For the good of our HSM community, I feel that in this period of change we relate to ourselves as nomads in the wilderness, meaning no permanent address. While continuing our journey of faith together, we are in dire need of inspiration and grace from our loving God. I encourage everyone to do acts of sacrifice, such as, fasting, penance and novenas. We need to revive again the recitation of the Holy Rosary before the mass. This is an act of common penance for all our shortcomings by asking God for genuine deliverance from all evil and darkness. In every kind of disaster, we are called to be united in prayer and to offer communal sacrifice for atonement and deliverance from all evil.
The readings today inspire us to always be grateful to God and to ask for physical and spiritual healing. In the epistle today from the 1st letter of St. Paul to the people of Corinth, St. Paul says, “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God, which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in everything you are enriched by Him….” St. Paul, the apostle, is able to thank God on account of them. Just as we are believers and disciples of Christ too, we conform to the practice of being grateful to God despite our difficult situation. We have the gift of grace enriched in all utterance, in all knowledge and in everything in which the working of grace is evident.
This epistle from St. Paul is full of instruction and sympathy, showing us the testimony of our Lord, notwithstanding that we commit grievous faults and, as a result, the division has come. Thus, we must seek to purify ourselves, seek that peaceful resolution and charity that St. Paul distinctly sets as concrete evidence of communion and true relationship with Jesus. Let us act blamelessly in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us rise in the midst of trials and look around and be willing to give testimony of righteousness and conversion showing the kind of Christians we should be. I believe that greatness will come for our community helping us to get over the contentiousness and unsatisfactory behaviors. Hopefully, we ourselves should look deeper and try to see what the testimony of Christ should be in us. Jesus knows that we should be willing to accept the changes of our attitude and language, for all of you would agree that we are in one spirit, one hope, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We have one God and Father of all who leads us, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and we manifest our being blameless. We must long for Christ’s presence to increase our responsibility. God forbids us to succumb to mistrust, fear and shame, but to continuously search deeply into our hearts with hope, faith and love.
God is the source of goodness and power. The best growth that we can experience is to show more excellent ways of love, which is a sign of confirmation that in our faithful testimony of holy life, we have grown in grace, in knowledge and in humility. Therefore, I do take more pleasure in communion with Jesus, our Lord, by intensive prayer and sacraments. God strengthens us by the power of living close to Him and doing His will. Prayer is a crucial test of the relations of the soul to God. I wonder if you cannot lay half your heart before God, or we really don’t pray, can we only see our own convenience rather than seeing and knowing the will of God? Then I believe we drive away the source of our Life. Relying on our human effort, we see that difficulties are along the way, and overcoming all obstacles, by the mere effort of your will, is indeed a great temptation! Prayer and communal penance are necessary for gaining strength and refreshing the source of life and happiness for everyone.
Am I growing less selfish, and more willing, to surrender my own will, my own plan, my own comfort? Am I growing more active in the effort to help the work of God, more sympathetic with sorrow, more in accord with His Spirit who offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins? Let us look and find answers to these questions, for our answers will really help our true growth and life.
The gospel narrates to us about Matthew’s way to make us understand the word “behold” in reference to the friends of the man sick from palsy who were involved in their attempt to get closer to Jesus. Clearly, their action was one to be admired. The man obviously cannot do anything by himself because of his physical condition. He had faithful friends who were willing to help him. I believe in times like this, we need faithful friends whom we can rely on with their willingness to assist us, especially to become closer to Jesus.
This is the gospel picture for every one of us of what we should be doing, that is, the task of encouragement and giving comfort and if we can carry them to Jesus, meaning to say get involved in taking responsibility for bringing people to Jesus. I would challenge everyone on whether you are doing something to build unity and healing for all. In this moment we come to be with the very source of healing, like Jesus, rather than being an instrument of hurt to paralyze others. In this gospel, Jesus highlights an important message, something else which we all need, forgiveness, reconciliation, mercy and the trust in the power of Jesus to absolve our sins. The fact is that the man’s soul was in greater need that his body, and Jesus knew that it was immediate forgiveness that the man needs. He forgave the man of all his sins. All of us must realize the need of our soul, to have peace, happiness, forgiveness and healing. We receive forgiveness from Jesus. Don’t live under the bondage of sin any longer. Just as the men in passage took their friend to Jesus, we should take others to Jesus as well.
Today we humbly reach out to our Jesus, maybe by our intercessory prayers for everyone, communal penance, sacrifices, novenas and unceasing prayers. These actions are evidence of love and faith in God as a community of intentional disciples.
God bless us.
Fr. Arlon, osa
