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”. How could there be gain in pain? Why not
gain without pain? When you gain something without pain what you gain can
easily fly away and it can easily be forgotten. But when you gain something
that is accompanied with pain and sacrifice you 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. 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 Jesus in your lives.
Would you
be willing to go through pains and sufferings so that you could experience an encounter
with Jesus? If you really desire Jesus in your life you will embrace without
any second thought 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 of us have not yet
found Jesus in our lives. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas