Soul Pupose
Matthew 7:7-12 (Gospel on 13-Mar-2014)
7 'Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
8 Everyone who asks receives; everyone who searches
finds; everyone who knocks will have the door opened.
9 Is there anyone among you who would hand his son a
stone when he asked for bread?
10 Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?
11 If you, then, evil as you are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
12 'So always treat others as you would like them to
treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.
There are many circumstances in life where we
cannot escape answering certain questions posed to us. And then among such questions
there are few which shake our belief in fundamental aspect of life; such as love,
trust, faith, God, even our own existence. Each one has their own way of ‘tackling’
these circumstances and questions. Some choose to face it with courage, some
with cowardice, and some by being pacifists. And there are many who find wisdom by not obliging for with an instant answer to such though provoking questions. Through today’s gospel, Jesus thrusts upon us a question
that pierces our hearts and minds. “Is
there anyone among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or
would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish?”
Let’s spare a moment and look at some worldly statistics. One
in three girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18. In the U.S. alone, 93% of juvenile sexual assault victims know their attacker, 34.2% of attackers are family members and 58.7% are acquaintances and only 7% of the
perpetrators are strangers to the victim. The human rights watch of India
testifies that more than 7,200 children, including infants, are raped every
year and experts believe that many more cases go unreported. Rape and
defilement are common crimes in Uganda. Some of the most secretive and guarded
incidents happen between a parent and a child. Similar to this information, I
can present a litany of abuses which children go through; either by the hand of
their own parents or by strangers under the influence of parents, from around the world. Now you might
wonder what is the relevance between all the above and today’s Gospel. Well my
friends, there is much relevance. Instead of handing over love, security,
faith, respect, honor, comfort and everything good (read it as feeding bread) to their
children, there are numerous parents who leave no stone unturned to destroy the
very spirit of their children by offering them as prey to molesters, and predators, for sexual gratification, child labor and in some cases; victims
of human sacrifice (read it as feeding stone). They are handed snakes instead of fish. And in many cases there is no guilt attached.
Yet, our good Lord Jesus; who is God himself, does
not discredit the love of humans – as parents towards their children. With confidence
in such paternal love for children He asks if there is anyone who would do the
unexpected, the unthinkable, to their children. His confidence in the human
race is because every person originates from His Father in heaven. And His
Father in heaven is nothing but love. He knows and we too should always remind
ourselves that there millions of parents who offer unconditional love and
everything that is good (or in other words righteous virtues; because God alone is
good). The most famous of all narratives of great love by a parent for his
child; is the story of “The Prodigal Son”. How the father embraced his son and
fed him with the best of all that he had, even though the son had smeared
disobedience, disrespect and callousness towards his father and his own life.
St. Therese of Lisieux was fed so much love and fear of The Lord, that she
joined her other sisters in becoming a Carmelite. St. Maria Goretti was fed so
much love, respect and righteous values, that even at the age of 9 she was
fully aware of her body and soul’s sanctity, and guarded it until her last
breath, which in fact faced the terror of mortal danger at that juvenile age. There are numerous such examples of unconditionally loving parents, through out history (scientist & archaeologists have references of even uncivilized races of human kind who have shown immense love and care for their children.
My beloved friends, this is why God; Jesus; assures
us, that if we humans; mortals filled with concupiscence and sin, can still be
capable of being admirable parents to our children, then how much more can God –
who is without any blemish of sin; source of all creation; who is Himself love, will be generous in feeding all of creation with His goodness, if we just ask in
faith and holiness. He loves us so much that "that He gave His only begotten Son..." (John 3:16). Therefore His commandement to us, “So
always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the Law and the Prophets.”
Amen.
God bless,
John Roger Anthony
No comments:
Post a Comment