Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Transform our heart

The psalmist from the texts in the Roman CatholicLectionary today reminds us of the omnipresence of God. There is no physical location in Creation or psychological situation to which we can go to escape God. The Church celebrates the feast today of Saint Augustine of Hippo, Bishop and Doctor of the Church. His history is one of discovery by living that “ourheart shall find no rest until it rests in you (God)” Friar Jude Winkler comments on the thanksgiving expressed by Paul to God for the conversion of the Thessalonians in the passage today from his first letter to them. Paul indicates that he has approached the people of Thessalonica with the attitude of not requesting material support from them and allowing the work done by God to open their minds to come to fruition with his support. We have the opportunity to witness life changing movement in others through their relationship with God when we assemble with believers as the Church today. We can raise our voices in thanksgiving for the saints like Augustine who inspired by God have changed the direction of many from selfish pursuit to selflessness. Unfortunately, today, we seem too able to see the hypocritical scribes and Pharisee types who are condemned by Jesus, in the strongest language, in the episode from the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus declared that the bad action of people like these false leaders dates back to the time of the Patriarchs. We know that such behaviour is present today. Our inspiration is not with those who choose a path of death. It is with those transformed to be fully alive in their relationship with God.

No comments:

Post a Comment