Community Word: God’s word calls us to proclaim His love.
Order: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”(Lk 6: 36)
Reflection:
February is popularly considered the month of love when Valentine’s Day is celebrated. It is not clearly a Christian holiday like Christmas or Easter, but the Holy Bible tells of the greatest celebration of love – God’s love. There are several passages that speaks about perfect, unconditional love. One of the more popular verse is 1 Corinthian 13:4-7: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” And, John 15:13: “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
As love is the greatest of all virtues, we gear all areas of our service to the community around love. The encounter season is starting, and what a better way to express our love for others than by inviting participants to the marriage encounters, family encounters, solo parents or singles encounter. Starting this month, we are being encouraged to be kind to all and to express our love for others and carry it through the entire year.
Indeed, God is calling us to proclaim His love, personified in Christ Jesus who gave His life as a ransom for our sins. His love is expressed in forgiveness and restoring our right to be God’s children again. This month is an opportune time to reconcile with someone who has a grudge against you or to forgive without condition, following Jesus’ words: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you,”(Lk 6: 27-28).
The theme for the 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time is: We proclaim God’s love when we follow Jesus and stand up for Him. We need to be spiritually prepared and strong to stand up for Jesus. Even Jesus himself was not accepted by his countrymen and they questioned his authority being merely a son of a carpenter, despite his words and wisdom in declaring the word of God. As Christians, sometimes we are put to the test even by our own family and household. In our renewed life, there are those who remain in disbelief that one is capable of being reformed as they continue to brood over our previous way of life. But, as we witness to Jesus in proclaiming his gospel of love and new life, we must not be discouraged in the face of doubt and persecution.
We know that those who believe in and accept Christ’s message of salvation through his anointed evangelizers and who place their complete faith in God, will receive His blessings. The Lord will continue to use people, places and events so that the glory of His kingdom may be known to all. We must be always ready to defend our faith and to proclaim with boldness in our hearts that Jesus is Lord of all and He is our Savior. As we work together to fulfill God’s plan, we will receive His promise of fulfillment when He proclaimed: “I am with you to deliver you,”(Jer 1:19b).
We proclaim God’s love when we respond to His call to be fishers of men,is the theme for the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Following Jesus as his disciple in spreading the gospel of salvation is indeed an overwhelming task. For one, it requires a change in one’s outlook and priorities in life, including family, career and life style. There could be moments of anxiety when one has to prioritize the basic necessities of living – food, shelter, clothing, education of children and many more. There are times of discouragement when people will ignore your evangelization efforts and you feel you are a failure. Or, in your personal life, you find yourself still struggling with old bad habits and sinfulness that you want to overcome in your renewed life.
Peter did not become a great missionary overnight and he made many mistakes which makes one wonder how he became the head of the Church. His redemption was his closeness to Jesus and his being open to God’s revelation in his life. Peter became a great “fisher of men” because of his trust in Jesus. We too can do great in our mission when we recognize Jesus as the center of our mission life and we place our complete trust in him. God will always fill up what is lacking in us as His disciple and be true to His promise: “The Lord will complete what he has done for me,” (Ps 138:8a).
The theme for the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time is: We proclaim God’s love when we perform charitable acts. The Beatitudes is the perfect way to know the heart of Jesus. Jesus empathically tells us who are close to God and who will inherit His Kingdom. He preaches that true wealth is not measured by what you have in the world – success, prestige, privileged life, freedom from discomfort. On the other hand, he says that only the last, the least and lost are blessed and will inherit God’s kingdom. These are the poor or those who are “poor in spirit.” The poor are those people who are without material wealth, those who are powerless, helpless and without influence. They are the oppressed and the exploited. But they are the people with faith who turns to God as their only refuge and help. They may suffer in this world but their consolation is in the afterlife. As children of God, we are called to alleviate the suffering of the poor. We are God’s hope in them to bring the assurance of His promise: “Behold, your reward will be great in heaven,” (Lk 6:23).
Finally, for the 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the theme for the week is: We proclaim God’s love when we forgive those who have wronged us.To forgive your enemies, those who have wronged you even if you have done nothing to deserve it, those who needlessly wounded your feelings, those who do not deserve your sympathy – to love these people is the most difficult thing one is asked to do. But this is the definition of God’s love and the ultimate measure of true love. Our greatest role model in forgiving is Jesus. When he was dying, he prayed for those who had nailed him to the cross: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing,” (Lk 23:34).
As we end this month of Love, we are invited by Jesus to “be merciful, just as your Father is merciful,” (Lk 6:36). And as we practice the virtue of forgiveness in our personal and community life, we are always assured of God’s promise: “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” (Lk 6:37b). Then, we will enjoy the true freedom as God’s children, a new and authentic freedom to move on and receive the full measure of His blessings because we have loved.
