Daily Reflections Feb 24, 2018

Deuteronomy 26: 16 - 19; Matthew 5: 43 - 48.

“I live my life seeking Thy inspiration. I seek Thy teachings in Thy Words. My worship is listening to Thy voice and obeying Thy commands. I pray my Lord, that Thy grace will give me special protection from my enemy and deliverance from hard trials”

The Lord of Host creator of everything that exists has always been Marvellous. He has extended that marvel to creating the earth and into creating mankind. When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them special conditions that would enable them to continue to live in His Light and then, God put them in a special place called Eden. But these two humans did not live to the expectations of Heaven; they did not remain special and hence they had to leave the garden of Eden to live in a place that suited their spiritual state. Later on, as Adam’s descendants populated the earth, some of the sonsof heaven were enticed by evil and they corrupted the human heart. God was disappointed that mankind would not live to His expectations, nevertheless he found that the family of Noah did remain loyal to Him and His Commands. After the deluge, God continued to allow mankind to be tested and made a Priestly Nation through Abraham, a man who dared to Obey God’s every command and remain special in God’s eyes. In the Book of Deuteronomy 26: 16 - 19, Moses declares the anointing of the nation of Israel and tells that that God will raise them up to be greater than all other nations on earth if they diligently and faithfully follow all the Lord’s Commandments. Thus, we understand that it is God’s desire to make His chosen people special and great on earth. God wants to glorify His people. But His people must remain worthy of greatness and glorification. God is wise not to throw His special pearls before pigs who would trample them. But God surely is willing to glorify those worthy of His blessings with his pearls and much more; God did that for King David. Today we speak with greatness about the ancient prophets Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and even John the Baptist. We read their writings with great reverence and we agree that they were anointed men sent by God Himself. But in those days, those wicked Kings like Manasseh, Ahab, Jehoiakim, Zedekiah and the many among the people of Israel looked upon these prophets as madmen who roamed around barefooted and in rags, shouting threats at citizens and creating a ruckus; these evil Israelites called those Holy Prophets ‘Troublemakers in Israel’. The Prophets were not much to look at, but we know how special, great and glorious God made them and He did that because they obeyed God and revered God’s Commandments.

When Jesus walked among the children of Israel in Judea, He found the same attitude among most of the people. The hypocrite Pharisees disgraced God’s commandments and, in their audacity, they wanted God’s Messiah to acknowledge them as Holy men. They already knew all the laws of God recorded through Moses, the Prophet. Moreover, those hypocrites could recite every line of the law from memory, but God’s laws were not in their heart and they only knew to babble meaningless taunts at the Altar of the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus felt sad that the wisest among the Pharisees and Sadducees including the High priest Caiaphas could not recognise the Messiah that they were waiting for. Jesus tried to reason with one a many people by telling them to open their eyes to His miraculous works for He saw that His words fell on their deaf ears. According to the Gospel of Matthew 5: 43 - 48, Jesus explains that to bepeople worthy of Holiness, we must be special in the words we speak and the deeds we perform. God is the same for the righteous, the sinners and the wicked as well. The same commands apply to one and all. God blesses all the people in the world with the similar earthly conditions. All of us must undergo similar tests. And how we perform will speak of our worthiness. But, if any among us wants to be special or great and be glorified by God, we must do the things worthy of such greatness. Our lifestyle, our habits, our behaviour and character must be defined through our deeds in such a way, that we stand out from the ordinary. For who would pray for an enemy and who would help those that are rude and violent? If we want to be special in God’s eyes and if we want God to make us great and glorious as the Catholic Saints that are revered on our Altars, then we have to mould our character to do things in a special way that is both, entirely different and pleasing to God. If we have no interest in the sainthood but want special protection, special privileges and special deliverance from our earthly trials by God’s hand, we must be willing to walk the extra mile to living holy lives, enduring in habitual earnest prayers and have faith that is greater than the trials we face. We cannot live faithlessly, lacking in devotion and attention to what God wants of us. God is always speaking and extending a helping hand to one and all. It is our holiness that helps us hear and listen to His sweet gentle voice and it is our faith that helps us to take God’s help. God is not a servant to keep giving people whatever they want, hearing any form of prayer and accepting any kind of offering. We are duty bound to offer God reverence of the highest kind. We are duty bound to give God the first place in our lives. We are expected to do deeds that will inspire the pagans and those living out of the catholic faith. Our devotion to God is to be kept personal, there is no need of a show. But we must show Kindness, patience, compassion, mercy, charity, forgiveness, goodwill, sincerity, faithfulness, truthfulness and many other holy virtues without any shame, thus giving witness to Jesus Christ who we are dutybound to emulate. God wants us all to be saints and all we need to do is live simple ordinary lives in an extraordinary way as we continue to struggle towards Eternal Life.

- By Bro Maryo