In today's first reading, 2 Corinthians 1: 1-7, Paul greets the people of Corinth by saying: "[G]race and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." That same greeting is given to us today wherever we are and whoever we are. Also in this passage, Paul proclaims that our God is a God "of all encouragement," a "Father of compassion," one who "encourages us in our every affliction, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any affliction with the encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God."
Here in this life you and I are an extension of God. We are blessed by God in order to be a blessing to others. We are encouraged by God in our suffering, pain, and challenges of life in order that we, in turn, will encourage others as they encounter realities of this life that leave them baffled, confused, hurting or traumatized, not because God wills life's calamities but that, in them, we may seek the Lord, discover God's presence and rely on God's power to bring about our salvation.
The psalmist, in today's responsorial psalm, invites us to "taste and see the goodness of the Lord." With the psalmist, may we be able to say at the end of the day: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears." May I also accept the invitation of the psalmist to "[l]ook to him [God] that...[I] may be radiant with joy, and ...[my face] may not blush with shame." May I "glorify the Lord,...extol his name", and take "refuge" in the Lord" in every circumstance of life and especially in the difficult times.
No comments:
Post a Comment