Bible
Study: Ezra 9, 5 to 9 and Luke 9, 1 to 6.
In our
Gospel passage for today, Jesus summons the Twelve Apostles and GAVE them POWER
AND AUTHORITY over all demons and to cure diseases. He then SENT them to PROCLAIM
the Kingdom of God and to HEAL the sick. He said to them, “Take NOTHING for the
journey, no walking sick, no sack, no food, no money and not even a second
tunic.”
As Christians,
our relationship with God makes us instruments of God’s power. The closer we
are to God, the better the flow of this power through us to God’s people. Basically,
we are intercessors for the people, like Ezra, our basic duty is praying for
God’s people. We make sacrifices on their behalf and take on vows such as
celibacy, obedience and poverty so that we can be in good standing with God,
have time for God and be less distracted by the world for his power to flow
through us.
However,
the fact that we have power and authority over demons and diseases does not
make us magicians.
Magicians
perform signs and wonders for display and get paid for doing so, they are
always popular and people troupe to them because they believe they have power
in themselves. But for ministers of God, money is completely out of the
question! We do not try to make ourselves popular by advertising miracles and
we always make people understand that we are not powerful in ourselves, but are
simply being used by God. We do not consider ourselves higher or better than
the people and we never do anything to make them worship us.
There are
however a lot of magicians in our world today, some of whom appear like
ministers but by their fruits we know them.
Today we
celebrate the memory of one great Saint who is a classic example of one who God
used powerful as an instrument of his healing. He could spend as much as
10hours daily hearing confessions and he had a gift of knowing what was in the
heart of people even if they tried to hide their sins. He understood that
nothing causes as much sickness to us humans as living in sin, hence his
commitment and dedication to the sacrament of Penance. He is none other than
St. Padre Pio, the priest and stigmata. You may want to read more about him by
clicking http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/saint.aspx?id=1147
Let us
pray:
Lord, make
me an instrument of thy peace.
Where
there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where
there is injury, pardon;
Where
there is doubt, faith;
Where
there is despair, hope;
Where
there is darkness, light;
Where
there is sadness, joy.
O divine
Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be
consoled as to console,
To be
understood as to understand,
To be
loved as to love;
For it is
in giving that we receive;
It is in
pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in
dying to self that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.
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