Gospel:
Matthew 11:20-24
Jesus
began to reproach the towns where most of his mighty deeds had been done, since
they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the
mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would
long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for
you, Capernaum:
Will you
be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the nether world. For if the mighty
deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until
this day. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on
the day of judgment than for you.”
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Reflection:
A man was
being bothered by his many sins, he would think of it every now and then and it
would always give him guilt of conscience. He had no peace of mind; a friend
noticed his uneasy behavior so he was asked what was bothering him. After
telling his friend what was bothering him, he was advised to repent from all of
his sins through the Sacrament of Confession. So he did and he finally had
peace of mind.
The
people of Chorazin and Bethsaida were reprimanded by Jesus for they refused to
repent from their evil ways. Why do we refuse to repent and why do we love to
sin? The reason perhaps is we love the devil one more than Jesus, we love this
world more than we love to be eventually in heaven with Jesus. Otherwise if we
love Jesus we would repent and this repentance will reach its apex once we
submit ourselves to the Sacrament of Confession.
This is
who we are, we love to sin yet we don’t want to be in hell but what we don’t
know is as we continue to sin we also slowly give our lives to be with the evil
one in hell. Are Satan and hell real? Of
course they are! Observe those who continue to sin or who continue to live
sinful lives.
They may
be rich and powerful but the reality is they have no peace of mind often times
their family also is in turmoil. And the reason for this is their refusal to
walk away from sin. Therefore we will be with the evil one and we will feel
hell here and now if we will not walk away from sin.
Jesus
will surely want us all to repent and to submit ourselves to the Sacrament of
Confession. This is for the reason that Jesus wants us to be cleansed from all
of our sins that have been enslaving us for so long. Nevertheless, Jesus also
gave us the freedom of choice to do what we want to do in this world.
The
choice is ours to make, should we continue to live in the darkness of sin that
has been making life so miserable for us? Or we embrace the guiding light of
Jesus through HIS offer of repentance. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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