Tuesday of the 28th week in ordinary time
Galatians 5: 1-6 Luke 11: 37-41
Theme: Words of encouragement
Today as we celebrate the memorial of St. Theresa of Jesus, virgin and doctor of the church, it presents us the opportunity to reflect on the quality of our discipleship as children of God. The church celebrates her today because she lived a good and exemplary life. Her memory that you and I have, is worthy of emulation. In view of this, we must re-evaluate our way of life and do better where the need arises. We have all it takes to live a good and holy life, a life that is pleasing to God and will make us better children of God and Christians. It is not something beyond our reach, if we are truly determined to make it happen. Like we know, in recent time, some of the people we met and related with have been made Saints in the church. The two that readily comes to mind are Saints Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul 2nd. They did their best by living a good life, and it was acknowledged by those who knew them. It is an invitation to all of us who go by the name Christian, to accept the invitation and practice it in our daily life.
In the 1st reading of today from St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians, Paul points out to the people that as far as God is concerned, what matters most is not circumcision or uncircumcision, but rather faith working through God. By this singular assertion, St. Paul is simply pointing out to us the fact that we already have what we need to attain the kingdom of God. This is because by the fact that we are children of God and Christians, we already know the role of faith and love in our journey of salvation. So, it is left for us to make the right choices and embrace that narrow path that will lead us to eternal life at the end of our earthly pilgrimage. We are all encouraged in today’s 1st reading to embrace righteousness of life.
Dearly beloved in Christ, in the gospel reading of today from St. Luke, Jesus is admonishing us to guide against living a hypocritical life, lest we will be living a deceptive life like the Pharisees. To live a hypocritical life is deception, because it presents a situation that is deceptive and misleading. Jesus is encouraging us today to live an upright life, that is real, authentic and pleasing to God. Jesus makes it very clear today that what truly matters is what is inside of us, that people cannot see, and not the externals that we paint for us to be accepted and applauded by people. We pray that through the intercession of St. Theresa of Avila, we may live a life that is good and pleasing to God, in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit, Amen.