USING THE HEAVENLY MEASURE


THURSDAY, TWENTY THIRD WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

1 Cor 8:1-7,11-13; Ps 139:1-3,13-14,23-24; Lk 6:27-38

Becoming Sons of the Most High

The Gospel living is a heavenly lifestyle that cannot be initiated or imitated by our fallen human nature or evil spirits. This statement conforms with our Lord’s statement that salvation is impossible to human nature and beyond any other nature outside the divine. Based on this, we have insisted that the new life that commences in us at our commitment to the word of God is a sharing in the life of God. If God had not given us the gift of divine life, it would have been superfluous for our Lord to urge us to be perfect as our heavenly Father. Even more, he would not call God the Father our heavenly Father in this unique and restricted sense he used in the Gospel passage today. “Instead, love your enemies and do good, and lend without any hope of return. You will have a great reward, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.” By following the word of God and acting by God the Father, we are giving free rein to the Spirit of God who dwells in us and diminishing the desires of our corrupted nature. Thus, the desire to do these ordinary things of everyday life in the extraordinary way of God the Father will not be in us if the Spirit of God has not first made his home in us through faith in Jesus Christ.

Subsequently, these injunctions of our Lord are extensions of the beatitudes he proclaimed in yesterday's Gospel. The lifestyle admonished here further extends the beatitudes. There are twofold gains in following the injunctions: The first is that we make progress in dying to self by obeying the word of God and living according to the prompting of the Holy Spirit. The second is that we participate more in the life of God the Father through obedience to his holy will. First, we are consciously making progress into the mystery of Jesus Christ, who offered himself for our salvation. Second, we are growing our participation in the life of God the Son as the complete expression of the Father’s will in all things. The manner of life our Lord proposed here makes him present in our lives for the salvation of souls. He is the one who loves all and offers his life for their salvation in obedience to the Father. His compassion for us revealed the Father’s compassion for sinners. “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.” This compassion is possible only for a bride of Jesus Christ, who has grown and matured in the love of the heavenly Bridegroom. Only the bride can match the groom in giving a full measure of love. “Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.”

Because this measure of love is demanded of the brides only, the Lord spared the attendants to the bridegroom from undertaking the new fast and spiritual demand. He did not suggest the regular fast, which would fall short of the goal because it was an exercise or undertaking of our fallen human nature. Our Lord, who put this new demand to his disciples, was not expecting them to shoulder this heavenly yoke immediately, for the Spirit has not come. But he was pointing out the direction leading to the desired destination, to prepare their minds to receive what only God can offer, the divine bridal love. St. Paul explained to the Corinthian community the importance of this bridal love, without which they cannot build the Church as our Lord desired. In other words, without loving as Jesus loved, we cannot proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. “‘We all have knowledge’; yes, that is so, but knowledge gives self-importance—it is love that makes the building grow.” Hence, love shows the presence of the Holy Spirit for the proclamation of the Gospel as Jesus wants it proclaimed. It is this bridal love that gives all in self-emptying that the most holy name of Mary signifies. Our Blessed Mother Mary emptied herself in the love of God, and she was filled with the grace of God. Hence, Mary stands for the ‘Ocean of grace’. May her intercession help us to mature in our love for Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, for all who celebrate the glorious Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she may obtain your merciful favour of maturity in bridal love and attendance at the heavenly wedding banquet.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

GROWING IN COVENANT AWARENESS

Image
Friday, Fifth Week of Lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke,OP Theme: Growing in Covenant Awareness What is necessary for us to grow in the awareness of our Covenant with God is having the word of God as the foundation of our life. In yesterday’s reflection, we distinguished between the physical Promised Land and the spiritual Promised Land. The former is for the physical descendants of Abraham, and the latter is for the spiritual descendants of Abraham, which include Jews and Gentiles alike. The latter is a spiritual reality and, therefore, accessible only through spiritual awareness and growth in the Covenant given by the word of God. We have come to understand that the word of is the foundation and essence of the Covenant. Hence, growth in attending to the word of God makes for growth in awareness of the Covenant. Since the word of God is the principle of spiritual life, we must each day employ it in our daily living and transactions of life to grow in the life it offers.
Read more

A NEW COVENANT IN HIS BLOOD

Image
Sunday fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nick Okeke, OP Theme: A new covenant in his blood God is love and does all things in view of our salvation. At the fullness of time, he came to our rescue with his love which has no limit. The fullness of time is considered with reference to us, and not with respect to God. Time and season have meaning only with reference to us. Thus, when God decided to make a new covenant with his people, he considered an appropriate time to pour out the fullness of his love for the salvation of human race gone astray in sin. The new covenant is to have the satisfaction of the demands of the Law by his Son, so that the merit of his righteousness would be applied to us sinners. What are the merits of the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will? “This is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel when those days arrive—it is the Lord who speaks. Deep within them I will plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I will be their God and they sh
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had
Read more