Who will separate us from the love of Christ? (Rom 8:35) The sufferings that St Paul went through are indescribable. Yet, he is keenly aware that the more he suffers for Christ, the more he love for Christ grows. He has experienced the power, the strength, and the deep inner joy that is the result of this love. And he states with assurance that hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and the sword have no power to detach him from Christ. These are powerful words. They bring to mind a Christian I know who is falsely accused of sodomy. He was tortured and paraded naked because of it. We asked him later, How did you survive such terrible humiliation? He replied: All I did was to keep before my eyes Jesus, who was stripped, mocked, scourged and spat upon. I received grace strength and peace from him and I told myself, Nothing is this world can take Jesus away from me. Many of us may have experienced strong moments of faith like this and it seems that what really mattered at the time was to remain in Christs love. His is a tender and compassionate love that todays Gospel likens to: as a hen gathers her brood under her wings(Lk 13:34) FRUIT: How do we act when we feel lost? As we look to Jesus can we recognise such moments as blessings? In silence let us allow God to fill our hearts with his love.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 05:39:47 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015