Meditation on Saturday of the 8th week in ordinary time, May 29, 2021
(Sirach 51: 12-20; Responsorial psalm 19: 8.9.10.11; Mark 11: 27-33)
Our meditation today has the theme: Care for Yourself in God’s Love. Someone can only give or share from himself or herself if he or she has something to offer. Someone cannot possibly give a plate of rice or a sum of twenty thousand to a neighbor, if he or she does not have rice or money. In order to support the spirit of Christian living in the sharing of God’s grace, the followers of Christ must possess much of God’s grace too.
We will not be run out of heavenly grace because it comes out from God Himself as the source of all graces. To ensure that the richness of God’s grace is always present in every person, he or she must always remain in the grace of God’s love. There is something to be avoided, that many of us tend to give more attention to mend the faith of neighbors, for example the zeal of their services.
In other words, there is a tendency from our part which is to interfere the spiritual life of others. We follow them constantly in how they follow the way of God, they live in the spirit of love, and they live in a social or communal context. As human beings, we naturally see ourselves as already mature and the ones who are better in the knowledge of faith or more qualified in doing things that can give impact to others’ life. Consequently, we do not have space or opportunity to care or even renew ourselves, and therefore, we are busy with other people’s affairs and maybe to guide them in God’s love. We may fall into an activism style.
Our self-fulfillment and caring for ourselves in God’s love should begin from the principle that God Himself has the power to keep us from stumbling and not completely overpowered by the evil one. In the first reading taken from the Book of Sirach, we are told about every believer who is obedient and loyal to God must seek what is demanded by his or her faith, namely the divine wisdom. By discovering God’s wisdom, we will be gifted with the grace of joy to wait for His glory to be fully revealed in each of us.
Furthermore, we need to preserve and foster the grace of God that has been poured out on us. We have to be constantly in searching and acquiring the power of God to fill us with his grace, like a thirsty soul longs for God that it may be satisfied in all times. If our attitude is to only wait in passive, it could be true that our readiness for the grace of God is merely a little one. But when we feel the urgency to acquire and to abide in the grace of God, we will be very happy and will seek and find it from the Lord.
Let us constantly remain in God’s love through our acts of love that we multiply along our journey of faith. Every act of love that we do must still be rooted in the name and power of Jesus Christ, who represents the glory and power of theAlmighty Father. Without being rooted in God’s power, every act of love from our part will lose its spiritual legitimacy and its impact to the real life among our fellow brothers and sisters.
Let’s pray. In the name of the Father … Almighty and ever living Lord, may we constantly and faithfully remain in Your love. Hail Mary full of grace … In the name of the Father …