Saturday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time.)
Bible
Study: 1st Corinthians 4, 6 to 15 and Luke 6, 1 to 5.
As we
celebrate the Feast of St. Gregory the Great today, St. Paul’s words to the
Corinthian church really serve as great food for thought for us. There is
nothing that we have that was not given to us. Even our very life does not
belong to us. And so, we have no reason to be puffed up in favour of or against
one another. “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received
it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” 1 Corinthians 4, 7.
As I read
this passage, I must begin today to tell myself that I am a gift and everything
I have is a gift. My talents, my riches, my friends, even my career, my friends
were all given to me. Even my ability to write or preach a sermon is God’s
gift. That I am able to keep even the least of God’s commandments is not even
by my power. It is still by God’s enabling gift called Grace.
Everything
I call my own today are gifts not just because naked I came from my mother’s
womb but because I cannot really take any credit for them. They do not
ultimately belong to me. If I become proud and begin to push others down and
cause division because of what I think I have, God can decide to take them away
from me.
If I
understand my life as a gift, then my top priority should be on how to best
positively impact the lives of others for good. People should be happy to have
me around and not look for where to hide just because they see me coming. As a
gift, my primary concern should be what I can give to others, not about what I
can take from them. I should be a generous giver rather than a receiver only.
Jesus perfectly
understood his life as a gift to the world. He knew God had given him out of
love to save the world so he wasn’t solely concerned about his welfare but the
welfare of humanity as a whole. Today the Pharisees catch him doing what was
not allowed according the law. He and his disciples were plucking the eating
grains from a grainfield on a Sabbath day.
Why should
this happen at all? It is because they were hungry. Jesus and his disciples
must have been so preoccupied with preaching and moving from place to place
that they forgot to make arrangement beforehand as to what they would eat on
the Sabbath day. Usually to observe the Sabbath rest, Jews would prepare a
whole day’s food ahead so they don’t have to do any form of work at all. But
since Jesus and his disciples had no cook and nowhere to lay their heads, they
had no choice but to eat the grains they say on the field while they were
passing.
Do I
forget myself while caring for others? Or do I forget others completely while
caring for myself? Do I see myself as a gift to the world or do I simply try to
get to the best out of people? What are my greatest priorities? Jesus did not
see anything wrong in what he was doing not because he didn’t know the Sabbath
rest was an act of worship but because he knew that only living human beings
could worship God. If they had died as a result of hunger, they would not be
giving honour to God. Eating food to stay alive to do God’s work is just as
important as keeping holy the Sabbath day.
Knowing
that my life is a gift should inspire me to maintain my health so that I may
continue to be of benefit to everyone around me. St. Gregory the Great whose
feast we celebrate today knew this very well. He was such a gifted person and
he contributed immensely to the development of the Liturgy as we have it today.
Most of the great Latin songs we still sing today were composed during his
time, hence, they are called the Gregorian Chants. His Papacy was truly a great
gift to the Church.
Let Us
Pray:
Lord
Jesus, use me to the fullest that my life as a gift may bring joy to the world.
Amen.
Good morning.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you.
Happy Weekend.
Fr. Abu
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