“HONEY FROM THE ROCK”
Daily Reflections
Friday, 20th October 2017,
Twenty Eighth Week in Ordinary Time
Rom 4: 1-8;
Ps 31: 1-2, 5, 11;
Lk 12: 1-7.
WALKING AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT (EPH 5:8)
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato’s quote puts across an actuality in every man and woman’s life. Sometimes it seems nearly impossible to move from this darkness to light, from hate to love. Many of us thus prefer to be in the darkness than the light.
Paul in the letter to Romans, gives us two models of faith, Abraham and David. Abraham with great dedication follows God’s word. Though he could worry about his childlessness and old age, he prefers to trust in God and is blessed by the Lord. The great King David, though he had sinned, receives mercy as a blessing for his faith in God. Both are thus made righteous. The Responsorial Psalm tells about the happiness of a person made righteous by God, for his/her confession of sins brings about forgiveness from sin and its guilt.
In the Gospel, we have religious leaders whose life is contrary to the words they preach. They think themselves to be righteous, but their actions bring upon them condemnation. They were in the darkness of their self-righteousness and external practices, and they could not see the LIGHT in their midst. In their darkness, they clouded the simple people in darkness as well. Jesus the true LIGHT today enlightens the people not to follow the actions of their leaders. He however exhorts them to practice what they teach.
In our lives too, we experience darkness caused by our sin, by some trauma or suffering caused by an incident or person. If untreated, we risk spiraling deeper into this darkness each day. But the scriptures today invite us to be children of the LIGHT. However deep be our darkness, God waits with open arms to bring us out of our darkness into light. It’s not our works that merit this, but our faith in God and his Son Jesus Christ. God reassures us, Be not Afraid, for we are worth more than all his other creations. Let us not miss this opportunity to be Children of Light.
Prayer: Lord, I am sorry for all my sin, my prejudices, my darkness. I am sorry for not coming to you earlier. May I realize that I am the child of Light. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen.
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