OUR SURE HOPE FOR SALVATION


FRIDAY, TWENTY EIGHTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Eph 1:11-14; Ps 33:1-2,4-5,12-13; Lk 12:1-7

Worth more than Many Sparrows

God’s appreciation of us is not in the present, but in what we will become when we reach perfection in Jesus Christ. We look at the present with all our shortfalls, shortcomings, and imperfections; we do not see beyond them to the future, to what we will become as we cooperate with God’s grace. As Saint Paul revealed in the opening hymn of his letter to the Ephesians. He praises God for his wonderful heavenly blessings he predestined for us in his Son, Jesus Christ. In this great opening hymn, he praises God for giving us every one of his wonderful and heavenly gifts in Jesus Christ, even before the world came into existence. So, God, who never fails in his plan, already sees what he will make of us if we cooperate with his grace, which is abundant in Jesus Christ. His infinite goodness and perfection treat us as if we are already perfect in Jesus Christ. Our falls and shortcomings do not change his divine will or plan for us, which he has revealed in Jesus Christ for our salvation. We do not see what God sees in us; we lose hope in God’s grace and faith in Jesus Christ because we wrongly suppose that perfection solely lies in our power. We are surely mistaken thinking in this manner. For what God demands of us is cooperation with his will.

Only this cooperation with the grace of God lies within our power. God wants us to say yes to his word, to receive his saving grace. The grace we received from Christ continuously transforms every aspect of us. If we maintain our yes to God in daily life and walk with God, the work of transformation will surely come to the expected end in us. Paul throws light on this mystery. “It is in Christ that we were claimed as God’s own, chosen from the beginning, under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things as he decides by his own will; chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hope in Christ before he came.” What we need to be among the people of God is to keep our hope in Christ Jesus. Since hope rests on faith, we need to keep believing in the divinity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This faith ignites the fire of love in our hearts in the face of all that Christ endured for our salvation, which we celebrate daily in the Eucharist. The fire of love from the indwelling Holy Spirit drives our daily cooperation with God. As Paul mentions: “and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise, the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory.”

This wonderful and pristine plan of God will surely come to pass if we remain constant in our profession of faith in Jesus Christ. Hence, our Lord admonishes us to remain sincerely committed to God and not dissimulate like the Pharisees. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees—that is, their hypocrisy. Everything that is now covered will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. For this reason, whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in hidden places will be proclaimed on housetops.” Our faith in God’s word will gradually give us God’s view with which to see invisible things and things yet to come. Possessing this spiritual insight, we will come to know that our salvation is already a done deal in Christ Jesus. He therefore advised us not to fear or be anxious. Our only fear should be that of losing our faith and offending the Father, who can never lie or mislead anyone. “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will tell you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has the power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” This holy fear would prevent us from doubting the promise of salvation the Father has made to us. Let us with the psalmist sing praise to His Divine Majesty. “Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts. Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.”

Let us pray: May your grace, O Lord, we pray, at all times go before us and follow after and make us always determined to carry out good works. 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.          

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