Saturday, February 28, 2015

THE WORD IN LENT -11

People peculiarly God's own!

First Week of Lent: Saturday, 28th Feb, 2015
Dt 26: 16-19; Mt 5: 43-48

Recently there was a row on a comment passed by a leader of one of the religious nationalist groups in India on Mother Teresa and her motivations behind all the service she had rendered to the least of the Indian Society.Of all the retorts that came by, I loved the cartoon some one posted; it was a cartoon depicting Mother Teresa holding that gentleman who spoke rather ill of her, as a mother would hold her little child! And the caption read in Mother's own words: if you judge others, you will not have the time to love them. For me this was the best response, because it brings out our nature: people peculiarly God's own(Dt 26:18)! We have had so many examples of this peculiarity which the Word demands from us - Pope John Paul II who met the one who attempted to assassinate him, the family of Sr. Rani Maria who accepted the murderer of their daughter as one their family members, Mrs. Gladys Stein who instantly forgave the one who burnt her husband and two sons alive and recently the mother of the two brothers among the 21 coptic christians killed in Egypt! 

These people are peculiar in the eyes of the world and that is our call too: to be people peculiarly God's own. The only way to belong to God is to be God like in our love for others, loving everyone with no conditions, no limits and no expectations! Difficult? Yes! Any alternative options? Definitely No, if we want to be truly God's own!