Reflection for Saturday, Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Today's Word
By
Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore
Mathew 6: 24
No man can serve two masters: for either he. will hate the one, and love the other; or else. he will hold to the one, and despise the other, Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Today's Reflection
In this morning’s first reading Saint Paul speaks of a thorn that was given to him in the flesh, which he considered to be a messenger of Satan.
In other words, as far as he was concerned it was detrimental to his spiritual well-being.
Whatever Paul is referring to, he had an expectation that the Lord would take it from him, in response to his persistent prayer.
‘Three times, I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it would leave me’.
Paul’s prayer was answered but not in the way he expected, not in the way he wanted it to be answered.
Paul was not delivered from his thorn in the flesh.
Instead the Lord assured him that this negative experience provided an opportunity for the Lord to work powerfully in Paul’s life.
The Lord’s grace would see Paul through.
Sometimes our greatest personal struggles can be the means through which we grow in our relationship with the Lord.
Our most painful experiences can open us up to a power that is greater than any merely human strength within ourselves.
If we turn to the Lord in the midst of such experiences, like Paul, our prayer will always be answered, even if the thorn in the flesh does not leave us.
In the Gospel of the Day, Jesus
firstly invites us to have a clear conviction regarding our loyalty: to God or to mammon.
He says, “No one can serve two masters… You cannot serve God and mammon”
(Mt 6: 24)
We can be faithful and committed to only one of them.
To whom have we pledged our loyalty and allegiance…?
to the True and Living God who alone is worthy of every honour and who alone is able to bless our lives with true joy and happiness….?
or to false and make-believe effigies of money, wealth and possessions which may give momentary satisfactions but fail miserably in rendering true peace of mind…?
When we have made this pledge and commitment to the Lord, He invites us to “live” this commitment.
One of the strongest signs of “living” this commitment is to “trust” in Him!
And the external sign of “trusting” in Him is to not get into the vice of “anxiety”
Venerable Fulton Sheen says, “All worry is atheism…
… because it is want ot trust of God!”
St Francis de Sales says that, “The greatest thing to befall a soul, after sin…
… is anxiety!”
Jesus asks this very practical and logical question:
“Can any of you, by worrying, add a single moment to your life-span?”
(Mt 6: 27)
All of us, surely, as we live our lives have our quota of tensions and troubles.
All of us, without doubt, as we discharge our duties, will have our share of pressures.
But do we let these tensions and troubles and pressures to get converted to needless “worries” and undue “anxieties”?
Humans, as we are, stresses and strains are sure to come our way.
But, does my Christian Faith help me to convert such circumstances to occasions to trust in God deeper and build our faith stronger?
For a person of deep faith, tense situations… are turned into moments of seeking God deeper and experiencing His providence.
For a person of higher trust, worrying circumstances… are transformed to occasions of cherishing God’s presence and developing an approach of stronger reliance and dependence.
The evil one seeks to sabotage our desire to seek the Lord and work for His Kingdom
The evil one tries to sabotage our good intentions to be a messenger of His Kingdom
Do we succumb to those attacks of “anxiety” and “worry?”… or do we stand firm – in trust – placing our faith in the Lord, entirely?
When the wooden blocks of worries are hurled on us… let us seek the help of the wood of the Cross – with Christ Crucified as our strength.
Resolution
Let's resolve to, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness! knowing that everything else will follow
God Bless you!
Good Morning
Have a fabulous weekend.