Sunday, August 18, 2013 20th Sunday Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading; Jer 36:4-6,8-10 2nd Reading: Heb 12:1-4 Gospel: Luke 12:49-53 Jesus said to his disciples, “I have come to bring fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled; but I have a baptism to undergo and what anguish I feel until it is over! “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will be divided; three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience) Over the phone a caller I didn’t know blurted out his piece as if we had known each other for years: “Father,” he said, “I cannot understand why I am having fears instead of peace after abandoning my carefree lifestyle to draw nearer God.” “What fears?” I inquired. “I had more peace then,” he declared. He sounded to me like he was a man remorseful of his past, disappointed of his present and fearful of the future. When he felt silent I knew it was my turn to talk. Some people claim they have given up their evil lifestyle because they want to be close to God. But their expectations are giving them away. By expecting better treatment from life just because they have made the big switch, it appears that they still want the status quo ante. If they want things in life to go “business as usual”, then they are not really looking for God but for better fun. They are like butterflies jumping from one flower to another for sweeter nectar. A person who returns to the Lord is presumed to abide by God’s plan. When one makes representation before God and leads Him to believe that he is already remorseful, and God timely acts upon that representation by sending sufficient grace to perfect the process of repentance, that person is presumed to have submitted to God’s Will. He stands ready to set aside his own plan should it conflict with God’s. A person therefore who claims to have returned to the Lord no longer seeks the good time he used to enjoy but the fulfillment of God’s Will. The implications can be scary because after God shows the repentant person the root of his problem, He leads him to discover disturbing solutions. The discovery can be intimidating and the person can lose even the external peace he used to enjoy. But the loss is momentary - as momentary as the pangs of birth, which God allows if only to lead the repentant person to real peace. Those who have returned to the Lord expecting lots of fun won’t persevere. Scared to dig deep they shy away and lose forever any opportunity to soar high. One has to make the choice. He can continue the external fun and hold on to skin-deep peace, or he can return to God, allow Him to disturb the status quo and to lead him to inner peace. “Ahh, so it was not peace… I want this kind of peace, Father, the inner peace, I mean”, my telephone counselee interrupted.” He stopped sobbing and, before I could say anything, he put down the phone. I had my peace! - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail. Website: frdan.org. Prayer for the day: God our Father, grant us the grace of perseverance in our journey to inner peace. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Title: Inner Peace CHURCH BULLETIN: SAINT OF THE DAY: St. Helena, Empress. She became a Christian after her son Constantine’s accession. She was proclaimed Empress by her son. She spent most of her time in working for the poor. At 83 she supervised the building of the church of Mt. Calvary and traveled to Jerusalem to look for the cross where Jesus Christ died. Excavations were made and three crosses were discovered. She died in Rome on the 20th year of her son’s reign.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Aug 2013 22:41:56 +0000
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