“Seeking to live as ‘convinced Christians!'”
(Based on Exod 40:16-21, 34-38 and Mt 13:47-53 – Thursday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1)
One morning, the husband was at breakfast table…
… his face hidden behind the morning paper.
The frightened maid tiptoed into the room and whispered something to the wife’s ears.
The wife – paled slightly – then squared her shoulders resolutely and said to her husband:
“Dear, for the last seventeen years, you have been eating oats porridge in the morning.
You will be very upset, isn’t it, if you don’t get it this morning?”
Expecting the worst reaction, the wife began to turn away.
The husband, hiding his naughty smile, however said: “Oh how sad! Yes, I will miss my daily meal!
But hey! It’s also a nice chance to get something interesting to eat, without having to tell explicitly…
… how bored I am with my daily meal!”
The husband, without wanting to express that he wanted a change in his meal,
… hid behind a casual attitude of “saying yes” without really intending!
Well… such is the case with many of us as well, probably.
There are many things that we don’t really enjoy…
… yet, pretend that everything is fine.
There are many things not going on fine with us…
… but we still behave as if we are okay with everything.
We sometimes are people who affirm and consent…
… without really understanding or grasping the whole reality
There is a “lip” yes…
… but not a consent with the mind.
The Gospel of the Day presents such a classic case in the context of the disciples of Jesus saying a “Yes” to having understood the teachings of Jesus…
… and invites us to examine our lives and check whether:
We say only a “lip” yes, without the consonance of the mind!
The first 50 verses of the 13th Chapter from St Matthew is a quick montage of several parables…
… Seven in all…
- Parable of the Sower (vv. 1-9)
- Parable of the Weeds among wheat (vv. 24-30)
- Parable of the Mustard Seed (vv. 31-32)
- Parable of the Yeast (v. 33)
- Parable of the man finding the treasure (v. 44)
- Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (v. 45)
- Parable of the Net thrown in the sea (vv. 47-50)
These 7 parables teach several great truths and virtues….
- Preparing our hearts to receive the Generous Word of God….
- Accepting the reality of evil in the world and being firm to be good…
- Realizing the Divine Grace that blossoms our littleness into a shelter for many…
- Recognizing the transforming effect of a committed faith…
- Experiencing the joy of discovering the Lord as the Treasure of our lives….
- The Willingness to give up everything to prioritize the Lord as the Pearl of Great Prize….
- Living a life with the awareness of the judgment of good and evil at the end of our lives!
At the end of this quick, power-packed narration of the 7 parables, Jesus puts forward a question to His Disciples:
“Do you understand all these things?”(Mt 13:51)
The Lord wished to know if His disciples were grasping these great truths of Christian Life…
The Gospel says the Disciples “answered, ‘Yes'” (Mt 13:51b).
Well, we are not fully sure whether the Disciples really understood and grasped everything….
We really can’t say for certain whether their “Yes”…
… was only a “lip” yes or one with the consonance of the mind
… was an external nodding or one with the affirmation of the heart
There are many occasions in the Gospels…
… when we see the Disciples “said something” but did not actually follow it or live it
… or they really did not fully understand and grasp the person of Jesus and His teachings
At the Transfiguration, when Peter said, “Let us make three tents”, the Gospel says, “he did not know what he was saying!”(Lk 9:33b)
After the multiplication of the loaves, the Gospel says “they had not understood the incident of the loaves”(Mk 6:52)
After the calming of the storm at the sea, they said to one another “Who then is this Whom even wind and sea obey?”(Mk 4:41)
They failed to recognize and see the Father in Jesus and so Jesus chided them, saying, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?” (Jn 14:10)
We therefore do not really know the depth of the “Yes” of the Disciples…
… Was it only an instinctual reply?
… Was it just a spontaneous answer?
But this incident is certainly a reminder and an invitation for us to examine…
… Do we seek to understand the Lord and His Teachings?
… Are we aware of the greatness and the worth of the many devout practices of our faith?
Let us examine…
Do we realize the Power of the Most Holy Mass and prepare ourselves accordingly for a worthy celebration…
… or has it become a regular routine of life, without the due preparation and a sense of reverence?
Do we read the Living Word of God daily, and seek to live in accordance with His Teachings…
… or has the Bible merely become another “object” of the house, only to be kept in a place of seclusion, with an occasional glance?
Do our prayers and the reception of the other Sacraments become a God-experience and have a life-touching effect…
… or have they been rendered as casual or even compelled actions, with little effect on one’s life and activities?
As Christians, we are called to deepen and live with greater conviction.
Today we celebrate the Feast of a Great Saint – St Ignatius of Loyola…
… the founder of the Society of Jesus – the Jesuit Fathers.
He was a man with a lot of worldly ambitions and gripped with seeking vain glory.
But an incident, wherein, he was bed-ridden, as a result of a leg injury, brought a transformation in his life.
Maybe, many of us are also going through a “bed-ridden” phase of our life…
… feeling uncertain about the future
… experiencing worry about the past
… troubled by the anxieties of the present.
Yet, the Lord is with us…
… to transform us and to renew us!
What is needed is our self-giving…
… little and small as we are: let us offer our lives to the Lord
… broken and disturbed as we are: let us give ourselves to the Lord.
Through the intercession of this great saint of Loyola, let us live as “convinced Christians!”
God Bless! Live Jesus!
📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
MAN’S VOCATION LIFE IN THE SPIRIT – GOD’S SALVATION: LAW AND GRACE – The Fifth Commandment – Respect for human life
Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense.
The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life.“A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae. (CCC # 2272)
Reflection Capsules 