One People of God - the love effect

WORD 2day: Thursday, Fifth week in the Eastertide

May 2, 2024 - Acts 15: 7-21; John 15: 9-11

"God arranged to enlist a people for God's name out of the pagans"... and the apostles had identified the right priority when they decided "not to make things more difficult for people who turn to God." That is the wisdom that the Spirit gave them to choose that one criteria - the wellbeing, the utltimate wellbeing of the other - that which makes us One people of God.

Wishing the well being of the other, wishing the good of the other, that is, to love is the way traced for us to truly become people called and chosen by God.  To choose love and to remain in that love the way to our joy, complete and God given joy. But where do we learn this from? From the Lord himself. 

This is what makes us people of God and makes us one people of God. Only those who love can be called the people of God, for those who love are born of God says the Word. Unless we love we do not have yet what it takes to be identified as people of God. It cannot be feigned, it is a way of life - a way of life that is against selfishness, ego, competitions that prioritise oneself. Only love can save us from all these and unite us as one. 

It is obviously love that makes us one people of God. Anything else that brings us together, it could be circumstances, challenges, fear of opposition, calculations of gain and loss, scheming in order to arrive at a hidden agenda...these may bring us together but they will never make us "one" and much less "one people of God". Love alone can, because love is the sap that flows into us from the vine, making us live branches united into one. 

Work - likening to God!

THE WORD AND THE FEAST

May 01, 2024: Celebrating St. Joseph, the Worker
Genesis 1:26 - 2:3; Matthew 13: 54-58

The Word on this memoria, highlights two decisive moves of God... one, making the human person liken to Godself (first reading); and the other, making the Son of God liken to the human person (Gospel) - both defined by the work of one's hands. 

Firstly, we are called to be like God, in what we do, in our works... that is, to be Co-creators with God in what we are able to positively contribute to our existential environment. And in being human beings, we are identified very often with what we 'do'... and that is justified to a certain extent. After all, Jesus never resented being called the 'son of the carpenter.' 

In Jesus, we see that God became like us; never hesistated in becoming like us! But the point here is, a tender warning from God: 'mind what you do' and 'be mindful of what you do'! This is an invitation to look at whatever we do, by way of occupation or by way of a choice of interest, as a participation in the continual process of Divine Creation of the Universe. That is a question as to how constructive, how creative, how generative our work is!

With that thought about what we do and how we do it, the occasion today warrants an additional thought... a thought about those who labour! All those who labour, need our appreciation and affirmation today. But especially those whose labour goes unnoticed, unrecognised, unrewarded, under-rewarded, taken for granted, manipulated and exploited... they deserve our attention, they demand our solidarity and we owe our commitment to their cause. 

The more the world pays attention to the outcome and not the persons behind that result, the more the world celebrates the goods and comforts created and not the persons who are behind those entities, the more the world loses itself in consuming things and objectifying persons and their skills, we are promoting injustice and sinking in sin. 

St. Joseph the breadwinner of the Holy Family, the carpenter of Nazareth teaches us the dignity and importance of every little contribution we make towards making this world a better place. The more we join hands with God and collaborate in God's design, we make this world a place where the Son of God can make himself present, and thus make the Reign of God present.