WORD 2day: Thursday, 24th week in Ordinary time
September 19, 2019: 1 Timothy 4: 12-16; Luke 7: 36-50
The world looks for reasons to despise - be it that one is small or young, or that one is evil or despicable, or that one belongs to a category or the other! Before God, and before persons of God, these make absolutely no difference. What matters most before God, is the love that one has for God and for those around.
Love brings about forgiveness, because true love is a commitment. Love for God is in practical terms a commitment to remain with God and never to stray. When that commitment, or love resides in one's heart - one would 'pay attention to oneself and to one's teachings' and thus 'save oneself and save the hearers' (cf. 1 Tim 4:16).
Do not say that you are young, the Lord warned Jeremiah! The warning is to all of us, because each of us is anointed by the hands of God at our baptism and we participate in the Royal priesthood of Christ, the high priest. At times, in the disguise of humility, a blatant escapism tries to slip into our lives - after all I am only human, after all I am just beginning, after all I am young and inexperienced, after all this is only my first time... how many excuses - which we know so well, are excuses and not real reasons!
What matters most amidst all these circumstances and predicaments, is how much do I love God, and how much do I love God who resides in others! Yes, it's not if we are small or if we are sinners - what matters most is the love that I have in my heart for God - a true love, a true and total commitment!