Today’s Inspirational Snippet:“Place all your trust in God, let Him be your fear and your love. We must choose, either close union with Jesus, or separation and spiritual death. God’s love is unconditional. There is no greater source of true love in this world than that of God.”
Reflection for Thursday 31st Week of Ordinary Time. Year C. Cycle II. November 3, 2022
Today’s Readings:
Philippians 3:3-8
Psalm 105:2-7
Luke 15:1-10
Today’s Rosary: The Luminous Mysteries
Today’s Saint Quote:“Compassion, my dear Brother, is preferable to cleanliness. Reflect that with a little soap, I can easily clean my bed covers but even with a torrent of tears, I would never wash from my soul, the stain, that my harshness toward the unfortunate would create.”- St. Martin de Porres
EXPERIENCE GOD’S LOVE
Today, we are reminded that as Christians we must not have the elitist attitude thinking that we alone are righteous and that others are less deserving of God’s salvation than us. We must not think that we are more worthy than others just because we follow His Law and commandments, and then ridicule and ostracise, being prejudiced or biased against others, or worse still, blaming others just because we think that they have not been faithful to God the way that we have been faithful. Instead, first and foremost we must remember that it is our Christian calling and obligation in fact to not only love the Lord with all of our hearts and might, but also to love our fellow brothers and sisters, without prejudice, in the same way.
In the First reading, St. Paul thought he had found “it” in his younger life. “It” was a righteous lifestyle, keeping all the Jewish laws. The Psalm envisions a relationship with God as searching for God. In the Gospel, Jesus tells us two parables about searching for what was lost and rejoicing when what was lost is found.
The parable of the “lost sheep” highlights God’s magnanimous love for mankind. He is the Good Shepherd who will search for His lost sheep until He finds it and restores it to the fold. The whole community of heaven rejoices each time a sinner returns and is reconciled with God. In today’s secular and materialistic world, many have strayed and are lost in a falsehood that can only cause pain and emptiness. Let us pray constantly that more people will see the True Light of Christ that offers eternal life.
The Catholic Church as a single Christian Church is the biggest in the world with more than one billion members. The irony of the Catholic Church is that we have quantity but we lack quality. Many are not well formed in the faith. Most do not have a sense of community or belong to any Catholic group, formal or informal. Without encouragement and support, they either drop out of the faith or become nominal Catholics, coming for services only on special occasions. Many are not well formed in the faith.
Catholics tend to be activists and functional in Church movements. We organize many activities in our parishes and we spend much time in planning and executing our projects. We never really turn to God in prayer and pray with faith. False security makes us proud, complacent and even lazy. It is important that we must know where the power of apostolic zeal is to be found. St Paul recognized himself to be that lost sheep in today’s parable that was rescued by Christ.
Unless we experience God’s mercy we cannot know the power of His love and therefore unable to share the thirst of God for salvation of humankind. We must avoid coming to this pathetic stage in our apostolic mission and zeal. We must be more evangelical minded, identifying with the mission of the Church. Like the woman, we too would want to light up the lives of our people and search every place for the lost coin, and like the Good Shepherd for the lost sheep.
Repentance and conversion must begin with the acknowledgement of the reality of the human condition which is sin. There can be no conversion unless we admit that we are sinners needing repentance and reconciliation with God. Even the self-righteous who obeyed the Law were great sinners because like the Jewish leaders, they condemned and looked down on those who broke the Law. Like the Pharisees, our greatest sin are pride, self-righteousness, judgmentalism and the lack of mercy and compassion.
As far as God is concerned, even when we sin, we remain always His children. We are created in His image and likeness. Jesus reveals to us the heart of God for each one of us. Each of us is a unique individual before God. There is also the joy of finding the lost sheep. The great rejoicing is not just that of the shepherd or God who found the lost sheep, but we are told that the whole community in heaven rejoices as well. Reconciliation, therefore, is also the work of the community. It is not just the work of one person.
God is a loving Parent Who is always in search of the wayward children who have separated themselves from the Lord Jesus. Jesus goes to absurd lengths to seek out sinners and bring them back to him. The spirit of faith flows from a relationship of communion with the Triune God who wills to save all people by drawing them into a life giving communion with him.
Sisters and Brothers, let us all therefore reflect upon all these and see in what way we as Christians can do and act in our own lives to be more like St. Martin de Porres and the innumerable other saints whose holy lives, whose love for the needy, the poor and the underprivileged can become our source of inspiration and examples, in how we ought to lead our own lives. Shall we not follow the path of the Pharisees and the elders, and the path of those who thought themselves as being worthy and righteous, but instead, walk ever humbly and faithfully in the path that God had set before us?
Today, let each and every one of us, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what aspects of our heart need conversion.
PRAY FOR THE CANONIZATION OF BLESSED MICHAEL TANSI, MICHAEL J. MCGIVNEY & NNADI MICHAEL
PRAY THE ROSARY & LITANY- THIS IS THE MOST POWERFUL SPIRITUAL WEAPON AGAINST EVIL FORCES.
Have you ever considered Total Consecration of yourself to Blessed Virgin Mary, grow your Spirituality?
PRAYER
-Lord Jesus, let your light dispel the darkness that what is lost may be found and restored. Let your light shine through me that others may see your love and truth and find hope and peace in you. May I never doubt your love nor take for granted the mercy you have shown to me. Fill me with your transforming love that I may be merciful as you are merciful.
GROW AS A DISCIPLE Of JESUS; EVANGELIZE; LET THE POWER & GRACE THAT ACCOMPANY THE SHARING & PROPAGATION OF GOOD NEWS TOUCH & TRANSFORM ME THROUGH JESUS OUR LORD. AMEN.
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