Bible Study: Acts 25, 13 to 21 and John
21, 15 to 19.
Since the beginning of this
week, our readings have somehow touched on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the
need for us to pray for these gifts. Today, we hear Jesus asking Peter the same
question three times. “Peter, do you love me?” This question inquires about whether
Peter has this beautiful gift of piety.
According to the novena
prayers; “The gift of Piety begets in our hearts a filial affection for God as
our most loving Father. It inspires us to love and respect for His sake persons
and things consecrated to Him, as well as those who are vested with His
authority, His Blessed Mother and the Saints, the Church and its visible Head,
our parents and superiors, our country and its rulers. He who is filled with
the gift of Piety finds the practice of his religion, not a burdensome duty,
but a delightful service. Where there is love, there is no labour.”
He who is filled with the gift
of piety finds the practice of his religion not a burdensome duty but a delightful
service. When Jesus was entrusting the church to Peter, he wanted to be sure that
Peter will not find his office as a burden. There are many people who find the
practice of their religion as a burden.
Too often, you encounter an
unhappy minister constantly complaining about his pastoral ministry. He seems
to know everything that is not right and he seems to blame everyone else for
his unhappiness without realizing that the fault is his own lack of this gift
of piety.
Consider the example that
Jesus gave to Peter, “When you are young, you used to tie your own belt and go
to wherever you feel like going. When you are old (meaning, when you become
mature in the pastoral ministry), people will tie your belt for you and take
you to places where you do not like to go.” This example is just a summary of
the priestly life. You suddenly no longer have time for yourself and you cannot
afford to tie your own belt and go wherever you like. People place very high demands
on you yet you dare not complain about anything. The secret to enjoying this
life of sacrifice is piety; loving God above anything else.
Do you feel called to the
priesthood or religious life? Then this is a very noble objective, so noble
that you have to begin by first examining your conscience whether or not the
love of God in your heart is greater than the love of other material things on
earth. Some persons actually enter the religious life simply because they feel
priests and sisters are “enjoying”; that they ride big nice cars and do not
seem to have any worries. Such vocations are inspired by love for material
things and not love for God. They only end up as very unhappy persons who
worship material things for the sake of seeking consolation for the pain and
regret of having become entrapped by the priesthood or religious life. They find
it very difficult to keep to their vows because their love of God is not deeper
than their love for the flesh. The gift of piety makes all the difference.
Every Christian has a
certain degree of love in their hearts for God but the minister of God should
have a greater love. His/her love for God has to be BIG ENOUGH to stand trial
and persecution. It has to be big enough so that he does not become discouraged
in the face of challenging circumstances or raw temptations. It has to be big
enough that the minister may be able to make sacrifices daily to ensure that
the flock of God are well fed for instance, not just with unprepared homilies,
but with rich food to nourish their minds and souls.
St. Paul remains a model
minister in so many ways. His love for God was so outstanding. Not even
imprisonment or persecution would stop him from continuing his mission of
feeding the flock of God and making new disciples for God. We pray that like
St. Paul, God may raise up more and more men and women burning with passionate
love for God.
Apart from being a minister,
we all need an adequate amount of piety to be Christians. The only reason why
we give in to sin is because we do not love God enough so as not to disappoint
him or choose something else in place of him. Without genuine piety in our
hearts, our service of God is only neck-deep or mere pretence at best; we just
do things to make people see that we are good but deep down within us, we are
something else. Let us pray for an infusion of this beautiful gift of piety
today.
Today we also celebrate the
anniversary of the apparition of our Lady of Fatima. Between May 13 and October
13, 1917, three Portuguese children received apparitions of the Blessed Virgin
Mary at Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. Mary asked the children to
pray the rosary for world peace, for the end of World War I, for sinners and
for the conversion of Russia. The names of the three children are Francisco,
Jacinta and Lucia. The third visionary, Lucia dos Santos, became a Carmelite
nun and died in 2005 at the age of 97. Mary gave the children three secrets.
Since Francisco died in 1919 and Jacinta the following year, Lucia revealed the
first secret in 1927, concerning devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The
second secret was a vision of hell. The third secret spoke of a "bishop in
white" who was shot by a group of soldiers who fired bullets and arrows
into him. Many people linked this to the assassination attempt against Saint
John Paul II in St. Peter's Square on May 13, 1981. The message of Fatima is
simple: PRAY.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus,
fill me with your Holy Spirit, may my love for you be deeper than any material
thing so that I my dutiful fulfil the demands of my calling. Amen.
God bless you. Good morning. Be
Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you.
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