HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO?

HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO FOR LOVE?

 

“… like the Son of Man, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people.” – Matthew 20:28

 

My wife, Christine, is a very reserved person. But one day she went beyond herself to do something for me.

Seven years ago, she knew that the PBA basketball jersey of my favorite player was part of my Christmas wish list. During that time, jerseys of local teams were not yet being sold commercially.

But that didn’t stop her. Although she knew nobody from the company that sponsors the team, she called to ask for someone who could help her. She was eventually able to talk to the right person who happily granted her request for the jersey. She even received free tickets so we could watch their next game.

That jersey is still one of the best gifts I’ve ever received for Christmas. It was special not because it belonged to my favourite player but because of the love my wife showed in getting it for me.

Jesus was willing to suffer for us because He loves us. He offered His life for us. How can we love Him back?Alvin Fabella (alvinfabella@yahoo.com)

 

REFLECTION:

“We cannot love and be limited.” (Alfred Adler)

 

Lord, thank You for loving me unconditionally. I pray for the opportunity to share this love to everyone I will meet today.

The Reason for Repetitions

Our Gospel is known as “the third prophecy of Jesus’ Passion.” With this, we realize that the passion and death of Jesus did not come by accident, nor were the events simply a confluence of people’s actions and reactions to the radical teaching of the rabbi from Galilee. Rather, all events of the Passion were in accordance with the grand design of God. Furthermore, we realize that Jesus took the great effort of preparing the disciples for His final sojourn into Jerusalem.

The disciples, however, lacked understanding and deep reflection to appreciate the important words of Jesus. It would take them time and the illumination of God’s Spirit before they could finally comprehend that the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel constitute the basic line of God’s plan for salvation. Then, they themselves will preach about Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection as the essential Good News, the kerygma.

Such is human nature: As regards life’s lessons and faith’s demands, we are slow in comprehension, slower yet in interiorization, and slower still in application. Hence, we often repeat the same mistakes for some time. Hence, our human history often repeats itself.

That’s why we need cycles of moments that lead us to spiritual retreat and reawakening. Our annual journey through Lent and Easter is one such cycle we have to be thankful for. The yearly invitation of these solemn seasons for us to re-enter the meditation about “sin,” “death,” “new life,” “God’s love” will hopefully lead us to a climbing, spiraling journey of perfection in charity. Maturation is always a product of learning through time. Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

 

Reflection Question:

Think of one lesson about life, or one lesson about faith that took you time to understand, appreciate and apply. Spend some time in prayer thanking God for His grace and patience.

 

Father, increase my understanding of the things that You teach me. Enable me to live them out.

 

St. Sacer, pray for us.