CALL NO ONE YOUR FATHER

SAINT ROSE OF LIMA, VIRGIN

Ruth 2:1-3,8-11,4:13-17; Ps 128:1-5; Mt 23:1-12

The Teachers of Heavenly Mysteries

God, who is our heaven, commingles with the earth at every moment in time, as time mixes with eternity. But we reach or perceive the mysteries of heaven only through faith in the word of God. In a similar manner, we experience time through the way we perceive things and relate to them on a daily basis. The one who is able to remove himself from relations among things to relations within himself catches a glimpse of eternity, for our minds and wills are spiritual faculties. Our Christian faith gives us a spiritual life. It originates from God and gives us a faculty to see God and cooperate with him. Thus, the scripture says that it is impossible to see or please God without faith. Since the word of God dwells within us by faith, a person of faith draws life from the word of God within and not from without. We are ruled from without when we focus our attention on the things of this world. Because everything in this visible world is passing away with time, anyone who lives from without will also pass away with the material things of this world. We are born of God when we live by faith in the word of God. If the word of God is the source of our lives, then our spirit is Christ, who is life. But to draw life from the visible world is to live a life that is death, for visible things are passing away, according to the scriptures.

Based on this, our Lord tells us in the Gospel not to imitate the scribes and the Pharisees. “The scribes and the Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do; since they do not practise what they preach.” We are to take the word of God from anyone who has it, whether the word comes through their behaviour or words. But we are to reject whatever is not of the will of the Father. By doing this always, we are recognising and calling God our Father, and taking the word of God as our only teacher. By continually living on God, thus, we will be transformed gradually into children of God, for we are feeding on the bread from heaven, Jesus Christ. That we may truly feed on the heavenly food from the Father, our Lord continues, “You, however, must not allow yourselves to be called Rabbi, since you have only one master, and you are all brothers. You must call no one on earth your father, since you have only one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor must you allow yourselves to be called teachers, for you have only one Teacher, the Christ.” When we live by the word of God, we are calling God our Father and taking Jesus Christ our teacher. For this reason, Saint Paul asked his converts to imitate his way of life, because he was imitating Jesus Christ by living his Gospel. On the same ground, he said he begot them in Jesus Christ. He saw himself as standing in the place of God the Father by revealing the mysteries of heaven to them, and acting in place of Jesus Christ because his life was a holy preaching of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The example of Ruth, the faithful woman, is given to us in the first reading. Her faithfulness to her God-fearing mother-in-law made her part of God’s people, and her life a holy doctrine. Her steady alignment with the will of the Father made her part of the history of God's people. Boaz married her and raised children for Naomi, who was thus comforted. About her son, we read: “And the women of the neighbourhood gave him a name. ‘A son has been born for Naomi’ they said; and they named him Obed. This was the father of David’s father, Jesse.” The psalmist sings of the blessing of those who walk in God’s way. “O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways! By the labour of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper.” Saint Rose of Lima was a lay Dominican who walked steadfastly in the word of God. She was born in 1586 in Lima, Peru. She lived a life of selflessness and devotion from an early age. She refused to marry and became a Dominican tertiary at the age of 20. She lived an ascetic life and had many spiritual experiences that made her family, friends, and the Church authorities suspicious. But her charity was sincere. She cared for the sick, the poor, Indians, and slaves. She died at the age of 31 in 1617. She was the first American to be canonised and proclaimed a patron of South America. May her prayers help us to develop a deep prayer life and love for God and neighbours.

Let us pray: O God, you set Saint Rose of Lima on fire with your love, so that, secluded from the world in the austerity of a life of penance, she might give herself to you alone; grant, we pray, that through her intercession, we may tread the paths of life on earth and drink at the stream of your delights in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.