I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life. JN 8:12
ISAIAH 58:7-10
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Our love cannot be lip service only. I cannot say I love You, Lord, and I ignore those in need, those who are hurting, those in need of compassion, those who are hungry not just for bread but for sympathy and understanding. I dare not say I love You, Lord, and I avert my eyes from the terrible suffering and injustice that goes on in the world. I may not be able to do much, but I must do what I can. Above all, I must pray for we know that prayer can move the most hardened heart.
I must share what I have. I must cast my bread on the water. Anything that I have that I do not need but hoard anyway is a sin against those in want. Too long, Beloved, have we made excuses for storing up for a rainy day, while many will not live to see another sun rise. Apathy and indifference are the bane of most of our lives.
Lord, give us eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to serve, feet to go where we are needed, and above all, a heart to love. So on the day when You come to judge the living and the dead, I may be counted among the sheep on the right whom You will welcome into the home of Your Father.
Thus says the Lord:
Share your bread with the hungry,
and shelter the homeless poor,
clothe the man you see to be naked
and do not turn from your own kin.
Then will your light shine like the dawn
and your wound be quickly healed over.
Your integrity will go before you
and the glory of the Lord behind you.
Cry, and the Lord will answer;
call, and he will say, ‘I am here.’
If you do away with the yoke,
the clenched fist, the wicked word,
if you give your bread to the hungry,
and relief to the oppressed,
your light will rise in the darkness,
and your shadows become like noon.
PSALM 111(112):4-9
The good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
He is a light in the darkness for the upright:
he is generous, merciful and just.
The good man takes pity and lends,
he conducts his affairs with honour.
The just man will never waver:
he will be remembered for ever.
He has no fear of evil news;
with a firm heart he trusts in the Lord.
With a steadfast heart he will not fear;
open-handed, he gives to the poor;
his justice stands firm for ever.
His head will be raised in glory.
The good man is a light in the darkness for the upright.
1 CORINTHIANS 2:1-5
My Soul's Beloved,
My Soul's Beloved,
Too many of us, I included, mistakenly think we need degrees and certificates, and be Scripture and theology scholars before we open our mouths to evangelize. This is not just a lie but an excuse to justify our negligence in carrying out the mission You entrusted to us to preach the Gospel by our lives. All we need to do is to testify clearly what You have done for us. How You saved us, how You stretched out Your hand and saved us from the pit of destruction. We just need to tell others our story of how You came to us and rescued us. We allow ourselves to be tempted into believing that we need special gifts to evangelise; however, St. Paul, the greatest evangelizer of all time, clearly refutes this idea. We just need to tell our story.
To do this effectively, I need to turn my gaze away from myself, my self-consciousness, and my fears of inadequacy and rejection. Nothing is more important than to share with someone who is struggling that there is hope. My story is the most powerful testimony of how God has loved me, cared for me, and saved me, and how I experience joy and peace in the midst of tribulations. It is a story of hope that many need to hear and experience for themselves, and I need to tell it because it is mine, and no one can tell it more effectively than me.
When I came to you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ. Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God.
MATTHEW 5:13-16
My Soul's Beloved,
I am a member of Your Body. I belong to the Church You founded. I am baptized, and by virtue of my baptism, and because You are my Brother, I am an adopted daughter of Your Abba whom You have taught to call my Abba. As a child of God, I receive a share in Your inheritance as co-heir with You. This is the work of salvation that You wrought for me by Your life, passion, death, and glorious resurrection into heaven.
The Holy Spirit makes His home in me, and because I am united to You and the Father in the Holy Spirit, I must be salt and light in the world. If I do not fulfill the mission that being a child of God imposes on me, then I am good for nothing. Like adulterated salt and a light that is hidden under a lamp-stand, I fail to fulfill the purpose for which I was created, redeemed, and sanctified. When You come again in glory, Lord, if I am numbered among the sheep on the left, I will have no one to blame but myself for not fulfilling the mission for which I was created. I alone will be responsible for being damned forever.
Keep me faithful, Beloved, to the end. You know how weak and frail I am. Keep me in Your Sacred Heart, act through me as I rest in You.
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give the praise to your Father in heaven.’
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