Sunday, December 08, 2019

Reflection for December 14, Saturday; Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13


Gospel: Matthew 17:9a, 10-13
As they were coming down from the mountain the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” He said in reply,* “Elijah will indeed come and restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they pleased. So also will the Son of Man suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Why is it that we don’t listen to the voice of our conscience to repent until we realize later that we are in a problematic situation?

The call of Jesus for repentance continuous until this very hour, He speaks to us through people around us and through our conscience. We should not ignore it, we should rather listen to it because to listen and repent is the right course of action that we must always take.

Like John who prepared the way for Jesus, we too should become the modern day John. Thus we should also gently call for repentance to those within our sphere of environment. This is for the reason that this is a call of duty for us followers of the Lord.

Lest we forget that by virtue of our Baptism we are the modern day John. Therefore, we have to call for repentance and conversion as well. For this call to be effective we have to do this with gentleness, with mercy and compassion. And of course we also have to be a good role model because if we don’t live what we preach then that would be useless

It is obvious that Jesus is pertaining to John as the second coming of the prophet Elijah. But majority of the people did not recognize the call of John to renew their lives because they were busy with the things of this world. They have no time to listen to the messenger of God yet they created time to serve their own selfish interest.  

We have nothing to lose if we tread the way of John. Yes it will not be a walk in the park and there would be challenges as well. But if Christ is with us who will be against us? Nobody for we have Jesus at our backs silently supporting us.

Oftentimes it may seem that Jesus is not there for us but He is always there. – Marino J. Dasmarinas

No comments: