Treating as you please!

WORD 2day: Saturday, 6th week in Ordinary time

February 19, 2022: James 3:1-10; Mark 9: 2-13

Being called 'children of God', is a great gift in itself; what can be greater than being called so by God! Just as we heard the voice of the Lord in the Gospel declaring Jesus as the Son of God, so are we children of God... but we need to be transfigured to be declared so my God. Transfigured in the sense that we become or grow to be more and more acceptable in the eyes of God, on a daily basis,

We need to therefore, constantly check our attitudes, actions, and priorities in life. The way we treat and deal with persons around us would be the primary criterion that would determine whether we are acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. The worst of the maltreatments that we mete out to people is by our words, with the weapon of the tongue!

At times we need to ask ourselves, who gave us the permission to "treat people as it pleases us", especially when it comes to the words we use against the others. First of its kind is abusing people with our words - a violence often times underestimated but can really create havoc. A second type is the cynical criticism, that intends no good for the person but only damaging the esteem of the person. The worst of its kind is, gossip and backbiting, an hypocrisy that characterises the evil that lies within us. Once we train our tongue to speak only what is good, truthful and necessary, we would well be on our way towards being acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

If at all we wish to be called children of God, we need to resolve on one basic principle: that you will respect every person, without any conditions or discriminations; and never to treat the other as you please!