WORD 2day: Monday, 6th week in Ordinary time
During his life and ministry, Jesus was convinced that he had nothing to prove! He was what he was - the Son of God, the Word Incarnate. He spoke what he believed and lived what he spoke. That gave him an authority that the Pharisees and the Scribes could never understand. It came from his holistic self-understanding, an understanding in terms of the One who had sent him: "For I and the Father are one", he declared (Jn 10:30).
Many a time we identify ourselves with the riches we have, the social status we enjoy, the titles and the offices we hold, the adulation from others and the image that others have of us. These are like the drooping flowers and the fading beauty, reminds St. James in his letter. What will all the titles and possessions, achievements and accomplishments become when at that one moment we are no more!
Our identity rests in one thing that never changes: the truth that we are sons and daughters of One God, that we are created in the image and the likeness of that loving God who has loved us into existence. When we get this fact imprinted in our hearts... no trial or no doubt, no suffering or no shock will ever affect our perseverance (James 1:4).
It takes a lot of inner strength to found ourselves on the unsurpassed foundation, the unshakable ground, the one unchanging source of meaning we have... let our life be founded on that insurmountable refuge, the Lord, our Rock!