Reflection for WEDNESDAY, 7th Week, Ordinary Time.

By

 

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

Memory of St. Polycarp of Smyrna 

Today's Gospel Verses 

Mark 9:38-40   

“Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 

 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. 


 Today's Reflection 

How we live our lives will largely depend on what our values are and what we believe in.

So if we think that our future will depend on how we will prepare for it now, then we will  certainly do the preparation and planning now.

No doubt we need to plan and prepare for the future, for we will reap what we sow now.

But that is only one side of the coin.

The other side is that we must place all our plans before the Lord and ask for His blessings and guidance.

As the 1st reading tells us: You never know what will happen tomorrow; you are no more than a mist that is here for a while and then disappears.

And the reading continues with this: The most you should ever say is - If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.

Let us always tell the Lord our plans and ask for His blessings and guidance.

And may we always make decisions that will be for the Lord so that His will may do done in us.


February 23 | Saint Polycarp of Smyrna 

Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, disciple of Saint John the Apostle and friend of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, was a revered Christian leader during the first half of the second century.

Saint Ignatius, on his way to Rome to be martyred, visited Polycarp at Smyrna, and later at Troas wrote him a personal letter. The Asia Minor Churches recognized Polycarp’s leadership by choosing him as a representative to discuss with Pope Anicetus the date of the Easter celebration in Rome—a major controversy in the early Church.

Only one of the many letters written by Polycarp has been preserved, the one he wrote to the Church of Philippi in Macedonia.

At 86, Polycarp was led into the crowded Smyrna stadium to be burned alive. The flames did not harm him and he was finally killed by a dagger. The centurion ordered the saint’s body burned. The “Acts” of Polycarp’s martyrdom are the earliest preserved, fully reliable account of a Christian martyr’s death. He died in 155.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna, pray for us.

GOD BLESS YOU 

Good morning. Have a nice safe day

Happy feast of St Polycarp of Smyrna