Mt 5:13-16 You Are The Light!
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Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
If you want to be great, then make yourself small. This is not only one of Christ’s great teachings; it’s also practical science 101: the closer you are to the ground, the bigger something appears.
It’s hard to take seriously a 50ft statue of someone. It’s easy to take their grave seriously. We should love our humanity for what it is: small. We should love our God even more for making himself small.
Christ is always preaching at the top of some mountain. He makes himself small to make his Father great. All honor and glory to the Father! Whatever He does, He attributes to the Father. Even near the end of His life, the Lord said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
All of us love to be praised. We appreciate it and we value it. But do we reciprocate it? “The glory of man is God’s glory.” Who I am and what I am is a reflection of God. Do I realize that? Do I accept that? Do I take this seriously?
Sometimes we ask the question, “What good deed can I do today?” Imagine for a moment if you asked your boss, “Is there anything I can do for you today?” Well, can’t we ask this question to the greatest Boss there is?
You are the light of the world. No I’m not. I’m nobody. That’s what a lot of us think. That’s what all of us should think. I am nothing…without the Lord. I am nobody…without the grace of God. I would be simply dust, a speck, an instant, a moment, a passing shadow…if it were not for the Lord. But with the Lord, I can be great while small.
Last night I went to the movies to see “For Greater Glory.” I was pleasantly surprised to see on the big screen the life and martyrdom of Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio. Back in 2005, I had the grace to be in Guadalajara to witness this young boy’s beatification. The stadium was packed with over 50,000 people. And yet, at that time, I thought to myself, “So many young people will never know what he did.” Well, almost ten years later, and through this movie, millions of people (including hundreds of thousands of kids) throughout the world will know his name and all that he did out of love for God and at the young age of twelve.
We can be better. We just need to know better. We can be inspired. We just need to be inspired.
You are the light of the world. It seems to me that the only people inspiring these days are heretics. They have a loud voice and a ready audience.
It’s time we come out of the closet. I want to tell everyone that I am a Christian. And to make matters worse, I want to tell everyone that I am an orthodox Christian.
"It seems to me that the only people inspiring these days are heretics. They have a loud voice and a ready audience."
ReplyDeleteYesterday I was sitting in my counselor's office and we were speaking about the loud, obnoxious voice of the evil one and how I wish God would speak louder! Last week that still small voice did not cut it, not until the 'other' ones were silenced.
The second I read this statement I thought about that. We do have to silence ourselves and cut out the noise that surrounds us, (and we can) to hear God's voice.
But how can we be heard above the voices of the heretics? They are not going to go away, quiet down or shut up. Our society doesn't even know there is another voice if they even wanted to hear it.
That still small voice thing doesn't work with us.
So....we have to raise the volume of the TRUTH. That means each one of us needs to speak where we can be heard above the lies of the heretics and we need to encourage more voices to join ours, if we want the TRUTH to be broadcast throughout our world today.
I'm so glad you were able to see "For Greater Glory", Father! What a terrific movie. I thought the actor who portrayed Jose Luis Sanchez del Rio was so compelling. (Great acting all around.) I took my Protestant mom to see the movie the weekend it opened. She thought it was wonderful and told all her Protestant friends to go see it. It has a universal message. I cried throughout parts of the film. I recommend everybody see this film, especially with our religious liberty in jeopardy. (How wonderful that you witnessed Juan's beatification ceremony in Mexico.)
ReplyDeleteJose Luis Sanchez del Rio is an outstanding example of living small and sacrificing his own life for the love of God & the Catholic Church. His story definitely inspired me to reflect on how I can become a better Christian. I'd like to be a light in this World that's focused on Christ. Stop seeking praise and admiration but give out praise to others. Be a total reflection of Christ and his teachings.
Blessings,
-Jennifer :)