32nd Week, Tuesday, Nov 14
Wisdom 2:23 - 3:9 / Luke 17:7-10
God formed us in his image; God purifies us like gold in a fire.
During his four-day visit to Peru in 1985, Pope John Paul II
made a special effort to visit the economically and socially deprived. During
one visit he was moved deeply by a spokesperson for the poor who told him: "We
are hungry, we live in misery, we are sick and out of work. Our women give
birth in tuberculosis, our infants die, our children grow weak and without a
future. But despite this we believe in the God of life.... We have walked with
the Church and in the Church, and it has helped us ... to live in dignity as
sons of God and brothers of Christ."
***
To what extent do we see sorrow, sickness, and deprivation
as things God can use to perfect us, much as gold is purified by fire?
"Those who trust in [God] shall understand truth, and the faithful shall
abide with him in love." Wisdom 3:9
***
When he
sees life cut short by the will of people, the author of the book of Wisdom
understands that the reward for fidelity does not always come during life. But
human persons are imperishable. God will reward them after death. Death is
already overcome by the way the faithful face it and so by their free act of
accepting death, the just express their trust in God. They are in the hands of
God.
The words
of Jesus in the Gospel of today seem to be directed more to the Pharisees and
scribes, who claimed to be servants of God, than to the apostles. They were
self-assured servants; they computed their merits for what they had done for
God and asserted their right to his rewards. Perhaps, the apostles too, were
not always too modest in their claims as companions of Jesus. All should put
their trust in God and leave everything to him. Not what we have done for God
counts, but what he does for us in his mercy. We are in his hands.
***
Our beliefs and our destiny have a connection. Our beliefs
shape our destiny, not just in this life but also in the next life. Because out
of our beliefs flows our actions, and our actions slowly form our habits. Our
habits shape our character and by our character we build our destiny. The 1st
reading tells us that God made us imperishable; He made us in the image of His
own nature.
***
Opening
Prayer
God
merciful Father, you know what is in our hearts. Whether our intentions are
good or selfish, we leave everything to your compassionate judgment. But this
we ask of you: Confirm us in the will to serve you and our people in loyalty
and love and for the rest, we are in your hands, for you are our God and Father
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen
