Lk 17:11-19
The gospel reading today prompts me to reflect on my response to Jesus. Every Sunday mass is not just for me to fulfil my obligation. It is my time set aside to spend time with Jesus and thank Jesus for being in me, for going through my daily living with and in me no matter what happens and I am never alone. It does not matter what my worldly identity is, be it Chinese, tall, poor, layperson or religious sister, sick or healthy, etc. My identity is a child of God through the baptism. What saves me is not going to be my worldly identity on earth. It is my faith as a child of God. This is depicted in the gospel reading today where the Samaritan who was a foreigner was the only person who went back to Jesus with the nine other locals who did not do so and Jesus told him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you."
I may feel that I am not worthy of God’s love for me. I may feel when compared to the others, I may feel I am not smart enough, not rich enough, not pretty enough, etc. But, God is not looking for such qualities for us to be close to Him. If not, Jesus would not have bothered to heal the lepers who were shunned by the people. Rather, He is looking at the heart; a heart that goes back to Him and thank Him for the Love that He has given us. The basis of all is faith. The fact that the Samaritan went back to Jesus showed that he had certain level of confidence which came from his faith that Jesus would be there. He had the heart to go back to Jesus not forgetting what he had done for him. He trusted that Jesus was there.
How about me? Do I give thanks to Jesus and spend time with him at least during every Sunday mass? Or do I rather spend the time sleeping at home or going out with friends or for other entertainment than spending just that one hour on every Sunday with him taking for granted what he has done for me and the life that I have? One thing I have learnt is that when I learn to give thanks to God for what He has done for me and at least for the breath that He has been giving me for me to live each day, I learn to appreciate my life and see my life as a gift. I no longer see it as I have done something great to deserve what I have. I learn to humble and remind myself that there is Someone higher than me and just like the others, I need Him in my life and for my life. My life is given to me out of His Love for me to draw closer to Him and His people for as long as I live so that I will have time to be repentant and be healed and transformed by Him deep within so that I may enter the narrow gates into heaven after my time in this world is up. God loves me always and all I have to do is to respond to this Love by loving him back.
With Love,
Elena
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