The WORD today reminds me that God will divide those who believe in him from those who do not.
In our society, affiliations are powerful. We see entitled people get their way just because of their or their family's money, power and connections. Even if one is personally not powerful, being a spouse, children, or even relative of a powerful and influential person can make a big difference in society. It may work in the world, but not with God.
Each of us has to choose if we are for or against God. Individually.
Jesus is the prince of peace, but the gospel seems to contradict that at first glance. However, looking at it closely, we will see that it is not an intentional division. Jesus reminds us that he comes to divide those who are following him from those who are not. And we have to choose individually. Our family cannot choose for us.
Choosing him is a personal decision. And it is not a one time decision. If we constantly sin, we are telling God we want death over life with him. This is why God wants to separate us, his followers, from those who do not follow him. This is why he brings division - even from our families.
Family is very important, especially to us Filipinos. Through thick and thin, family stays together. A family should be one, with no issues and division. However, we are reminded in today’s gospel that nothing should come in between us and God. Nothing and no one. A division may occur among friends, among those we love, and even among family members, as we try to follow God. However, we are reminded that we should not let attachment come in between our faith, and nothing should separate us from God.
How is my relationship with God? Do I choose him and make him first always, or is there something or someone who gets in the way? Does my family bring me closer to God?
God’s ways are not always easy, but it always worth it. May we be encouraged to stand firm, and avoid division by doing our best to bring our loved ones to Christ as well.
Father God,
Thank you for today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another opportunity to experience you. Thank you for the reminder. Lord, sorry for the times I do not choose you. Sorry for not always standing up for you. Sorry for not bringing others to you. Lord, I pray for strength to stand firm, to stand for you no matter what happens. Help me be brave and live and defend my faith and love for you. I ask that you help me to also spread your love to others. May I also bring others, especially those whom I love, closer to you. Amen.
Blessed Day!
In Christ,
-g-
Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 476
Brothers and sisters:
I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your nature.
For just as you presented the parts of your bodies as slaves to impurity
and to lawlessness for lawlessness,
so now present them as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.
But what profit did you get then
from the things of which you are now ashamed?
For the end of those things is death.
But now that you have been freed from sin and have become slaves of God,
the benefit that you have leads to sanctification,
and its end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death,
but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
R. (Ps 40:5) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I consider all things so much rubbish
that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus said to his disciples:
“I have come to set the earth on fire,
and how I wish it were already blazing!
There is a baptism with which I must be baptized,
and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!
Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?
No, I tell you, but rather division.
From now on a household of five will be divided,
three against two and two against three;
a father will be divided against his son
and a son against his father,
a mother against her daughter
and a daughter against her mother,
a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
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