Reflection for July 17, Monday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 10:34 -11:1

Gospel: Matthew 10:34—11:1

Jesus said to his Apostles: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s enemies will be those of his household. 

“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple–amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.” 

When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples, he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.

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Reflection:

There’s a saying that goes, “No pain no gain”. But how could there be gain in pain? Why not gain without pain? When we gain something without pain what we gain can easily fly away and it can easily be forgotten. But when we gain something that is accompanied with pain, sweat and sacrifice we will treasure it and properly take care of it. 

Would you be able to know Jesus more deeply without going through life’s many pains? No, you will not gain Jesus and you will not have an up close and personal encounter with Him if you would not go through life’s many pains. For there’s no easy way going to Jesus. 

 you have to pass through the many painful obstacles of life in order to find Jesus. You may even have to give up every inch of your worldliness in order to find Jesus. Therefore self-sacrifice is an important ingredient in finding and knowing Jesus. 

Would you be willing to go through pains and sufferings so that you could experience an encounter with Jesus? If you really desire an encounter with Jesus in your life you have to embrace suffering/s and pains. 

But worldly life has already conditioned us to veer away as much as we could from our crosses and pains. No small wonder that many if not majority has not yet found Jesus in their lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas