MY SUNDAY REFLECTION: February 9, 2014,
5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 5:13-16
“TO BE A TRAIL BLAZER”
By Herbert B. Rosana, Ph.D.
Life is too short, but given the
shortness of life, we are given a task to accomplish. The sad part of living is that many people
think that this life is the only life and thus they set the parameters of their
goals based on the shortness of this life and thus they end up disappointed and
spend old age and even their lifetime in despair.
I have been following the daily homily
of Pope Francis, thanks to Vatican News service for carrying his sermons on its
pages. Of recent, the Holy Father spoke
of about the three graces we need to pray for.
These are, (1) To pray that we die at home-[meaning as a member of the
church in the state of grace], (2) to die with hope, and (3) to leave a legacy,
a human legacy. This is one of the best
homily I have heard from the Holy Father because it gave me lasting
impressions. I would think that others
who have heard or read about the homily will also be impressed by the
profoundness and the timeliness of the message.
Reflecting on the gospel reading for
today, I found the holy Father’s thought very similar to the message of the
gospel. To be the salt of the earth, and
to be the light. Salt and light. We put salt on our food to make it more
tastier, but Christ said, what would the salt be if it has lost its savour? What would the light be if we put it under the
bed? As Christians our calling is to bear fruit. And who said that salvation is a onetime
event? The Scriptures tell us that we
need to work out our salvation (Philippians 2:12). In order to be saved we must believe in
Christ and allow ourselves to be transformed.
The process of transformation takes time. In fact this is a lifetime event. So that by being transformed we need to be
renewed each time and to be perfected until the end. This is what it means to have hope, because
like the labourer we expect to receive our wages at the end of the day. To those who obey the Lord the reward is
immortality, to those who do not, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).
Perhaps the cares of this world, the
lust of life and the vanity of sin, must have dampen our souls. It may have cause us to lose our savour. If
so, let us remind ourselves of our baptism, that day when we were wearing white
clothing, ready for the saving waters to be poured on us, how the Lord made us
clean, washed us by His Holy Blood, and make us whiter than snow. Let us not be discouraged because of
sin. In every failure there is hope. This is the reason why we have the sacrament
of penance. We have the Eucharist to
nourish us. We have the Word of God to
guide and teach us. We have the
encouragement of the community of the faithful.
Let us not lose that savour. Let
us be the salt of the earth. We must be
an influence to the world. We must
sanctify the surrounding we find ourselves.
Even in the most secular activity we can infuse it with our faith. Like the light in the candle we can penetrate
the darkest corner of this world. Let us
be salt and light to our families, to our communities, and to our country, that
by seeing our good works, the people around us will see the light of Christ and
be encouraged to follow the path to salvation.
Let us become trailblazers that as we live and leave this short life we
can trail a blaze that can be seen by everyone.
So that those who will see and remember us can say, “here is a man who
has followed Christ and has loved Him until the end. Let us follow him”. With
this hope of Christ Jesus, we shall find ourselves in the Kingdom of God, in
the many mansions prepared for us. As
the prophet Daniel said: “But they that are learned shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars
for all eternity.” Daniel 12:3 (Douay-Rheims Version). Amen.
Blessed Sunday to everyone.
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