May the Lord give you peace in the Holy Spirit. It is on 28th August 2023.
We celebrate the memorial of St Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church.
We reflect on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 8-10 and Matthew 23:13-22.
Are we tired of loving God?
St. Augustin exclaimed, “Late have I loved you, O Beauty so ancient and so new; late have I loved you! For behold, you were within me, and I outside; I sought you outside and in my ugliness, fell upon those lovely things that you have made. You were with me and I was not with you.”
This letter was written right after fifty years of the Resurrection of the Lord and even before the earliest gospel was ever written.
St. Paul uses “we” 65 times in the letter to refer to his companions namely Silvanus, Silas and Timothy and treats them as equals in the ministry. He gives the highest importance to three virtues as Faith, Love and Hope at the very outset of his letter.
According to St. Paul, our faith depends on the love that emerges out of our Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Love must not be expressed with words and symbols rather it must be in concrete actions in every moment of our Christian living.
God is not tired of loving us and therefore let us not be tired of loving one another to prove the love of God has not gone dry in our hearts.
Jesus reprimands the Scribes and Pharisees saying that they are distracted with too many details neglecting the basic and intimate relationship with God and one another. We read the eight woes. We know and demand our rights while most of the time forgetting our responsibilities to God and to the community.
The keys of knowledge must not shut the privilege of others entering. God did not create specific places for specific people on earth. Jesus reminds us that our oaths need not be fanatical and ridicule the commandments of God.
Let us engage in genuine and unselfish love for one another as we express our faith in God.
St. Augustine confessed, “Since you have made us for yourself and our hearts find no rest until they rest in you.”
May we not be a hindrance to any human being on earth in any way using our privileges of being in a particular place and status. May you have a good day.