GOD'S MESSAGE FOR MY BIRTHDAY

26	May Tuesday

WELL DONE

“I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do.” – John 17:4

Sonny de los Reyes, founding elder of my Catholic community, Serviam, was an amazing teacher of the faith and the most committed disciple I knew. When he spoke, everyone listened. And we all aspired to know our faith and love God as much as we believe he did. Rose Cabrera, our executive director of the Jesuit Volunteers Philippines program, was the most loving and caring staff member of the office. During my one-year stint, she visited all 35 of us volunteers who were scattered all over the country. She knew each of us by heart — our struggles, our idiosyncrasies, even the names of our siblings.

Lani Cabinte, a fellow member in our youth ministry and a promising doctor, deferred her wedding by several years to take care of her ill mother. She chose to delay her dream in order to be there for her family. These three people had two things in common: they gave their all to their callings but also died untimely deaths. Because their demise came so early, it was easy to see that they lived their lives thus far to fulfill their purpose. They were all servants in their own way. They are well remembered, and God was glorified through their service. George Gabriel

REFLECTION:

Have you found your calling?

Lord, may I glorify You by accomplishing the work You’ve given me to do.

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1st READING

Paul tells the leaders of the Church in Ephesus that he has no regrets about anything he has said and done in proclaiming the Gospel. He seems to indicate to them that he believes he is going to his death in Rome but this does not change anything he has stood for in the past. I do not know about you, but I hope and pray that I have a similar conviction as to the life I have lived when I come to the end of it.

Acts 20:17-27

17 From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the church at Ephesus summoned. 18 When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. 19 I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me because of the plots of the Jews, 20 and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. 21 I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus. 22 But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem. What will happen to me there I do not know, 23 except that in one city after another the holy Spirit has been warning me that imprisonment and hardships await me. 24 Yet I consider life of no importance to me, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace. 25 “But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. 26 And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, 27 for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God.”

P S A L M

Psalm 68:10-11. 20-21

R: Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

9 [10] A bountiful rain you showered down, O God, upon your inheritance; you restored the land when it languished; 10 [11] your flock settled in it; in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy. (R) 19 [20] Blessed day by day be the Lord, who bears our burdens; God, who is our salvation. 20 [21] God is a saving God for us; the LORD, my Lord, controls the passageways of death. (R)

G O S P E L

Today is the Feast day of St. Philip Neri, one of the great saints of Rome. It is reported that on his death, they discovered he had a number of cracked ribs due to an enlarged heart. Doctors may say that he died of a disease that caused his heart to grow too big; I prefer to believe that in his life he opened his heart to the love of God that God filled him beyond what his body could endure. His enlarged heart was a sign and symbol of his great capacity to love both God and his neighbor.

John 17:1-11a

1 Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, 2 just as you gave him authority over all people, so that he may give eternal life to all you gave him. 3 Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. 4 I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. 5 Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. 6 “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8 because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, 10 and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. 11 And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

my reflections

think: I hope and pray that I, too, will have no regret about what I have done in proclaiming the Gospel at the end of my life.

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GoD Will not AbAnDon us

One of the greatest fears any child has is the fear of abandonment, particularly by his or her parents. Of all the mammals born into the world, the child or offspring of the human being is the most dependent. It is also the most dependent for the longest period of time on its parents. It seems somewhat ironic that the smartest and most powerful of earthly beings is so defenseless and helpless as a child! I wonder why God designed it so?

Perhaps we see something of the wisdom of God in this arrangement as He is teaching those willing to reflect on this matter of our dependence on another, namely Himself, God. The very fact that people are willing to devote so much of their lives to the care of their children is surely a sign that there is something bigger in life awaiting us through faith. It is also a sign of the godlessness of our age that parents are choosing to have fewer children and many are choosing not to have children at all.

Human fulfillment, the greatest expression of human love, is found in our ability to give ourselves to others. The most common and powerful expression of this comes with marriage and the raising of a family. To the degree that we are abandoning such commitments in the numbers that we are today is a sign of both the godlessness of our age and the lack of willingness of people to commit themselves for a long period of time to a particular task.

The world has fallen for the lie of individualism, namely that I can be fulfilled in and by myself, in following my own dreams to the exclusion of other people. It is an empty and hollow promise as we are communal beings who need relationships with others in order to reach fulfillment, both in this world and the next. One of the great challenges facing the Church and society is to reawaken in peoples’ hearts the need and desire for lasting commitment to others. Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL

Reflection Question:

What are the levels of commitment I have to others? Have I fallen for the lies of the world and failed to recognize the need for lasting relationships in my life?

Holy Spirit, strengthen my resolve to be committed to the people I love and the commitments I have made no matter what the cost will be to me personally.

St. Philip Neri, Priest, pray for us.