The Lord calls us 'My People'

THE WORD AND THE SAINT 

September 27, 2021: Remembering St. Vincent de Paul

Zechariah 8: 1-8; Luke 9: 46-50

The Word time and again reiterates that the Lord shall be our God and we shall be the God's people. To be the Lord's people, we have to make some definitive choices: for an instance, there are two grounds presented in the Word today. 

One, that we behold and recognise the presence of the Lord amidst us! To behold the Lord's presence we should be worthy and prepared. To recognise the presence of the Lord we should be open and eager to experience it. And finally to cherish the presence of the Lord we should be humble and docile, to listen to the challenges posed by that presence, in our daily life. That leads us to the second ground.

The second ground is, to choose to live our life according to the values and criteria that are given by the Lord and worthy of the Lord. As St. Paul would often remind us: not conforming to the standards of the world but being recreated in the image of Christ (cf. Rom 12:2) and putting on Christ (Rom 13:14). Putting on Christ who is the visible image of the invisible God, is to become as merciful as possible, as loving and compassionate as possible, as other-oriented as possible. 

Here the saint we commemorate today, St. Vincent de Paul, stands a great example to us. He was someone who challenged himself and shaped his entire life towards becoming like Christ to the needy, the poor, the suffering, the neglected and the least in the society. That is the absolute criterion of becoming like Christ, that is becoming truly God's people, in imitation of the Son of God!

Yes, the Word and the Saint of today pose this question to us: the Lord calls us "My People"... are we prepared and worthy to call the Lord with courage, "My God"?