WORD 2day: Monday, 30th week in Ordinary time
October 26, 2020: Ephesians 4: 32- 5: 8; Luke 13: 10-17.
'Children of Light', that is how St.Paul addresses us in the first reading today. The reading also paints a clear picture of what it means to be children of God...it means to be kind, compassionate, forgiving, filled with love... in short being like God, simply because we are children of God. In similar terms Jesus addresses the suffering woman as, 'daughter of Abraham'...how loving and compassionate models we have in Christ, our Lord and in the Lord's esteemed apostle.
Love and compassion have to be the defining characteristics of our personality. Nothing can stop us from being compassionate... no difficulty should hinder us from being compassionate... no rule or regulation, no tradition or custom, no practice or policy can stop us from being compassionate; because it should become our very nature as we are children of the Compassionate Father and Mother, God who has loved each of us into existence.
There is yet another phrase from St. Paul that has to be taken seriously in today's context: let no empty argument deceive you, warns Paul. It is crucial we pay attention to this today: these days we hear people criticising Pope Francis and calling him names and branding him as someone who is destroying the teachings of the Church. We need to be very careful with the anti-Catholic forces which are taking advantage of the situation and spreading the false propaganda, in the disguise of their concern for the Church. The sad fact is that some, even within the Church, are so quick to fall for this false propaganda, and worse still, some of them are in authority of teaching! All that Pope Francis said was just the compassion that Jesus had for the sinners and the publicans. The Holy Father only reiterated that the sin has to be abhorred not the sinner, the wrong principles have to be condemned not the persons... every person however sinful he or she is, bears at the core of his or her being, the dignity of God's child. Our compassion should help that person to rediscover that original dignity, not throw the person out as worthless!
Compassion alone can define me as a true follower of Christ. Compassion alone can make me a real Christ-ian. I have to be compassionate because, it is Compassion that formed me and has shaped me!