13th Sunday of Ordinary Time

06-28-2020Weekly ReflectionFather Prince Raja

When I offered the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on 19 June 2020, I got this reading from Dt 7:6 "Moses said to the people: "You are a people sacred to the LORD, your God; he has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own."

I want to let you know that your family is entrusted to the care and protection of Sacred heart of Jesus in this uncertain and pandemic situation. Since 28 June 2020 is my last weekend in our three parishes, I express my sincere gratitude for your help to our parish, I assure that my prayers are there for your family in the future too, we are going to have a new administrator Fr Aruldoss Savarimuthu, let's welcome Father to our parishes and I kindly ask your generous support and help to our parishes under the administration of Fr. Aruldoss.

God invites every person to be close to him, to trust him and love him. From the beginning God called human persons to be with him for he is the creator for he has made every human person in his own image and likeness and desires to have constant contact with him. He invites everyone to a close personal relationship with him and when they do wrong and go astray; he invites them to a spirit of repentance to make them live a life worthy of him. He wants everyone to observe his commands and be close to him in obedience and self-sacrifice. God speaks to us in many ways, particularly through the word of God. This Sunday scriptural readings provide useful background. This leads us to better understand the word of God and link it with our daily activities of life in a meaningful way. In the Gospel of today Jesus invites his disciples to a great sacrifice even death itself for Christ. He adds that it is necessary to give and share what we have with others. Every giving in the name of Jesus involves a sacrifice and a reward. The first reading too gives us the very same theme of giving in the name of God and there will be God becoming beneficial to the person. In the second reading Paul invites us to be buried in Christ through Baptism in order to receive new life. In and through our Baptism we die to sin and enter into new life with God.

Today as we carry the message home, let us remember our Lord's words to us: he who receives or gives hospitality and help to a prophet will have the reward of a prophet. He who helps those who are preaching and teaching the message of salvation, the good news of Christ, at home or abroad, will himself share the reward of these preachers and teachers. So let us remember the promise of Jesus: even a cup of cold water will not go unrewarded; every little helping hand we give to bring our fellowmen to their eternal reward will help us to reach the same goal. Let us then keep this message in mind to reach out to others and discover the presence of Jesus in them.

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