Reflections on CHRONICLES 24:17-15/ PSALMS 89:4-5, 29-30, 31-32, 33-34/ MATTHEW 6:24-34
By Frank Savadera, SJ
I
begin my reflection with the Psalm for today:
For ever I will
maintain my love for my servant.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my
servant: Forever will I confirm your posterity and establish your throne for
all generations.”
For someone (myself) who had
been a Jesuit for 16 years and a priest for 5 years, this quote can be quite
meaningful. What more for the Jesuits
who just celebrated their 60th anniversaries as priests this week
(i.e., Frs. Arevalo, Ferriols, Diaz,
Healy, Bishop Claver). Isn’t it a great
source of consolation ... having to choose this life ... to live with
interesting fellows (never a dull moment with everyone) ... to wake up alone in
your room in the morning ... and having the time and joy to pray ... and
hearing God speaking in a most convincing way:
I WILL MAINTAIN MY LOVE FOR YOU
FOREVER. More than anything ...
especially for those discerning their vocation and direction in life, a one crucial and
meaningful component of our discernment will have to be an experience of GOD
professing his undying love for us. How powerful
and empowering is this profession of love from God? We will need to experience it.
SECOND: If there is
perhaps one single concrete manifestation of how we count on this LOVE ...
isn’t this expressing our TRUST, our
CONFIDENCE in Him. This is easier said
than done. Yet, we ask concretely: How do we express our LOVE for and CONFIDENCE in
God who is professing his UNDYING LOVE for us?
Our Gospel simply tells us: STOP
WORRYING! To serve God is to STOP
WORRYING ... and TRUST!
Worrying is normal, isn’t it? Most of us can be quite
WORRIERS! There is nothing wrong with
that. But a CHRONIC WORRIER? Always FEARFUL ... always AFRAID! For one, we will need to understand where
that fear or worry is coming from. Some
worries are more serious than others.
But our fears and anxieties can actually be so intense (ANXIETY DISORDER
na yata yan) that they can get in the way of discerning ... of following the
will of God. Believe me .... I’ve seen
this: because of intense fear and
anxiety ... some eventually waived a possible decision to decide on important matters in their lives. SAD YAN ... di
ba? Go with the flow na lang!
The Gospel speaks to us about being faithful servants ... and to
do so simply suggest: STOP WORRYING and
DEPEND on the MASTER who provides for you ... depend on Him who professes his
undying love for you. We call this a
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE . We thus allow ourselves always to experience surrendering our control, coming to grips with experiences that are
new, exposing ourselves to others who may have different impressions of us
... and what for are all these???? To
challenge us to recognize what is truly important ... what truly matters: THERE IS A GOD WHO PROFESSES HIS LOVE FOR US
and WE ARE CALLED TO TRUST and DEPEND ON HIM.
I think this is what we can learn from the life of St. Aloysius
Gonzaga – our saint whose feast we remember today. Aloysius was the eldest son of FERRANTE, the
marquis of Castiliogne. His father truly
had high hopes for him to be a person of influence in Italian society. Imagine how his father flew into rage when
Luigi asked to be a priest. But Aloysius
was so persistent that at 17 years, he renounced his inheritance. His father had to give in to the son. Writing the Jesuit provincial then, the
marquis said: “I
merely say that I am giving into your Reverence’s hands the most precious thing
I possess in all the world.”
At 23 years old, Aloysius
got very sick because of the plague and died.
He is the patron saint of students, of Jesuit novices, of the sick and dying.
TODAY we are asked in faith, to believe in the GOD WHO PROFESSES
HIS UNDYING LOVE FOR US telling us:
FOREVER I WILL MAINTAIN MY LOVE FOR MY SERVANT.
To be that faithful servant simply means: TO STOP WORRYING ... to find in our hearts to
TRUST and DEPEND on God.
Aloysius Gonzaga shows us the way to FAITHFULNESS.
