IN RESPONSE TO MASTER’S CALL

Jesus said, “Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use to the Kingdom of God.”  (Luke 9:62)

When the Almighty God created man He said, “Subdue the world” giving man authority over entire creation. He called certain people, appointed them to do His special tasks, which are generally called ‘vocations’. In accordance to the message from the Almighty God, Prophet Elijah went to Elisha, the son of Shaphat, who would succeed him as a prophet. Elisha was ploughing with a team of oxen when Elijah took off his cloak and put it on him. Soon he said to Elijah, “Let me say goodbye to my parents.” He then killed his team of oxen, cooked the meat using the yoke as fuel for the fire. He served the meat to the people and joyfully began his journey following Elijah. Here we observe how he faithfully buried his past and willingly became a servant of God. He burnt the yoke so as never to think or turn back to his previous wealthy life. By destroying the old yoke Elisha freely accepts the new yoke His Creator gifted him for the light of glory. It signifies that from then on he would concentrate on God’s calling, sacrificing everything, without thinking about the gains and loss. What about you? What is your level of success to God’s invitation and vocations?

A young man, expressing his interest to follow Him became sad and withdrew his decision, when Lord Jesus said to him, “Give away all you have to the poor.” The New Testament testifies various ‘would-be-follower’ vocational stories.  When the time came for Jesus to be taken up to Heaven, He made up His mind to set out on to Jerusalem, where He was to be handed over to His enemies. As He continued His teachings about the Kingdom of God, a man shouted from the crowd, “Sir, I will follow you wherever you go.” (Luke 9:57) Lord Jesus replied to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lie down and rest.”  (Luke 9:58)

What did the Lord mean by this? The Lord was asking him, “Do you have a place in your heart for my Kingdom? Though the world and everything in it belongs to the King of kings, who could abide in a magnificent palace yet He rejected the world with all its perishable gifts. His sole purpose of coming to this earth was to conquer the power of the world. He said to us, “whoever wants to serve me must follow my way of life here. Then my servant will be with Me, where I am.” (John 12:26)

Accept and enthrone Him willingly rather than trumpeting your wavering, feeble decisions. To make us thoroughly understand, Lord Jesus continued extending His invitation by saying to another, “Follow Me.” Refusal followed in response to the Divine calling citing worldly concerns like burying the dead, bidding farewell to family, etc. Realising their attachment to the world and its obligations, Lord Jesus warns them, “Anyone who starts to plough and then keeps looking back is of no use to the Kingdom of God.” By this Jesus clearly tells us that you would be considered unworthy of His Kingdom unless priority and value is given to His invitation, by denying self. One must have faith and courage to leave everything in Jesus’ Name to protect the vocation faithfully till the end. St. Paul says, “You were called to be free. Since He has set you free, stand firm as free people. Do not allow yourself to become a slave again.” He exhorts to use your freedom not for your physical desires but to achieve salvation. The supreme goal of a follower of Christ is to satisfy his/her spiritual hunger.

Do you understand your call and vocation? Have you responded to it? If yes, serve the Lord willingly and He will accept you and your prayers will reach the skies. In his Gospel, Matthew narrates his response to the call to His vocation. Detaching himself completely, he zealously accepted it. Knowing the heart of the tax collector, Lord Jesus, said to him, “Follow Me.” These words pierced Matthew’s ears and heart, forsaking his profession and its benefits. At once he requested Lord Jesus to be the chief guest for a meal at his home. Preparing a great feast for the public as an occasion to share in his joy, he set out to follow his Master. The words ‘Follow Me’ transformed his life. He buried his past life, forgot himself and chose to walk with Him and reach wherever He reached. He continued practicing, observed minutely His deeds, actions and to step carefully only in His footprints. It evolved to being his only aim to grasp His teachings, never to find rest but continue His journey. He humbled himself, aware that he cannot reach his Master’s level, yet never to divert his attention to anyone or anything. His submissiveness taught him never to overtake the Lord but to expect the same fate. To run and follow the ‘one who never turns back’.  Yes! Indeed a true sacrificial and dedicated follower was he! He successfully narrated the Good News, inviting us to ‘Follow Jesus’ proving that only a positive and immediate response to God’s invitation can make a follower joyful and happy.

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favour and give you peace.

With love filled blessings,

Your Sister in Christ

THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS

Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil.  After spending forty days and nights without food, Jesus was hungry.  Then the devil came to Him and said, “If you are God’s Son, order these stones to turn into bread.”

But Jesus answered, “The Scripture says, “Man cannot live on bread alone, but needs every word that God speaks.”

Then the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem, the Holy City, set Him on the highest point of the Temple and said to Him, “If you are God’s Son, throw yourself down, for the Scripture says, ‘God will give orders to His angels about you; they will hold you up with their hands, so that not even your feet will be hurt on the stones.’

Jesus answered, “But the Scripture also says, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Then the devil took Jesus to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in all their greatness.  “All this I will give you.” the devil said, “if you kneel down and worship me.”  Then Jesus answered, “Go away, satan!  The scripture says, ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only Him!’ 

Then the devil left Jesus; and the angels came and helped Him.

(Matthew 4: 1 –11)

This is the Word of Lord

Thanks be to the God

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

With love filled blessings,

Your Sister in Christ

THE FALL OF A STEWARD

The Holy Bible says, “Well done, you good and faithful servant!” Matthew 25:21

Almighty God our Eternal Father gifts us with wide variety of opportunities, graces and talents and He expects us to use in the betterment of mankind. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem for the last time, when a huge crowd followed Him and He preached with greater authority and power than ever before. As usual the crowd comprised of some who wanted to hear His divine teachings; a quantity of them were to seek healing; while some had the evil intention of trapping Him. The Jewish Leaders would go to any extent to defend the Law intact making it more of a burden to the common public. Laws are good at the same time we must bear in mind it was intended for certain plan and purposes and we must get adapted to the spirit of love. It was during this occasion our Lord narrates the parable of the three servants. The Lord says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like this: before going for a long journey, a master called his three servants and put them in charge of his property. He gave to each one according to his ability: to one he gave five thousand gold coins, to another two thousand coins and to the next gave one thousand.” The Master represents God, and servants are mankind, coins represent the talents and qualities of our soul, mind and body that we owe to God. After long time, the master returned to settle the accounts with them.  (Matthew 25:19)

On the day of settlement the first two servants who had doubled the money they received from their Master are praised and richly rewarded with larger responsibility and an invitation to partake in their master’s happiness. “Well done, you good and faithful servant!” said his master. “You have been faithful in managing small amounts, so I will put you in charge of large amounts. Come on in and share my happiness!” (Matthew 25:21). Then came in the third servant saying, “Sir! I know you are a hard man; you reap harvest where you did not sow, and you gather crops where you did not scatter seed. I was afraid, so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look! Here is what belonged to you.” (Matthew 25:24-25)  It is a great privilege to receive talents from God and to involve them into responsibilities for a much greater reward. He endows each one of us differently according to our abilities and we need to apply it to the best of our aptitude for God’s glory. God will reward us according to our usage of talents and increase in their value. We would be termed as losers if we do not apply the gifts the Lord has blessed us with. “None of you should be proud of one person and despise another. Who made you superior to others? Didn’t God give you everything you have? Well, then, how can you boast, as if what you have were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Out of laziness, fear and mistrust towards his master, the third servant did not use the coins that was handed over to him. Laziness often finds some excuses or quote some fear to remain in their idle state. Abilities that are not utilized will slowly dull and disappear with the passing of time. God generously bestows us with the resources e.g health, wealth, possessions, intelligence but we often tend to abuse and misuse them carelessly. There are some, who use the power and authority to cheat, manipulate those who are under them. Our loving Father has approved us with relationships to love and cherish; while the material riches to gain pleasure but we often exploit our relationships for momentary possessions. We must have a mind to accept that which God gives us be it big or small as precious gift and understand that His purpose in endowing each one with different talent is not to compare others. Content with what is ours let us not out of jealousy or envy fail to blossom and produce abundant fruits like the third servant. For the Holy Bible points out, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief.”

Seeing the responsibility of the first two servants the master is highly pleased. They servant’ abilities and hard work are appreciated and the two are promoted. The third servant burying his coins (talents) is lazy and in hopeless state, says to his master, “I was afraid so I went off and hid your money in the ground. Look here is what belongs to you.”(Matthew 25:25)

Instead of investing in various opportunities and multiplying what the master handed over to him, he buried it deep below considering it as valueless. Similar is the state of a man who buries the Loving Father’s blessings. “You bad and lazy servant!”His master said.  “You knew, did you that I reap harvest where I did not sow, and gather crops where I did not scatter seeds? Well, then you should have deposited my money in the bank, and I would have received it all back with interest when I returned. Now take the money away from him and give it to the one who has ten thousand coins …. As for these useless servant- throw him outside in the darkness; there he will cry and grind his teeth.” (Matthew 25:26-30)

Talents bestowed on us by God are not to be concealed; and if they are used in the benefit of wickedness we are digging our path to the trail of hell. So let us receive all our talents loyally and wholeheartedly from our Loving Father, accept it and multiply it by being bountiful. Encourage the talents of our family members and community, so when the Lord’s day come we would not hear the harsh and hard echo of God.

May the Lord bless you and take care of you. May He be kind and gracious to you. May the Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.

With love filled blessings,

Your Sister in Christ

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST.MATTHEW

A WOMAN’S FAITH

Jesus left that place and went off to the territory near the cities of Tyre and Sidon.  A Canaanite woman who lived in that region came to Him.  “Son of David!” she cried out. “Have mercy on me, Sir!  My daughter has a demon and is in a terrible condition.” 

But Jesus did not say a word to her.  His disciples came to Him and begged Him, “Send her away! She is following us and making all this noise!” 

Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.” 

At this the woman came and fell at His feet, “Help me, Sir!” she said. 

Jesus answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 

“That’s true, Sir,” she answered, “but even the dogs eat the leftovers that fall from their master’s table.”

So Jesus answered her, “You are a woman of great faith!  What you want will be done for you.”  And at that very moment her daughter was healed.

(Chapter 15 :21-28)

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW

THE QUESTION ABOUT THE SABBATH

“Not long afterwards Jesus was walking through some cornfields on the Sabbath.  His disciples were hungry, so they began to pick ears of corn and eat the grain.  When the Pharisees saw this, they said to Jesus, “Look it is against our law for your disciples to do this on the Sabbath.”

Jesus answered, “Have you never read what David did that time when he and his men were hungry? He went into the house of God and he and his men ate the bread offered to God, even though it was against the law for them to eat it – only the priest were allowed to eat that bread.  Have you not read in the Law of Moses that every Sabbath the priests in the temple actually break the Sabbath law, yet they are not guilty?  I tell you that there is something here greater than the Temple.  The scripture says that it is kindness that I want not animal sacrifices.  If you really knew what this means you would not condemn people who are not guilty.  For the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath.”

THE MAN WITH A PARALYZED HAND

Jesus left that place and went to a synagogue where there was a man who had a paralyzed hand. Some people were there who wanted to accuse Jesus of doing wrong. So they asked him, “Is it against our law to heal on the Sabbath.” 

Jesus answered, “What if one of you has a sheep and it falls into a deep hole on the Sabbath?  Will he not take hold of it and lift it out? And a man is worth much more than a sheep!   So then, our Law does allow us to help someone on the Sabbath.”  Then he said to the man with the paralyzed hand, “Stretch out your hand.”

He stretched it out, and it became well again, just like the other one.  Then the Pharisees left and made plans to kill Jesus.

GOD’S CHOSEN SERVANT

When Jesus heard about the plot against Him, He went away from that place and large crowds followed Him.  He healed all those who were ill and gave them orders not to tell others about Him.  He did this so as to make what God had said through the prophet Isaiah come true:

“Here is my servant, whom I have chosen.

The one I love, and with whom I am pleased.

I will send my Spirit upon him,

and he will announce my judgment to the nations.

He will not argue or shout,

or make loud speech in the streets.

He will not break off a bent reed

or put out a flickering lamp.

He will persist until he causes justice to triumph,

and in him all peoples will put their hope.”

(Matthew 12:1–21)

This is the Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God!