COLLECT: “ALMIGHTY EVER-LIVING GOD, LET US FEEL YOUR COMPASSION MORE READILY DURING THESE DAYS WHERE, BY YOUR GIFT, WE HAVE KNOWN IT MORE FULLY, SO THAT THOSE YOU HAVE FREED FROM THE DARKNESS OF ERROR MAY CLING MORE FIRMLY TO THE TEACHINGS OF YOUR TRUTH. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Acts 8:26-40; Ps 65:8-9,16-17,29 and Jn 6:44-51.
The passage from the Acts of the Apostles is about the conversion of an Ethiopian Eunuch by Philip, who was initially chosen as one of the seven deacons for the distribution of food in the early Church. In the passage of the Gospel of John, Jesus continues to teach his listeners that he is the living bread that came down from heaven. He tells them that whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread he will give as life for the world (as life for us) is his Flesh. However, only those who listen to their Father and learn from the Father will come to Jesus to be given life eternal through the bread that came down from heaven.
St. Augustine once said that ‘God created us without us but he will not save us without us’. In other words, God did not need anything from us or our cooperation to create us but he wants us to cooperate with him to bring salvation to us. God will always play the most active role in our salvation. He always sends his Holy Spirit who urges us to do something to be saved; to listen and learn from the Father. The co-operation God wants from us as a response is to believe in his Son, Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
The Ethiopian Eunuch was saved when the Spirit urged and directed him to listen and learn from the Father as he read the scripture from the Book of Isaiah. He cooperated with God for his salvation as he read the scriptures, as well as inviting Philip to get in, sit with him and explain to him about who the prophet is saying this in the passage. This gave the Eunuch the chance to understand the scripture better as Philip explained it to him. He also permitted Philip to baptise him when they got to the water. Yes, his co-operation with God through Philip brought salvation to him.
God is always willing to save us. He always plays the most active role by sending us the Holy Spirit to prompt us concerning our waywardness and evil ways, thereby urging us to come back to him as a way of cooperating with him to save us. God always allows us to read about him, to hear him and to listen to him and to learn from him through his word and the Sacraments, either every day, or every Sunday. Sometimes we listen to God speaking to us through some of the outcomes of our waywardness and wrong deeds and he wants us to learn from that and respond to his call to repentance and conversion. Yet, some of us are not willing or ready to use the scriptures to cooperate with God to transform our lives. Sometimes, some of us even see the scriptures and their interpretations by competent men of God as a nuisance. Hmmmmm.
All the same, today, God is inviting us again to come and listen to and learn from him. Do not allow this golden opportunity to pass by you. Seize it, hold it tight and cooperate with God. Let us pray that we should always open our eyes of faith to see the opportunities that God gives us and the active role he always plays in our lives to save us. Let us always listen and learn from God through the promptings of the Holy Spirit and cooperate with him for our salvation. May Saints George and Adalbert intercede for us. Stay blessed and happy feast to all who bear the names of today’s Saints.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, THURSDAY, ON THE MYSTERIES OF LIGHT: ‘THE BAPTISM OF JESUS, THE WEDDING AT CANA, THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM, THE TRANSFIGURATION, AND THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST’. (WE PRAY FOR OPENNESS TO THE HOLY SPIRIT, PRAY TO JESUS THROUGH MARY, FOR REPENTANCE AND TRUST IN GOD, THE DESIRE FOR HOLINESS, AND WE PRAY FOR THE SPIRIT OF ADORATION) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “GRACIOUSLY BE PRESENT TO YOUR PEOPLE, WE PRAY, O LORD, AND LEAD THOSE YOU HAVE IMBUED WITH HEAVENLY MYSTERIES TO PASS FROM FORMER WAYS TO NEWNESS OF LIFE. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.
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