A reflection of today's gospel reading
By Bro. Peter Pocbit, CJM
The impulse to follow one’s passion or inordinate desire is so much greater than anything in this world. You could see people seeking after what their hearts desired. We hear a lot about it from here and anywhere: if only I would reach that summit, I would be fulfill. If only I become a supervisor, a manager or a director I would save everyone from poverty. Everyone is up to something. That somebody is taking his third doctoral degrees. One excels in business and in modelling simultaneously. She gets the best man in town. The brothers get the house so coveted and desired by everybody. Instant fame, financial security, social influence, they have it all.
But the world does not only help us to become practical. It guides us definitely to “arrive” at the proper time and place. The pandemic, for instance, did not just came out from nowhere! Isn’t it possible that it is a human creation? There are people who seek for gain like some particular agenda, economic advantage or acquisition of power. Maybe you can follow where I am leading you.
There are also those who harm those threats outside their exclusive circles or at least ignore those on the fringes who actually need the most human support. The worst are those who always see a person different from him as the enemy. In the reading today, the enemy is defined as those who are not with in the flock. They could have a leader whose voice the other does not recognize. They could be those whom we think to be at the contrary to what we adhere and believe. For the disciples, reality seems to be about two types of people: enemies or allies.
But Christ makes an emphasis on being inclusive. This is the sure sign where the Spirit works. When a person does no harm; instead, he or she promotes human welfare, that is surely inspired by God. God works in many different forms. In the words of Pope Francis, charity takes on many faces. God is beyond what are familiar to our perception or what are within the limits of our comprehension.
What is necessary in one’s life is to recognize that we are one in God. God loves everyone. And that people are the only gifts God gave us. This is the only truth in life. Every person belongs to the Kingdom of God. We are created for God and for others. We Christians believe in the common good. The common good compels Christians to be person-centered (ccc 1912). We don’t take advance if we leave even a person behind especially the poor. In this, the person comes first before anything else here on earth. The true wealth is relationship, respect and the human dignity, inherent in birth, in baptism and in the whole lifetime of a person, in his/her every moment of life and in death.
What comes first is the welfare of persons. This is our mission, to be receptive and obedient to God. The God of generosity looks on every person as a vessel of God’s goodness and mercy. What we are in essence surpasses any human achievement or invention ever discovered. In every soul there is that precious and priceless value that moves him/her to seek the unity of God: the capacity to long for God (ccc 27). A person seeks out God naturally and deeply. It is God’s gift to a person: that is where his/her dignity lies. God loves a soul very dearly. Hence, we need to give to the thirsty, that cup of water.
This is our true calling: we journey towards God and we embrace everyone because God call us to do so. Our identity rests in God’s kindness to include us among His beloved. We join our hands in seeking what brings us our true freedom and love. We move forward for God is our support.