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Spiritual Reflection
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February 13, 2010 | | | |  | Spiritual Reflection Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
February 14, 2010
Whenever we read passages like this, it's helpful to keep one truth in mind: Jesus always spoke from experience. So when he said that the poor, the hungry, the sorrowful, and the persecuted were blessed, he was not just presenting a fanciful or idealistic set of dreams. He was speaking out of experience about what it was like to have his life shaped by his Father and not by any philosophy of worldly success.
Jesus knew what it meant to be poor and yet have the kingdom of God as his inheritance. He had nowhere to lay his head (Luke 9:58) – but not because he had no other option. No, he chose a life of simplicity because his heart was set on higher riches (Matthew 6:33). He deliberately chose to pray throughout the night (Luke 6:12) and to fast for forty days and nights (Matthew 4:2) because he wanted God to fill him up.
Jesus so wanted to give people everything he had received from his Father that he openly mourned his disciples' unbelief and Jerusalem's rejection of him (Mark 9:19; Matthew 23:37). Finally, he knew that, like the prophets, he would be hated, reviled, and persecuted – not because he was obnoxious but because his words struck against the hardness of sin in the human heart. But again, like the prophets, he could not keep from speaking out, so greatly did God's love for his people compel him.
Jesus didn't come to earth to be poor, hated, and sad. He came to reveal the kingdom of God to a fallen people. Likewise, he doesn't call us to become poor, hated, or sad. No, he offers us an experience of his Father's love so great that everything else pales in comparison. He offers us a kingdom so magnificent that we will willingly endure hardship for the sake of embracing this kingdom and spreading its message into the world. With such promises, why would we ever fear God's calling?
“Jesus, you said that your Father 'is pleased' to give us the kingdom (Luke 12:32). Open my eyes to the treasures of this kingdom. Let me know its blessings as deeply as you do.”
(Excerpt from: The WORD Among Us) | | | | | |
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 Our Lady of Lourdes - In 1858, in a grotto, near Lourdes in southern France, Our Lady appeared 18 times to Bernadette Soubirous, a young peasant girl. She revealed herself as the Immaculate Conception, asked that a chapel be built on the site of the vision, and told the girl to drink from a fountain in the grotto. When Bernadette dug at a spot designated by the apparition, a spring began to flow. The water from this still flowing spring has shown remarkable healing power, though it contains no curative property that science can identify. Lourdes has become the most famous modern shrine of Our Lady. |
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