Monday of the 17th week in ordinary time year A
Ex. 32:15-24.30-34 Mat. 13: 31-35
Theme: Our impatience
Today the church celebrates the memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits S.J. A man who encountered God in a very special way and left the military and embraced the way of God. In his life the gospel reading of today is brought alive and active. The ways of God and things that concerns God became his priority and he gave up his profession as a military man and embraced the invitation of God. In the same way today, God is also inviting all of us in a very special way to embrace the things of the kingdom of God, just like St. Ignatius of Loyola did. When we begin to see the kingdom of God as our treasure and begin to do all within our power to live a life that is good and pleasing to God, we will be attracting the blessings of God to ourselves and family. This is an invitation that is too good to be ignored, as many that accepts the invitation of God, he has continued to bless in different ways.
However, accepting his invitation does not mean that we will no longer have challenges and difficulties in our lives, it simply means that God will be always with us and accompany us in all our journeys of life. This simply means that God will begin to fight our battles for us, because our ways and actions will be in line with the desire of God for us. Also, when God is fighting our battles for us, we are sure of victory. This may not necessarily be the case when we decide to fight our battles ourselves. The life and journey of St. Ignatius is an invitation to all of us as children of God today, let us accept it and build a good and lasting relationship with God in our lives. One of the good things about God is that he is always ready to accept us whenever we decide to return to him, he is waiting patiently for us to retrace our steps and come back to him like the Saint whose feast we celebrate today.
In the 1st reading of today, we see how the Israelites broke their covenant with God. They forgot their story with God once again, and decided to mold a calf for themselves, by serving an idol instead of the God who has always stood with them and brought them out of Egypt with his mighty arm. The question today is, are we different from the Israelites? Have we made the same mistakes in our lives as individuals? The Lord is encouraging us today to always trust in him, no matter the situation we find ourselves in, he will never fail or desert us. It is important to always remember that we cannot fight any battle better than God will do it for us. Trust in him and he will show you that he is God. May the Lord bless his words in our hearts in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. Amen. Peace be with you.