COME TO THE LIGHT

You are all children of the light and children of the day. – 1 Thessalonians 5:5

For several years, I lived in darkness because of a childhood experience that I kept secret. I denied it and wanted to forget that it ever happened. But my body remembers what my mind chooses to forget. Guilt and burden hounded me.

When I was around eight years old, a relative who was five years older maliciously touched and violated me. I remember trembling and feeling numb every time I was sexually abused. I was confused with the way I responded to the conflicting sensations I felt. I was ashamed. Alone, I had no one to share my pain, not even to God.

“Step out into the light!” a good friend told me after I attended a course on inner child healing called Reparenting the Child Within. Step out I did and the Lord moved powerfully in my life.

I reconciled with my abuser. I learned that he was himself abused by our homosexual houseboy. It was a horrible cycle but God’s grace gave us the power to stop it. God has restored and opened doors for blessing upon blessing. We are now children of the light. Cindy Reynes (reynescpz@gmail.com)

Reflect: Are you still living in darkness? Despair not. Follow Jesus, the light of the world, and you won’t ever have to walk in darkness.

Father, choosing light over darkness was the best decision I ever made. Thank You, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sins.

St. Gregory the Great, pope and Doctor of the Church, pray for us.

Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to encourage one another. He asks us to do the same. The life of ministry today can be exhausting and, depending on one’s role, can also be disheartening. If we serve in the discipleship or formation of people and communities, we can experience a big dropout rate that can hit us hard. Investing in peoples’ formation, and then seeing them walk away, can leave us feeling like a failure.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-6, 9-11

1 Concerning times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief at night. 3 When people are saying, “Peace and security,” then sudden disaster comes upon them, like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, for that day to overtake you like a thief. 5 For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We are not of the night or of darkness. 6 Therefore, let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay alert and sober. 9 For God did not destine us for wrath, but to gain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live together with him. 11 Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, as indeed you do.

P S A L M

 1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of whom should I be afraid? (R) 4 One thing I ask of the Lord; this I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple. (R) 13 I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the Lord with courage; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord. (R)

GOSPEL

The authority of Jesus rests in His unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. It is His obedience to the will of the Father that gives Him authority. Let us imitate Jesus and experience His power in our ministries and preaching. If we rely on our own wisdom for our service, we run the risk of negating the power of the Holy Spirit.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

A great prophet has arisen in our midst, and God has visited his people.

Luke 4:31-37

31 Jesus went down to Capernaum, a town of Galilee. He taught them on the sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching because he spoke with authority. 33 In the synagogue, there was a man with the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out in a loud voice, 34 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” 35 Jesus rebuked him and said, “Be quiet! Come out of him!” Then the demon threw the man down in front of them and came out of him without doing him any harm. 36 They were all amazed and said to one another, “What is there about his word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.” 37 And news of him spread everywhere in the surrounding region.

think: Do you rely on yourself or the Holy Spirit when faced with difficulties and challenges in ministry? Why?

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THE POWER OF WORDS

Words have the power to encourage or destruct someone. Memorable words of inspiration from influential people in our lives encourage us to go on living despite life’s problems and tragedy. My own grandmother’s words echo in my heart until now: “Someday you will become a priest.” Those words served as my refuge during moments of crisis.

In today’s Gospel, we witness the power of Jesus’ words. He expels the evil spirits and those possessed by demons. He commands the unclean spirits to come out.

Saint Anthony, the founder of monasticism, was so moved by the Gospel story of the rich young man that he followed the voice telling him to “sell everything you have, give it to the poor, and come follow me.” Saint Francis of Assisi also had the same experience when he was passing by the Church of San Damiano that was threatening to collapse because of extreme age. Kneeling before an image of the Crucified Jesus, he heard a voice coming from the cross telling him three times: “Francis, go and repair My house which, as you see, is falling into ruin.” These saints experienced the power of words.

I know of a religious sister who was not in good terms with her mother. She narrated that she almost got aborted. Then she was temporarily “loaned” to her grandmother but never had the chance to go back to her family until she was eighteen. So great was her issue on rejection that entering the religious life became partly an escape for her. Inside, she suffered the same struggles she had with her mother in the image of her mother superior. Helpless, she surrendered her life of aimless running away from the issue. One afternoon, she entered the chapel and prayed, and there she found the statue of Our Lady of Mediatrix. She had passed by her image many times but that moment was different. She felt so strongly the presence of Mary as a mother when she read the words below the statue: “I am your Mother.” It was a grace of extraordinary healing.

Such is the power of words. Fr. Haluendo Amit, OCD

------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------

Have you allowed God’s Word to affect your life and move you to action?

Speak to me, Lord. I am listening. Amen.

Today, I pray for: ____________________________