Community Word: Eternal life is for those who trust and believe in Jesus Christ.
Order: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Mt 25:34)
Reflection:
The gospel readings toward the end of every liturgical year remind us to reflect upon the most important aspect of our life – the inevitable end of our earthly journey.
The readings consistently talk about the last things – death, final judgment, heaven and hell. After having lived with the personal freedom to choose where and how we are to live our lives, at the end of the day, one question remains to be answered. Did we live our life’s purpose according to God’s will for us? Or were we significantly distracted by the tragedies we faced, or derailed by the lure of worldly wealth and power, and entangled by wrongful earthly attachments?
The Community’s Word for the month: “Eternal life is for those who trust and believe in Jesus Christ” should inspire every Christian to re-awaken the hearts of every one they encounter as they do their part in the evangelization efforts. We need to come to terms with the fact that our earthly life is only a preparation for our final encounter with the Creator and the promised reward of eternity for us.
Guided by the global theme for the first Sunday of November: “We trust and believe in Jesus Christ when we do the will of the Father,” we should devote most our lives doing what we know will be pleasing to God – loving Him faithfully, serving Him by genuinely loving and serving our brethren through good works, and helping the poor and those in need. We have to be consistently vigilant to remain in God’s grace and not allow ourselves and our service to wane, for we don’t know when we shall be called to render an account of ourselves. We have to persevere and hold on to our faith until the very end and not let our long wait go to waste.
We are reminded always to prepare, to be ready, for our time on earth is but brief, numbered and fleeting. One thing is sure, for everyone and for everything, there is a time and a season. And everything comes to an end. Success and failure, joy and grief, all come to an end. Even what we consider to be the best and the worst have a termination date. Let us just learn to detach ourselves from this transient world, because life on earth will move on and continue, with or without our presence.
The second Sunday’s theme, “We trust and believe in Jesus Christ when we live by the word He has spoken,” should remind us to practice what we preach, and to live out in our daily life what we profess in faith. As Christians, we should always be aware that our primary role is to help build God’s kingdom here on earth. We are to bear in mind that all the trials we endure in this life can not to be compared with the glory that is to come. “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” (Lk. 21:19). In our walk, no matter how difficult, there should always be constancy, perseverance and steadfastness in faith.
The theme for the third Sunday, “We trust and believe in Jesus Christ when we are good stewards of God’s gifts,” speaks of the gifts God lavished upon mankind. The secret of happiness is in being content with what the Lord has given us, not to compare ourselves with others, or with what He has given to others, but to make the most of the gifts and opportunities he has given us, that these may bear much fruit. Simple living, marked with hope and steadfast confidence that the Lord lives in us, will enable us to face and triumph over the most trying adversity. We have the Lord’s assurance that “there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays” (Mal. 4:20) to rescue us. Genuine followers of Christ must be “in the world but not of the world.” And we have to be true to this claim. At all times, we must be messengers of hope, bearers of light and above all, witnesses to his truth. We have to work with love and with fidelity. And if we truly want to glorify God in whatever we do, we ought to give Him always the best of what we could be.
The theme for the last Sunday of the month, “We trust and believe in Jesus Christ when we make Him the King of our lives,” refers to the Last Judgment in which every human being will be rewarded or punished according to his life on earth, and whether he obeyed or rejected God’s commandments. This is the time of reckoning, when man must give an account for how he used his freedom of choice on earth. He cannot escape judgement or accountability before the Divine Judge. Ultimately, our goal should be to attain heaven itself, heeding the Lord’s invitation, and at all times making ourselves pleasing to Him by the way we live and by our actions, that in all our ways and choices, He comes first and is consistently our Number 1 priority, in fact, our only choice, our only priority.
Reflection Questions:
1. When judgment time comes, how will you account for your behavior here on earth?
2. How does your belief in eternal life impact on your faith and on your daily life?
Please download in PDF format.
