Daily Reflections Feb 19, 2018

Leviticus 19: 1 - 2; 11 - 18; Matthew 25: 31 - 46.

“Prepare me my Lord, for the day of Judgement. I am a sinner and I have gone wrong. Let me not fall among the goats, for I love my Shepherd. I follow my Master wherever He goes. And though I stumble and fall many a times, Thou has picked me up and led me to serve thy will”.

God has always been our Father. And as a Father figure, the Lord has been our creator, our teacher, our provider, our protector our Master, our Leader, our King … God is all that Mankind ever needs to grow, sustain, thrive and succeed. He created the world within an environment that helps mankind thrive and He created mankind to care for the world and the environment. From the very beginning, God guided Adam and his descendants to subsist. He gave them the basic commandments that were passed down from generation to generation through Noah and to the descendants of Shem, the Semite. Abram, later known as Abraham followed God’s commands and was careful to Obey the Lord in all he did. Hence it was the Lord’s pleasure to institute the Priestly Nation of Israel from the seed of Abraham. There in the wilderness, the Lord reminded the Israelites of all his commandments through the Ten Commandments given to Moses and constituted the Law of Israel through Moses as inscribed in the Book of Leviticus. The Book of Leviticus 19 :1-2 and 11-18, described various laws that require a person to be moral, compassionate, sincere, truthful, faithful, honest and forgiving. These are the basic tenets found in a person of good moral character. Without these qualities embedded and imprinted in a person’s soul, that person will have no understanding of the meaning of compassion, sincerity and faithfulness. Thus, it is paramount that we inspire our children with these vital qualities and nurture their character to be responsible individuals who faithfully adhere to two of God’s foremost commandments; (1) To love God with all our heart, mind and strength. (2) To love our neighbour as we love ourselves. If we adhere to these two commands in everything we do, every perspective that we analyse and build on will fall in place defining our character as children of God and our personality as positive and vibrant.

Isaac Newton postulated in his book ‘Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica’ that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As an early physicist and pioneering mathematician, Newton may have miss-calculated the reaction that an action can induce. Nevertheless, he was speaking on his basic observation of nature. However, with respect to the Commandments, Ordinances, Decrees and law of God, the consequences of a sinful life are painfully horrific and the reward for a holy life is beyond imaginably filled with Joy. Now this is possible, because God is extremely generous with His blessings that can extend to seven generations for the holiness of a single person. However, God’s wrath terrifies even the devil and his evil confederate and they continue in their pursuit of evil, only because God has given them certain freedoms to test humanity. As mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew 25: 31-46, at the end of Age, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will Judge all the generations of mankind separating the evil goats from the holy sheep. He is the Good Shepherd and hence, He will save the remnant that will continue to remain holy and loyal to God from the rest of the world. At that time, the rest of the world will be living in the companionship of the evil one and his evil confederate. The Lord will save those whom he has already anointed and sanctified as sheep, before destroying those deemed to be goats along will the devil in hell.

Therefore, waste no more time. Learn and practice compassion and charity always. Help the downtrodden and those that suffer in poverty, illness and public alienation. Display the mercy that God continues to teach us through the Gospel, the Epistles of the Saints and the Bible. Never miss a chance to serve someone who is suffering because we never know if God is waiting to reward us for such loving charity. And whenever we practice compassion, mercy and charity, it must be done with selflessness, love, patience, humility and great understanding. God has rewarded people with Sainthood for their works of love and charity. He has honoured the Saints with the honour of our altars. However, more than just honouring these saints, let us emulate them and promulgate their message through our actions. Our actions and our deeds must give witness to what lies in our hearts. If we sincerely have the will to be holy and if we develop the desire to serve, God will surely inspire us and he will provide us with opportunities to live in His light and shine.

We do not know the time when God will do any of the above. For Judgement will suddenly befall us all. So, don’t waste time with vanity and sin. Hasten to lead a holy life that is pleasing to God and through the Church of Christ, partake the Holy Sacraments. Be ready to be fit and deserving of Salvation because from there we will Live in companionship with God and Jesus for Eternity.

- By Bro Maryo