Sunday, February 17, 2013

To help Jesus help the needy



Monday - Lenten Weekday  18th February 2013
Today’s readings
Leviticus 19: 1-2.11-18
Psalm 18: 8-9.10-15
Matthew 25: 31 – 46
“Though we do not have our Lord with us in bodily presence, we have our neighbour, who, for the ends of love and loving service, is as good as our Lord himself,” said St. Teresa of Avila. In the life of a beggar there is Jesus Christ. In the life of a prisoner there is Jesus Christ. In the life of someone who is thirsty there is Jesus Christ. In the life of a naked there is Jesus Christ. In the life of a hungry person there is Jesus Christ. Jesus is travelling incognito. He goes around with a disguised identity as the needy. Jesus’ identity is hidden in the needy. If you help the needy you are helping Jesus. He will say to you: “whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25: 40).
You can help the least brothers and sisters of Jesus by giving alms. Remember, charity is a virtue of the heart and not of the hand. On this St. Leo the Great had this to say: “We know that, before the merciful God, the generosity of alms exceeds fasts, as the Lord says: ‘Give alms, and all things will be clean for you’ (Luke 11:41) from sordidness of our sins, let us not deny alms to the poor, so that on the day of retribution, in order to gain the mercy of God, we might be helped by our works of mercy” (Matthew 25: 34 – 40).

Monday, February 4, 2013

BE GOOD


                                          

                    Memorial of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr
                                           Tuesday of the 4th Week
                                            “Agatha means good”
1. Heb 12: 18 – 19. 21-24
Psalm 47: 2-4.9-11
3. Mk 6: 7-13

Today we are celebrating the memorial of St. Agatha. “Good is the force and meaning of her name, Agatha in Greek, for she has been granted us, given as a gift, by God himself, the very fount of goodness...Agatha, her goodness fits both her name and her reality. Agatha who has won her good name by her noble deeds, and in that very name proves that her deeds were noble. Agatha, who even by her name so draws men, too, by her example, so strive with her without delay towards the true Good, who is God alone.” Agatha was a good woman. She shared in the goodness of God. She is good to us. The word good means: morally excellent; exemplary; upright; obedient; humane; admirable; commendable; virtuous, righteous, pious; well-behaved; hounourable; compentent and skillful. We can rightly say: a good name; a good manager, a good man; a good woman, a good girl; a good boy.

In being good remember these principles. The first principle is the golden mean: virtue is in the middle. Virtue is a mean between the defect and the excess. This view is partly captured by the Haitian proverb: “The man who is too good is a fool.” The golden mean is again enshrined in the following proverb: “The man who is all honey flies will eat him.” To cite an example generosity is a mean between extravagance and selfishness.

The second principle is the principle of the “Other.” Your goodness is not for yourself but for the other. “To the good I would be good; to the not-good I would also be good, in order to make them good,” said Lao-tzu.  If there is the “I” there is the “Other.”

The third principle is the principle of visibility. “In a place where good is done, bad deeds are seen at once” (Swahili proverb). Be good.


Prayer:  
God help me to hate the bad that I may not be bad. Help me to do the good that the good may follow me.  In short, help me to be good. Amen!

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