30th Week, Wednesday, Oct 27
Romans 8:26-30 / Luke 13:22-30
Paul talks about the Spirit; The Spirit helps us in our weakness.
A car accident left Peter Saraceno of Chicago speechless, motionless, and hopeless. Ignoring the advice of practically everyone, his fiancée, Linda Fraschalla, quit her job to nurse him through a coma that lasted three and a half months. She talked to him, even though he gave no sign of hearing her. She massaged his limbs, and she prayed for him. Then one day she saw his eyebrow flutter. Next, she heard him attempt his first word. Two years later Linda steadied Peter as he walked with her down the aisle of Our Lady of Pompeii at their wedding. What Linda did for Peter, the Spirit does for us. The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. The Spirit never gives upon us.
***
How conscious are we of the action of the Spirit in our own
lives? The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness that we may help others in
their weakness.
***
Our destiny in life is to be images of Christ, people who
resemble him more and more. If we are open to the Spirit, he will help us to
become more and more like Christ and he will pray in us.
***
The desire for happiness is in every human being, and we
devote our energies in search of happiness. So, we try to obtain and possess
what we think will give us happiness. It may be achievements, possessions,
financial security, status or position.
But after obtaining and possessing what we think might bring
us happiness, and we are still not happy, then we might wonder what the problem
is.
Even in the spiritual aspect, when we pray for something and we don't get it, we might wonder if we are using the proper words to pray properly. And we might even want to try out those "powerful" prayers that are said to be able to pierce the heavens and make our prayers heard.
But this state of unhappiness and the search of this elusive happiness can be turned into something good. But that requires us to love God first and then God will co-operate with us and the Holy Spirit can then help us in our weakness.
The Holy Spirit will show us what true happiness is, and
that is seeing good in everything because our love for God will help us see
that goodness. So, whenever we see the narrow doors in the path of our lives,
let us not despair.
***
The question, "Will there be only a few saved?" gets no answer. Only the Father knows it. Any answer, whether it is 'few' or ‘many' could lead to wrong conclusions. The answer of Jesus does not satisfy our curiosity much, but it is more useful to us. The door to heaven may be narrow but it is open. There was never a stampede to enter heaven! When God closes it - and he will - every person and every nation had been given an opportunity and a time and clear conditions of entering. If these conditions are not fulfilled, nothing can help. If we are blind, the most beautiful scenery can only be torture. To enter heaven, we need a new vision, a new set of eyes. Otherwise, heaven is hell. We must make a great effort to get this. We cannot claim that we belong to a parish, received the sacraments, have joined the religious group or belonged to Christian culture. We cannot go to heaven on borrowed goodness. There will be pagans there, but not all Christians.
***
For disciples of Christ, it is not enough to know about the
Lord or to come to Mass to eat with the Lord or to read the Bible. As Jesus
tells us in many ways throughout the gospel, we must live as his disciples and
put his word into practice. Otherwise, it is as if we did not know him and he
does not know us.
***
Prayer
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we know that there are poor
people and that there are people suffering from injustice and the
hard-heartedness of others. Do not allow us to remain indifferent to their
plight but give us the courage to share with the needy and to be the voice of
the voiceless. Make our faith deep and committed, that you may recognize us as
real brothers and sisters, of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
