It is 15th July 2020. We celebrate the memorial of St Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. The readings are from Isaiah 10:5-7, 13-16; and the Gospel is from Matthew 11:25-27.
Some come into our lives as lessons while some others to lessen.
To be an instrument in the Hands of God is to be used at any time. Every instrument is for a particular use to bring the best out of it. We are the instruments of God’s love. Being or remaining an instrument is not the intentional purpose of God but becoming and doing that is possible by the very instrument. To equip the instrument, we need to place it in the loving Hands of God. “Blessed is the one whom God corrects; so, do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” (Job 5:17).
God can use us the way God prefers. We can never claim a credit for being an instrument. We just need to go by the flow of God to glow.
Pride never allows us to be the instruments of love, peace, and healing.
Competition makes us sick while complementing allows us to be healthy.
There is a thirst in most of us to win the other and look better than the other.
God uses Assyria as an instrument to punish not to destroy Israel, though Assyria does not realize this in this first reading.
Pruning does not kill the vine. Disciplines does not destroy the child when it is done out of love. The pain of pruning and discomfort of the discipline could be viewed as rejection and abandonment later period when dominated by pride.
The responsorial Psalm consoles us, “The Lord will not abandon his people.” (Ps. 94:14).
Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that the childlike openness allows us to explore and experience the deeper knowledge of God revealed through the Son of God. The unbelief is the outcome of pride. To accept the mysteries of God in the teaching and preaching of Jesus, we need to be childlike. Arrogant and all-knowing persons do not gain wisdom revealed in its simplicity. To understand the mystery of God one needs to accept the Son of God. Trusting and openness allows us to taste the Lord. Intellectual pride distances us from God but humility, intimacy, and trust in Jesus brings us closer to God. May we allow ourselves to be used in the hands of God to know and believe Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. May you have a good day. God bless you.