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, sweat 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 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 thier lives. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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