Lets take a look at some of the important questions asked by our Lord Jesus Christ. These are the questions that HE wants answers to.
1. How many loaves do you have? (Matthew 15:34)
Loaf or bread represents my Word. You cannot survive with the earthly bread alone, you need ME, the bread that came down to give you eternal life. I am the Word made flesh. MY WORD is eternal. Strive therefore to LEARN MY WORD. How many scriptures do you know by-heart? Can you call to mind and recite at least a couple of them in a crisis? Do you practice living by MY WORD? Just as you satisfy your hunger better by having more loaves, the more the number of scriptures in your heart, the better your life.
2. Who do people say the Son of Man is? (Matthew 16:13)
At Baptism you were given a responsibility and that was to bear witness to me. If today your friends and those close to you don’t experience my love through you, there is something seriously wrong with you and your life. What you show them is what they think I am. Your life as a Christian is so very ordinary that people around you don’t see the need for change. Sometimes the kind of witness you bear, gives them the feeling that they are better off being what they are. Isn’t it time your life became a testimony?
3. But who do you say that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
Am I a doctor who cures you, or a policeman who ensures law and order in your life, or a Judge who grants you justice? Am I a miracle man who works miracles? Seriously what is your answer? Who am I to you and what is the place that you have given me in your life? If you have grown in your relationship with me, you will declare what my disciple Thomas once declared – My Lord and My God.
4. Woman where are they, has no one condemned you? (John 8:10)
After all your sins and the damage that you have done to your chance of spending eternity with me, in my infinite mercy I am giving you another opportunity to start life afresh. I forgive you and urge you to set things right because I may not give you another chance.
5. Do you want to be well? (John 5:6)
You are physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually ill. While a doctor may be able to heal you physically and a counselor or psychologist may heal you emotionally or intellectually, only my Word can heal you completely. Yes only my Word can heal you physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually. Establish a relationship with me and witness the change in your life.
6. Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God? (Luke 17:18)
When I work a miracle for non-Christians they respond by thanking me and dedicating their life to me. As a Catholic how have you responded to the many graces and blessings that I have showered on you? I am pained to see you living a life of ingratitude and recklessness.
7. If even the smallest things are beyond your control, why are you anxious about the rest (Luke 12:26)
If you have no control over as small a thing as the hair on your head, why worry about your business, career, finances and relationships? Entrust them to me because I made them for you. Remember they were made for you. You are not made for them. Work for the spread of my Gospel and the glory of my Kingdom and watch how everything else in your life falls in line one by one. When you start working for me, I will start working over your business, career, finances and relationships.
8. So, could you not watch with me one hour? (Matthew 26:40)
Until and unless you knowingly and willingly spend at least an hour in prayer with me how can you expect our relationship to grow stronger and better. I am not referring to your family prayers but to your personal prayer.
9. Do you believe I can do this? (Matthew 9:28)
When you pray to me, do you believe in your heart of hearts that I am in control of your life and that I do everything for your good? Do you believe that you will receive that which you are praying for? What will be the status of your faith if I choose to give you an answer (to your prayer) that is different from what you anticipate. Will you still have faith in me and put your trust in me.
10. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life and what can one give in exchange for his life ? (Matthew 16:26)
You are a soul that has been granted a body for a specific mission. Know that your Soul is very precious and that it has been designed for eternity. I give you the option to choose where you want to spend eternity. Aim for heaven so that even if you are not able to make it, you will have a chance of entering it someday through what ever purification you undergo in purgatory. Do not aim for purgatory, because if you miss purgatory, then the place that you would go to is hell.
- laajan miranda / rufina d’souza
