BOKASYONG AGUSTINO MINISTRY

SPIRITUAL REFLECTIONS

The Golden Cross

Post. Sean Bernard Dijamco Tan

City of Manila, Philippines

This is a reflection on Lk. 9:43b-45.

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Let me tell you a little story that I read.

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A little girl had reached the high point in school when she was being initiated into the wonders of arithmetic. Minus signs, plus signs and division signs had made a deep impression on her. One day in church she looked intently at the crucifix on the altar. She whispered to her father, “What is a plus sign doing on the altar?”

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In one way she had her sign, confused. But in a far deeper sense she was absolutely right! The cross is a plus sign. The redemption pictured by the cross has put a big plus sign into life, into our life.

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Paying attention is a hard thing to do, especially if there are so many distractions around you. Even I, myself, can’t pay my attention fully to my logic teacher because of the different things that run in my mind. Brothers, our Gospel for tonight tells us two things. We have heard that Jesus has predicted for the second time His passion. “Pay attention to what I am telling you. The Son of Man is to be handed over to men. However, the disciples did not understand what Jesus is trying to say, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.” We are sometimes we are like the disciples. We are afraid. Natatakot tayo dahil baka hindi natin masolusyonan ang mga problema sa ating buhay. (We become afraid because of the fact that we can't give a solution to the problem). Sometimes, we even come to a certain point in our lives where we ask, is God sleeping? According to one reading that I read, this is the reason why some people do not follow the Lord fully. The Gospel for today tells us that we should pay close attention to the Lord and follow Him with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our strength. We should let his words sink in our minds and our hearts in order for us to listen to him fully. But listening to the Lord is not just listening that we people normally do like listening music, or listening to a friend. Listening to the Lord, like reading a book, or a reading, also entails understanding. If we don’t listen carefully to the Lord, we might not get what He is trying to say to us. It is certainly better to listen what the Lord says rather than just hearing it. For in listening, we listen out of love, we listen without doubt, while hearing only entails hearing. What you hear in one ear might come out in the other. Listening to Jesus is also doing his commands, his ways and listening to Him is listening to the Lord’s voice within us, the voice which tells us to give more and take less. The voice that tells us to be merciful and compassionate to other people. That voice that is called our conscience.

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Let us also remember that every day is a battle for us. New challenges and much bigger crosses will come to our life. And when these times come, we may lose our belief in the Lord. But this should not happen. Let us remember that Jesus died on the cross for us – to redeem us from our sins so that we “might not perish but may have eternal life.”

 

Let us always keep our faith to the Lord and trust Him. Let us make Jesus our inspiration that in every big tribulation, comes a much bigger triumph. These crosses cannot shake down our faith and trust in the Lord. For it is in trusting him, having faith in Him and listening to Him that we are able to win every battles in our life.