Blessings beyond despair

The WORD in Other Words by Fr Ernesto Lagura SVD (Philippines)

Wednesday Week 23 Ordinary Time, Col 3:1-11, Lk 6:20-26

The paragraph preceding the verses quoted above narrates that Jesus came down a mountain with a crowd of disciples “who came to hear him and to be healed of their   diseases.” Some of them were physically sick: the crippled, the blind, deaf, mute. Others were spiritually sick: those suffering from malaise, depression, despair, doubt, anger, hatred. The Lord cured them all, So will He cure us of our disease. “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”   

During the dark and turbulent moments of our lives, whom shall we call? Let us go to the Lord who gives His blessings, strength, and equanimity to the poor and to the   downtrodden, to those who weep, and are rejected. In good times and in bad, the Lord   is always there with his blessings (LK. 6, 20-22 and Matthew 5, 1-11).   

Oftentimes, when we are down and troubled, we are tempted to ask God: “Why  did You allow this thing to happen to me?” Our weak faith gets shaken, despair creeps in, and hope becomes an elusive dream. It is precisely in those “dark nights of the soul” that we should pray more to Him and ask for His blessings, strengthen ourselves and recall His words in the Beatitudes. 

St. Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (3:8—11)   writes thus: “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing   Christ Jesus, my Lord. For His sake, I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard   them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ… I want to know Christ and the power   of His resurrection and the sharing of His suffering.” 


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