The Lord hears
Gospel Reflection
(The following reflection was shared with the Carmelite Missionary Sisters of St. Therese of the Child Jesus in 112 Dao St., Marikina City.)
The Lord will definitely hear you when you call to Him, especially in times of difficulty. And he will help you, for as He said, just as the wicked father would give good gifts to his children, how much more our heavenly Father who loves us so much, would give us good things, the best, if only we would ask him.
This is what our readings today would remind us.
In our first reading, we hear Queen Esther's plea to the Lord as she tries to rescue her people from the anguish of persecution. She entrusts to the Lord her life, knowing that if she goes before the presence of her King and her King disapproves, it would mean her death and her people would continue to suffer persecution.
But what did the Lord do? Queen Esther found favor in the eyes of King Xerxes, or King Ahasuerus in other versions, and granted her request.
Now I always hear people complain that God did not listen to their prayer. I even complain sometimes, well, many times. We pray for our loved one to be healed, but instead he or she dies. We prayed to pass the board exam, we even have our pencils and whatever we have be blessed, but even after taking the exams several times and even after doing remedial classes, we still fail. We pray for food, for shelter, for school supplies, for a better life, but we continue to suffer from poverty. How then could these words of Christ be true?
It is really difficult to answer such question, but one thing is sure and that is prayer, true prayer is not about obliging God to do what we want Him to do, rather it is to allow ourselves to become open for conversion, for God to work in our lives, for God to align our will to his will, for us to realize, to see his hands working in our lives, and this would bring conversion, this would lead us to the realization that our lives is not for us, it is for others, it is for the Other, other with a capital "O", because that Other is God.
Yes, we continue to suffer, but we suffer not painfully but with joy in our hearts, knowing full well that our lives glorify him. What better way of living our life than to give glory to the very object of our love and affection.
You know, sometimes I wonder how a mother could love a child who hurts, who gives her sorrow day and night, everyday of her life. How this mother must be suffering so much, but for her, this child came from me. He is the flesh of my flesh, the blood of my blood, he is part of me.
The love of a mother is so pure that sometimes we just could not understand why she allows herself to be abused, to be used, and to be abandoned by her children. All for her love for her children. Only a mother could understand this. And this is how God loved us, and this is what God wants us to have, so much love for the Other, for others, for the least of our brothers and sisters.
Titus Brandsma exudes this kind of love. When he was in the concentration camp of Amersfoort, he was stripped of his dignity. He was abused, kicked, punched, treated like an animal, and yet he could not but love those who abuse him, those who mistreat him, those who rob him of his dignity. And he loved them with utmost sincerity. Because of this, despite his being frail because of his old age, he was 60 years old when he was imprisoned, his fellow prisoners saw his strength and they asked, where do you get your strength? How could you afford to smile to our oppresors? He can only but smile, for his love for those who hurt him, who cause him pain is because of his experience of the overflowing love of God for him.
Jesus gave us the very summary of the law and what the prophets have been teaching - do unto others what you would want others to do unto you.
This is one of those concepts that unites us with all other faiths. This law is universal, and the bottomline is, there is this song from 1 John 4:7-8:
"Beloved let us love one another, for god is of love and anyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love. Beloved let us love one another." 1 John 4:7 and 8.
And so my dearest sisters in Carmel and of Christ, today let us heed what Christ is telling us.
We ask God that our will would be aligned to His will. We seek God in all the things that we do, in all our interactions, our engagement with others, especially with the poor and the oppressed. And we knock on the door of the palace of the Father, for surely he will open for us, just as we open our doors for the least of our brothers and sisters who are in need.
And in the end we could say, as our Psalmist exclaimed: Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me. You gave me strength.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which one of you would hand his son a stone
when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets.”
- Matthew 7:7-12
The Lord will definitely hear you when you call to Him, especially in times of difficulty. And he will help you, for as He said, just as the wicked father would give good gifts to his children, how much more our heavenly Father who loves us so much, would give us good things, the best, if only we would ask him.
This is what our readings today would remind us.
In our first reading, we hear Queen Esther's plea to the Lord as she tries to rescue her people from the anguish of persecution. She entrusts to the Lord her life, knowing that if she goes before the presence of her King and her King disapproves, it would mean her death and her people would continue to suffer persecution.
But what did the Lord do? Queen Esther found favor in the eyes of King Xerxes, or King Ahasuerus in other versions, and granted her request.
Now I always hear people complain that God did not listen to their prayer. I even complain sometimes, well, many times. We pray for our loved one to be healed, but instead he or she dies. We prayed to pass the board exam, we even have our pencils and whatever we have be blessed, but even after taking the exams several times and even after doing remedial classes, we still fail. We pray for food, for shelter, for school supplies, for a better life, but we continue to suffer from poverty. How then could these words of Christ be true?
It is really difficult to answer such question, but one thing is sure and that is prayer, true prayer is not about obliging God to do what we want Him to do, rather it is to allow ourselves to become open for conversion, for God to work in our lives, for God to align our will to his will, for us to realize, to see his hands working in our lives, and this would bring conversion, this would lead us to the realization that our lives is not for us, it is for others, it is for the Other, other with a capital "O", because that Other is God.
Yes, we continue to suffer, but we suffer not painfully but with joy in our hearts, knowing full well that our lives glorify him. What better way of living our life than to give glory to the very object of our love and affection.
You know, sometimes I wonder how a mother could love a child who hurts, who gives her sorrow day and night, everyday of her life. How this mother must be suffering so much, but for her, this child came from me. He is the flesh of my flesh, the blood of my blood, he is part of me.
The love of a mother is so pure that sometimes we just could not understand why she allows herself to be abused, to be used, and to be abandoned by her children. All for her love for her children. Only a mother could understand this. And this is how God loved us, and this is what God wants us to have, so much love for the Other, for others, for the least of our brothers and sisters.
Titus Brandsma exudes this kind of love. When he was in the concentration camp of Amersfoort, he was stripped of his dignity. He was abused, kicked, punched, treated like an animal, and yet he could not but love those who abuse him, those who mistreat him, those who rob him of his dignity. And he loved them with utmost sincerity. Because of this, despite his being frail because of his old age, he was 60 years old when he was imprisoned, his fellow prisoners saw his strength and they asked, where do you get your strength? How could you afford to smile to our oppresors? He can only but smile, for his love for those who hurt him, who cause him pain is because of his experience of the overflowing love of God for him.
Jesus gave us the very summary of the law and what the prophets have been teaching - do unto others what you would want others to do unto you.
This is one of those concepts that unites us with all other faiths. This law is universal, and the bottomline is, there is this song from 1 John 4:7-8:
"Beloved let us love one another, for god is of love and anyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God for God is love. Beloved let us love one another." 1 John 4:7 and 8.
And so my dearest sisters in Carmel and of Christ, today let us heed what Christ is telling us.
We ask God that our will would be aligned to His will. We seek God in all the things that we do, in all our interactions, our engagement with others, especially with the poor and the oppressed. And we knock on the door of the palace of the Father, for surely he will open for us, just as we open our doors for the least of our brothers and sisters who are in need.
And in the end we could say, as our Psalmist exclaimed: Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me. You gave me strength.
Photo: Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Comments
Post a Comment