“Growing in our ‘heart spirituality’ and deepening the conviction that our worth is in the fact that God loves, accepts and appreciates us, the way we are!”

(Based on 1 Sam 6:1-13 and Mk 2:23-28 – Tuesday of the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time, Year II)

A very popular story is said of a speaker who started off his seminar by holding up a $20 note.

He asked, “Who would like this $20 bill?”
Hands started going up.

He said, “I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this.”

He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up.

He then asked, “Who still wants it?”

Still the hands were up in the air.

“Well,” he replied, “What if I do this?”

And he dropped it on the ground and got it more crumpled and dirty.

“Now who still wants it?”
The hands still continued to go up!

The worth of the money is not in the external aspect…
… but in the internal value!

So much more is the value of a human person…
… whose value is measured by the heart!

God gives this mighty message through the First Reading of the Day (1 Sam 16:1-13) when He reminds Samuel:
“For the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7b)

The passage is about Prophet Samuel being asked by the Lord to anoint one of the sons of Jesse as the successor king to Saul.

Samuel learns an important principle that reigns in the heart of God: External appearances can be deceptive; the real worth of a person is in the value of his heart!

“For My Thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My Ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways and My Thoughts than your thoughts” (Is 55:8-9)

God values the love and commitment that a person has in the heart, than at just the external appearances.

“… only You know what is in every human heart!” (1 Kings 8:39)

Samuel was under the impression that one of the seven older sons of Jesse would be the future king.

But God always knows to spring a surprise!

He would place His Heart on the youngest lad, David – the shepherd boy
… “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor 1:27)

So often we get carried away by the external appearances.

But the Lord invites us to see the way He does: Look at the heart!

David was tending the sheep, when he was called by God

His family would have never had a thought like this
All the people had totally overlooked him and never considered him as even a “possibility!”

So often it can happen to us, that…
… people don’t mind us
… people overlook us and even put us down
… people make fun of us and we are disgraced often!

But in all such “unlucky” or “unfortunate” or “unfair” situations of life…
… trust in the Lord and know that He loves, accepts and appreciates us, the way we are!

Jesus in the Gospel (Lk 2:23-28) exhorts the people to have a “heart spirituality” than a mere “law fulfilling religion!”

Learn to obey God more, not because you are afraid, but because you love Him much!

Let us deepen our conviction that the value of a human person…
… is to be measured by the heart!

Let us grow in our “heart spirituality”
… of understanding that we ought to defer judgment on people, by merely look at their externals – and instead, to leave space for the Mercy and Providence of God to reign in life!
… and of deepening the conviction that our worth is in the fact that God loves, accepts and appreciates us, the way we are!

God Bless! Live Jesus!

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Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism

Communion with the saints: “It is not merely by the title of example that we cherish the memory of those in heaven; we seek, rather, that by this devotion to the exercise of fraternal charity the union of the whole Church in the Spirit may be strengthened. Exactly as Christian communion among our fellow pilgrims brings us closer to Christ, so our communion with the saints joins us to Christ, from whom as from its fountain and head issues all grace, and the life of the People of God itself”
We worship Christ as God’s Son; we love the martyrs as the Lord’s disciples and imitators, and rightly so because of their matchless devotion towards their king and master. May we also be their companions and fellow disciples!
Communion with the dead: “In full consciousness of this communion of the whole Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, the Church in its pilgrim members, from the very earliest days of the Christian religion, has honoured with great respect the memory of the dead; and ‘because it is a holy and a wholesome thought to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins’ she offers her suffrages for them.”
Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.

In the one family of God. “For if we continue to love one another and to join in praising the Most Holy Trinity – all of us who are sons of God and form one family in Christ – we will be faithful to the deepest vocation of the Church. (CCC # 957-959)