice, to show mercy, and to bring to repentance.