Hello,
Father Justino was unavailable this month, so I’ll be writing for January 28th. We expect him to be available for February 28th.
I really like Mark’s Gospel reading for today, and it hits me right from the first line “Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed and not be placed on a lampstand?”
There are so many people who have so much light and so many talents to share in the secular world around us. As a kid growing up outside New York City, our family sometimes went to see the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor, and she has a giant torch to shed light. There was no hiding Lady Liberty, and you even see her when you fly to the New York area airports. My wife likes to watch some of the talent shows on television, and she is continually amazed when the singer and the voice are a total mismatch…like a little boy who sings like Luciano Pavarotti, or a little girl who sings like Emmy Lou Harris. In these examples, there is no hiding the light or the talent or the wide visibility.
Life isn’t always a talent show, but we all have God given talents. We need to figure out what they are, and put them to use for good. The talents can help us and others, reach higher, do better, and hopefully end up in Heaven some day. Jesus tells us that we are all required to help bring people to the Lord, and spread the good news. But how?
- Volunteer in your parish. Just sign up for something, do the jobs/tasks that are needed, and see what you like doing. Discover if you prefer working behind the scenes cooking for an event, or if serving the food is what you like, or maybe cleaning up. Take a leap of Faith and volunteer to teach religious education, as a teacher or assistant. You’ll have ample opportunity to be a positive reflection of God’s love, and let your faith shine. Our 31 awesome Reflection writers let their light shine once a month, to thousands of our GVM readers.
- Weave “bible talk” into your daily conversations. Refer to miracles, biblical first names, or figure out who the saint of the day is. If you know someone named Thomas, perhaps mention to them that today is the memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas (it is!).
- Offer to pray for someone when you hear a need for help. “I’ll pray for you” is a powerful way to help…emotionally by showing compassion and mercy, but also because prayer works. As Father Maurice told me years ago, there are 3 possible outcomes for prayer.1- Prayers are answered right now, 2-Prayers are answered when God wants them to be, or 3-you are given something else way better than what you asked for that solves the same issue.
See what you can do over the next few days to let your light shine for others to see, and perhaps they will follow your example. It’s not about you or me, per se, but rather helping the maximum number of people reach Heaven.
