May the Lord give you peace in the Holy Spirit.
It is on 11th August 2023.
We celebrate the memorial of St Clare, the Virgin and Religious. Wishing you all a happy feast of St. Clare. The first woman follower of St. Francis of Assisi. She founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a Franciscan religious order for women. She was the first to write the Rule of Life, the first monastic rule known to have been written by a woman. After her death, the Order is known in her name as the Order of Poor Clare. A lady solely depended on and was faithful to God and God’s providence through her untiring prayer and penance.
We reflect on Deuteronomy 4:32-40; and Matthew 16:24-28.
We begin to read the book of Deuteronomy, which teaches us to be faithful to one God. It is the collection of three long sermons of Moses before entering the land of Canaan.
God is God indeed. God is not a concept of human rationalization, or an abstract or a mystical being. God is the spiritual being living among us and participating in our daily lives and duly worshipped in our sanctuaries.
It reminds that how we need to appreciate and recall what God has done in the lives of the people of Israel. We need to learn to acknowledge God in our daily lives. When this world and the political and social structures are wilfully removing and not mentioning God in the discourse of lives, we have our responsibility to acknowledge God for all that God has done to us and to the world at large from time immemorial.
Let us begin to value the presence of God amidst us and acknowledge it as God deserves. The Gospel encourages us that our love must not end with ourselves it needs to be seen in the company of people. The foundation of our neighbourly love is from us. Our self-denial and personal penance are very much required for such deep committed love as a believer. May you have a good day.