DAILY HOMILIES #pain

Do not let anything bother you or weigh you down. Jesus did not ask: “How am I going to attend to the whole world?” instead, Jesus started with the little that was available. Start with the little you have. God will do the rest.

Today, Jesus wants us to know He is more pleased with our reconciliation with others than our offertories. Just as our gifts to God are expensive, forgiveness is also costly. Forgiving others is painful if the person refuses to admit their fault. However, this pain is worth it because it is pleasing to God.

Whether we like it or not, there would be moments of suffering in our lives, there would be tough times, and there would be moments of confusion and disappointment. We may even find ourselves praying like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by.”

Like the servant whose debts were forgiven, we pray for God’s mercy every day yet we continue to nurse the hurts of others in our hearts seeking, waiting, and hoping for opportunities to strike them down. The next time you feel like dealing with someone, think about how much God has forgiven you in the past.

To be a disciple is to be a student or to learn something from one’s teacher and since learning involves pain, it may also be referred to as discipline. As disciples of God, the book of Hebrews today, tells us that there are times God disciplines us not out of hatred but because he wants us to learn. Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories.

Surely, there are so many good things we get to enjoy for being Christians but our worship of God should not be predicated on these things. We are Christians not because of what we stand to gain from God but because we Love God. As such, even when we don’t receive anything or when misfortunes come our way, we must remain faithful.

If you agree that Mary carried Jesus in her womb for nine months and went through labor pains to have him, I do not know of any mother that would not feel a thing while watching her innocent son go through all of these. Whatever our present sorrows in this life may be, let us be consoled that we have a mother who was no stranger to sorrow and reach out for our rosary in asking for her intercession.

We cannot follow the narrow door if we cannot dare to stand out from the world and be different. To enter by the narrow door is to love God’s commandments regardless of what the world thinks about them.

Jesus was impressed not just with her faith (her unwillingness to give up), He was impressed by her deep-seated humility. Jesus worked this miracle for her to teach us the need to be persistent with our prayers and to always apply the virtue of humility in our relations with others. Remember, the hand that begs is longer. Learn to be humble. Don’t interpret everything as an insult; you never can tell if the so-called insult is just a test. No matter how highly placed you think we are, there would always be someone who has something that you lack. Never look down on anyone. If suffering doesn’t teach you humility, nothing else can.

the truth is that there is always a time limit for the wicked. They may reign for a while, but they cannot reign forever. The Pharisees may have succeeded in making Jesus withdraw for a while. They seemed to have succeeded when Jesus was eventually killed, but in the end, who has the last laugh? You see, we only see the wickedness of others, we never see our own wickedness. We may be suffering the pains of other people’s wickedness but most often, we too are not immune from inflicting pain on others. Just as we are praying to God to fight those who make us cry, there are many people praying hard against us.

Christians who see the Christian faith as a shortcut to success, comfort, and prosperity cannot withstand trials. When they don’t get what they expect, they rush to wherever they expect solutions. They are not afraid of God; for them, God is just a tool, an option among many providers.

Has the past been painful? Then why are you still holding on to it?