Trust in providence

Today’s Gospel Text:  And preach as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. 9 Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, salute it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomor'rah than for that town. Matt 10:7-15

Reflection: One of the criteria's to discern the work of God is the attitude towards money and wealth by those who are laboring in the vineyard of God.

Jesus’ clear instruction on giving is this: “You received without paying, give without pay.”

Hence, it is enjoined on the ministers of God's gifts that they labor without expectations from people and individuals.

God is the provider on whom the dedicated disciple is supposed to be dependent on and hence Jesus even asks him to; “take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food. (vs. 9-10)

It requires faith to take a step in total trust; for such is the demand placed on the dedicated disciple of Christ when sent on a mission to proclaim the word.

This is no excuse for those who have been given by the Lord so as not to support this great task.  

The crux of the issue is this: Total dependency on the part of the dedicated disciples, in the Lord and in his providence, when they are ministering the gifts of grace in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Could the lack of faith in the Lord and his words be one of the reason why the gospel has suffered in our time?

Our modern education makes us doubt everything and anything and all that seems good, except oneself. Likewise the formation on the word of God. 

How much can we trust ourselves and in the process trust the deceptive knowledge that comes our way and believe in what cannot be easily trusted?

God is the surest person to trust and so too his word is true, no matter how foolish it may appear to the rational mind.

Prayer:  God our Father, prepare my heart to trust in your providence and care.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

God’s Ways

Today’s Gospel Text: Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. 58 And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechari'ah after his father, 60 but his mother said, "Not so; he shall be called John." 61 And they said to her, "None of your kindred is called by this name." 62 And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. 63 And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." And they all marveled. 64 And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65 And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; 66 and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him. 80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness till the day of his manifestation to Israel. Luke 1:57-66, 80

Reflection: In life there is always the subjective situation of a particular situation or circumstance and the more objective in which God is at work and we are rarely able to see this working of God.

If we are not attuned to God then we could be carried away by the subjective situation and so immerse ourselves in it that we may forget the work which God is doing in our lives.

Each understanding has its own truth and merits and scripture has an abundance of examples of such situations. It can sometimes lead astray the ones who are not familiar with the objective working of God and his subjective work.

In the gospel of today we see similar situation in which the neighbors and kinsfolk of Zechariah and Elizabeth are described:

“And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.” (vs. 58)

Subjectively or speaking as humans; the Lord did have mercy on her and it was right for them to rejoice over her and about the situation.

Objectively, the Lord was working out his great plan in and through the family of John the Baptist.

Similarly in life we may be faced with situations of persecutions and trials, which subjectively speaking, allowed by the Lord in the lives of the beloved.

But objectively, the Lord keeps doing his work of sanctification.

Subjectively and in the light of this we could be looking at the immediate situation and be lost in the maze of hurts and pain.

Objectively, we could be looking at the work, the good, almighty and powerful God could be doing in our lives and rejoice at his working and the things that he is accomplishing either in us or in and through us as his instruments and thus be blessed. 

Prayer:  Lord, as I offer myself to you to be your instrument let me never lose track of the work that you are doing in and through me.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Gospel of Jesus

Today’s Gospel Text:  And he said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover." 19 So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen. Mark 16:15-20

Reflection: Some theologian’s best way to scuttle the work of God was by denying that it was Jesus who ever said these things and that the disciples had put these words in the mouth of Jesus.

When they did not succeed in their fabrication they resorted to other ways to foil the work of God in the revelation of his Son Jesus.

This time around, in their ever newer methods, they did not deny the words but took the liberty to give it a new meaning and interpretation.

"We need to proclaim gospel values and not the gospel", they said and evangelize by actions rather than words and hence witness by deeds.

They managed to sweep quite a few with their deceptive tail and hence many walked in their deception because they trusted their irrational rational mind rather than trust the truth; Jesus Christ who has proved himself for all ages by his death on the cross.

Hence the call to proclaim the gospel, which is the good news of God’s saving plan stands firm forever and for all ages:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” (vss. 15-16)

The saving good news of God offered through his son Jesus is to be believed in order for men to be saved and there is no other way offered by God to humanity. (cfr. Acts 4:12)

There have been countless witnesses who have proclaimed the gospel with great risk to their lives and with great sacrifice, going through great persecution and torture for the sake of the Gospel.

Compare this with terrorism in the name of religion; even in our day there are people who go through great hardship for the sake of the gospel of peace.

There have also been dedicated disciples of Christ who support this mandate of Jesus with their prayers and material support so that the work of God may triumph until the day of Christ.

Prayer:  Lord, protect me from every deception of the evil one as I seek to dedicate my heart to your gospel.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Custom

Today’s Gospel Text: And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the sabbath day. And he stood up to read; 17 and there was given to him the book of the prophet Isaiah. He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." ²⁰ And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." 22 And all spoke well of him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth; and they said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" 23 And he said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Caper'na-um, do here also in your own country.'" 24 And he said, "Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Eli'jah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land; 26 and Eli'jah was sent to none of them but only to Zar'ephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Eli'sha; and none of them was cleansed, but only Na'aman the Syrian." 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. 30 But passing through the midst of them he went away. Luke 4:16-30

Reflection: It is good to have certain fixed customs in life, it can be a great help for us to organize our lives or enjoy peace in the midst of crisis or a load of work.

In vs. 16, of the above Gospel text, we have the example of Jesus who has been brought up in a certain custom and continues to maintain that custom even after being anointed by the Holy Spirit:

“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day.”

The scripture text could have told us that he went to the synagogue because he was directed by the Holy Spirit, as it does in an earlier instance, when it reveals to us in Lk. 4: 1, that how the Holy Spirit directed him into the wilderness. 

Thus in a way showing us that there are certain things which may not have its immediate relationship with the action of the Holy Spirit but they do have their roots in the action of the Holy Spirit.

We shouldn’t always expect the Holy Spirit to work afresh and give up on every custom and traditions. By rejecting these we are rejecting the permanency which the Holy Spirit seeks to establish in our midst.

If the earth and all its elements will be destroyed, then it doesn’t mean that we too will be destroyed permanently or the work that Christ has established in our midst.

The Catholic Church and the sacraments are permanent features established by Christ, when he established the new and everlasting covenant, to be often repeated in remembrance of him. 

They are a foretaste  of the eternity that God seeks to establish, the unity centered around his Son Jesus Christ, the eternal lamb sacrificed to bring us eternal peace and life.

Prayer: Lord, help me to adhere to the legitimate customs and traditions which you have established through the church which you have established here on earth.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us