A STRANGER

A StRanger

 

And He said, “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.” – Luke 4:24

 

A group of young boys were jamming with a popular band during a community gathering and they got an overwhelming applause from the audience. One proud mother said to her son who played the drums, “I didn’t know you can play that well,” and the son replied, “You didn’t know, mom, because you could not appreciate my music and you thought it was all noise.”

Isn’t it frustrating when we try to evangelize our own family and loved ones and they won’t even listen to us, or sometimes we even get criticized? But do not lose hope, do not give up on doing good for them. Believe that God is doing something even if it seems nothing is happening. Someday, in God’s perfect time, our loved ones will be able to experience for themselves the love and goodness of God and surely by then they would remember the things we did for them and appreciate us better.Jane Gonzales (mjsg2468@yahoo. com)

 

REFLECTION:

How much effort are we still willing to give to speak of His name to our loved ones?

 

Lord, give us the courage and confidence we need to speak more of You to those who are dear to us, through Chirst, our Lord. Amen.

The Gate of God’s Blessings

 

During our Holy Land pilgrimage, I was a bit frustrated when our group visited the River Jordan. Being the only sizable body of water that flowed from the Lake of Galilee in the north to the Dead Sea down south, the holy river has also suffered a lot of human abuse. Not only had it been used for the “washing away” of spiritual filth in ritual baptisms celebrated there through the ages, but it also bears traces of having been a channel of disposal for some human and material wastes. In fact, the flowing waters of the river did not smell “fresh” at all. I can then resonate with the initial words of resistance of the Syrian General Naaman when he was asked to take a bath in the River Jordan for his healing from leprosy. I myself did not feel like taking a dip in the “holy waters” of the river.

To initially resist, to question, to seek understanding, to look for a degree of certainty — these are all part of our pilgrimage of faith. Even those whom the Bible presents as “witnesses of faith” — Abraham and Moses in the Old Testament, and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the New Testament — underwent their “night of faith.” Mary’s own “night of faith,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church (# 165) states, could have been the time when she had to share the darkness of Jesus’ suffering and death. Closer to our time, we learn that Mother Teresa of Calcutta — a most admired saint amongst various faiths — likewise had her dark night of the spirit.

In the end, God’s light and grace comes to us when we make the Act of Faith — that is, by the command of our will that is moved by God Himself, our human intellect will open up and submit to God’s Truth. This is what we mean when we speak about the prayer of surrender wherein we say: “Your will be done, Lord.” Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

 

Reflection Question:

In what way is your faith also an experience of pilgrimage? What are your experiences that are related to the “night of faith”? How did you get over those experiences?

 

During dark moments, Lord, when it is difficult to go on, let my faith give me the necessary courage to hold on to You and Your promises.

 

St. Senan, pray for us.