Reflection (1)

-




Bible reflection on the feast of 
St. Euphrasia  - (Mt 16:24-27).



On the background of the feast of St. Euphrasia, the Word of God that we have heard is very much related to the life of the saint as well as to our life. Each sentence has something to convey us.

Let us now go through the first sentence of the Word of God that we have just heard now. Let us divide it into 3 parts. First part is about the followers. The main point is that the followers were not chosen by force, but they were self-motivated. The phrase used here is ‘If any want to become’. But, God wants us to choose God out of our free will. In the life of St Euphrasia, she was strongly attracted and fascinated to the love of Jesus at the age of 12. She fought with her parents to enter into the religious life. It symbolizes that she chose God as God wanted it from her.

Let us go through the life of St. Chavara. He became a religious in order to become a saint. St. Teresa of Lisieux also accepted religious life to love God more than anything. In case of St. Maria Faustina, Jesus Himself asked her to join a religious congregation. More than 95 percent of Saints in the Catholic Church lived a religious life.

 In this context, let us think about our religious life. As we read in the 2nd letter to Timothy 1:6 “… I remind you to rekindle the gift of God …” The gift of God is not related to the talents but about the Grace which we have received from God. As we read in the 1st letter to Corinthians 10:12 “If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.”  It’s not about simply assuming a standing position but about our spirituality. We may think that our spirituality is at a higher level, it will persist and will remain throughout our life. The Word of God says that we can never be at a stable position, either it may grow or will decline. Another group of people may think that they have no challenges in spirituality, no need to grow further in spirituality, penance and prayer. They also think that they are not sinners like others and so they continue to live by following their whims and fancies. For such people, there is a warning alarm in the Word of God that in Luke 9:18 “For to those who have, more will be given and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.” The people who think that they have or who seem to have spirituality will be lost. For others, God sees spirituality in them and they won’t think that they’ve spirituality, i.e. they consider themselves as poor in spirit. According to Jesus such people are blessed, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  
One who is poor in spirit will definitely work hard to grow. Those who considers themselves as not poor in spirit will not work hard and will lose everything as mentioned in Luke 9:18. They should get rid of their pride and idleness and thirst for God. There is a good news for thirsty one by Luke 1/53 “He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.” So stand before God with spiritual thirst.  St. Euphrasia prayed to purify her in this world itself to reach heaven without purgatory because of her burning thirst to be with God. So she liked to bear sufferings in this world itself. Receiving sufferings happily is the best thing for purification.

Second part is about “denying themselves.” It means to surrender our life in the feet of the Lord by obeying our superiors. Regarding this, St. Euphrasia once said “There is great joy in my heart when anything happens against my own will.” Let us think about us. Do we prefer to give up our personal interests to do the will of the superiors or do we counter them? If we are rebellious, then we are not denying ourselves. So, by combining the first and second parts, we understand that we have to obey our superiors with strong desires and passion.

 The third part is about taking the cross and following Jesus. Before taking the cross we should meditate upon the one who took the cross happily. The meditation on the sufferings of Jesus during the way of cross, is the best meditation. Let us think about one simple event happened during the way of cross, that is, spitting on the face of Jesus. If we were in the shoes of Jesus, what would have been our response? If we cannot respond like Jesus, then we have not at all reached, beside the cross. We need the virtue of patience (humility) and forgiveness in such situations.

Let me conclude by suggesting that we should not hesitate to take up the cross of our daily lives following the example of St Euphrasia who considered it as a blessing.    Amen.                                                    

                                          

                                                By                 

                                                 Bro.Joseph George                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara, A Social Reformer

-
Image
                                                         “As those who have no eyes are called blind, so too those who have no learning are to be called intellectually bind” said by Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara.                                     St. Kuriakose Elias Chavara as a social reformer and as well as the reformation brought in education, in the Kerala of the 19 th century. In an era, when education was a limited form, at that situation St. Chavara played a major role in educating and uplifting people , especially of the lower ranks of the society. Chavara always ...
Read more
-
Image
“Never forget O Brave One the best kind of existence is to exist for others” Saint kuriakose Elias Chavara was a social reformer. He is the first canonized catholic male saint of Indian origin. He was one of the founders and first prior general of the first religious congregation for men known as the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate and the founder of the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel a religious congregation for women. Though his excellence touched all field, today I would like to focus him as a social reformer. Alas! Till 20 th century kerala history ignored him. But today things are changing. History accepted him as a social reformer. That is why, his history and contributions are become the necessary part of various grade exams like IAS, PSC, etc. He hailed from a Syrian Catholic family. He played a major role in educating and uplifting the people of kerala. St. Kuriakose Elias had the conviction that only through education the social status of people can be impr...
Read more
-
Image
St. Therese of Lisiex – Doctor of the Church “I fell that my mission is about to begin, my mission to make God loved as I love Him, to teach soul my life way” in the answer to the question “What is the little way you want to teach the souls?” Theresa said: “It is the way of spiritual childhood, the way of trust and absolute surrender.” The poet Ben Johnson beautifully wrote that “ I t is not growing like a tree In bulk doth make Man better be; Or standing long an oak, three hundred year, To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere: A lily of a day Is fairer far in May, Although it fall and die that night— It was the plant and flower of light.” What is the use of a long life, when it’s meaningless? What is the use if we live as long as Methuselah who lived for 969 years (Genesis 5: 27) and have no sweetness in life? Even if life is short we need to make it sweet. Jesus life was short, just 33 years, but he gave sweetness to others; St. Theresa’s life was short, just 24 years...
Read more