Leaders Arise in God's eyes
Remembering Pope St. Pius X - 21st August, 2017
Judg 2: 11-19; Mt 19:16-22
An interesting part of the book of Judges we have today to reflect on - it gives us a pattern of Israel's relationship with the Lord, how short of memory and how terribly ungrateful they were. But the Lord does not react as humans do. Though God's people go away from him, the Lord draws them close and raises new leaders to guide them on. At the right time, the right type of leaders arise because they arise in the eyes of the Lord. It is not leadership that is vied for, plotted towards and grabbed with influences, but intended and willed by God!
That is where we celebrate Pope St. Pius X today - a papacy at the onset of 20th century (1903-1914) which made great strides by way of pastoral care of the people of God, just as the Judges were appointed for. Pope Pius X is known for three great impacts he had on the Church, among scores of others. First, he is known as the Pope of the Catechism, because he was the one who first insisted on the need of catechesis in the parishes in the vernacular language (note, it is almost 60 years before the Vatican Council II. Secondly, he is called the Pope of the Communion because, it was he who paved way for the possibility of daily communion (from the year 1904), before that it was not allowed that a faithful receives communion daily, even if he or she participates in the Eucharistic Celebration. Thirdly, it was Pope Pius X who reduced the age of first holy communion from 12 to 7 (from the year 1910), thus making the Christian community conscious of giving its children the possibility of a concrete relationship with the Saviour at the earliest.
The Word invites us to a radical commitment to the Lord and the saint of the day challenges us to a personal and intimate relationship with the Lord. Let us heed that message: let us grow in our radical commitment to the Lord and our personal relationship with the Lord.