✝️ REFLECTION CAPSULE FOR THE DAY – Aug 18, 2021: Wednesday
“Being ready to let go of ourselves and get transformed to be a Volcano of Generosity!”
(Based on Judg 9:6-15 and Mt 20:1-16 – Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time)
One of the most powerful, spectacular and amazing natural wonder of the world is a Volcano!
>> The image of a Volcano brings to our mind a massive mountain, erupting fumes of smoke and lava.
A volcano represents mighty force.
>> A volcano stands for…
… immense heat
… great strength
The Gospel of the Day lets out a life-challenging message, delivered with much power and force…
… like a volcano!
We have the familiar parable of the Landowner and the workers from Mt 20:1-16 for our Gospel Passage today.
This landowner is quite unique and amazing in his approach.
He hired labourers for his vineyard first in the early hours of the day…
>> Then periodically throughout the day…
>> Finally, he hired some at the fag end of the day – to work only one hour.
The labourers in those days, like often in our society too…
… had no secure work and no consistent income.
They were given hired on a day to day basis.
>> Those hired late, were not sure of what wages they would be paid…
>> They had to, therefore, solely depend on the kindness of the one who had hired them!
The landowner in the Gospel, pays the labourers, not as per their work…
… but as per his kindness!
>> He pays the labourers, not just based on their hard efforts…
… but based on His big-heartedness!
The Landowner is like a Volcano – mighty and immense and great…
… in his generosity!
He is a Volcano of Generosity!
>> Like a volcano, he is mighty…
… in standing up to his principles in being firm to render benevolence.
>> Like a volcano, he is immense…
… in lavishing unexpected favours and rendering surprising packages
>> Like a volcano, he is great…
… in being fair in his dealings and yet going beyond justice to the needy.
This landowner is Jesus!
>> He is the Volcano of generosity.
>> Jesus has given us life and many essentials and comforts of life…
… in His generosity.
>> Jesus has strengthened us with His transformative words in the Bible…
… in His generosity.
>> Jesus has provided us with grace and mercy when we have been lost in sin…
… in His generosity.
>> Jesus has blessed us with His Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist to nourish us…
… in His generosity.
>> Jesus has showered us with love and affection when we have been broken and shattered…
… in His generosity.
All this He has done when we least deserved it.
>> Like the late-employed workers we did not deserve this great bounty.
Perhaps, some of us might identify ourselves with the workers who were employed at the start of the day…
… and we feel ourselves been cheated and treated unfairly.
>> We feel that since we have been more faithful and committed, we ought to deserve more!
But the words of the Lord, need to sink deep into our hearts, “My friend, I am not cheating you…
… Am I not free to do as I wish, with my own money?” (Mt 20: 13, 15)
Let’s accept it:
We have been treated justly…
… we have been given our just wages
… we have been paid rightly.
>> But we lose our temper, because we compare ourselves with others and feel, “I deserved more!”
We cry foul, because we judge other people and their efforts and say, “That fellow was not so much worthy!”
>> We shout unfair, because we look over on the other side of the fence and exclaim, “I did better than that one!”
>> We go blind to the fact that we have been treated justly, and instead crib that others have been prized with greater generosity.
This is the Volcano of Generosity – Jesus.
>> His generosity goes beyond our wildest imaginations.
>> His generosity crosses all human boundaries of expectations.
>> His generosity traverses way ahead of what we can think or conceive!
And this Volcano of Generosity invites us to be similar in our attitude and life…
>> Be a volcano of generosity…
… with encouragement, for those who fail in life, despite trying hard!
… with love, for those who lose heart and struggle with problems of life!
… with patience, for those who get irritated and annoyed with situations!
… with kindness, for those who constantly find faults and are pessimistic!
… with hope, for those who find no meaning in life and remain depressed!
The Volcano is one of the most powerful, spectacular and amazing wonder in the world.
>> If we can shape our lives, into a Volcano of Generosity…
… we too can be a powerful, spectacular and amazing witness to the Lord in this world!
Are we ready to let go of ourselves…
… and get transformed to be a Volcano of Generosity?
God Bless! Live Jesus!
– Fr Jijo Jose Manjackal MSFS
Bengaluru, India
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📖 Discovering the beauty of the Catholic Church through the Catechism
THE RESURRECTION AS TRANSCENDENT EVENT
>> “O truly Blessed Night,” sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, “which alone deserved to know the time and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead!”
>> But no one was an eyewitness to Christ’s Resurrection and no evangelist describes it.
>> No one can say how it came about physically.
>> Still less was its innermost essence, His passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses.
>> Although the Resurrection was a historical event that could be verified by the sign of the empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles’ encounters with the Risen Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something that transcends and surpasses history.
>> This is why the risen Christ does not reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, “to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people” (Cf. CCC # 647)
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Nelson MCBS 