REFLECTION FOR MONDAY, 34th Week, Ordinary Time.

By


Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Rector and Parish Priest
Don Bosco Shrine
Lingarajapuram, Bangalore

TODAY'S WORD 

Luke 21:2-4   

He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  “Truly I tell you,” he said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” 

Today's Reflection 

We believe that God sees everything, and He knows everything.

That should make us become more aware of our actions and our intentions, and that nothing is hidden from God.

But that does not mean that God is watching over our shoulders to see if we are doing wrong or that He checks our minds for ulterior motives.

On the contrary, God looks at the good we do, even if no one is looking, and the charitable thoughts we have in mind.

In the gospel, no one noticed the poverty-stricken widow putting in two small coins into the treasury.

But Jesus did, and that tells us that no action, no matter how insignificant, when done in charity, is noticed by God and He will bestow His blessings on the doer.

And God also listens to everything, especially to prayers made with a humble and trusting heart.

In the 1st reading, He listened to the prayers of the four boys and He granted them their petition.

Yes, God sees, God knows, God listens, and He blesses those who love Him and neighbour.

May our thoughts, words and deeds be done with charity, so that our lives will always give glory to God.


Saint of the day St. Cecelia

 

SAINT CECILIA, VIRGIN & MARTYR:

In the evening of her wedding day, with the music of the marriage hymn ringing in her ears, CECILIA, a rich, beautiful, and noble Roman maiden, renewed the vow by which she had consecrated her virginity to God. “Pure be my heart and undefiled my flesh; for I have a spouse you know not of—an angel of my Lord.” The heart of her young husband Valerian was moved by her words; he received Baptism, and within a few days he and his brother Tiburtius, who had been brought by him to a knowledge of the Faith, sealed their confession with their blood. Cecilia only remained. “Do you not know,” was her answer to the threats of the prefect, “that I am the bride of my Lord Jesus Christ?” The death appointed for her was suffocation, and she remained a day and a night in a hot-air bath, heated seven times its hottest. But “the flames had no power over her body, neither was a hair of her head singed.” The executioner sent to dispatch her struck with trembling hand the three blows which the law allowed, and left her still alive. For two days and nights Cecilia lay with her head, half severed on the pavement of her bath, fully sensible, and joyfully awaiting her crown; on the third the agony was over, and in 177 the virgin Saint gave back her pure spirit to Christ._

GOD BLESS YOU 

Good morning. Have a nice safe day.