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
