“I Know my Redeemer lives”

(Reflection for Thursday of 26th Week in Ordinary Time)
Job 19:21-27, Lk 10:1-12
Memorial of St Francis of Assisi

From the depth of his misery Job recognised that God is alive, and would not fail him. “For I know my Redeemer lives, and at last He will stand upon the earth.” So instead of evoking pity from his friends,  Job longed for God with complete trust that he shall behold Him at last.

This longing for God is transformed into a way of Life in the disciple, sent out to bear witness. Thus Jesus appointed the seventy disciples, and sent them out two by two. He instructed them to be detached from material things, and unnecessary and idle associations. He armed them with the Good news of salvation. “Heal the sick...and say, ‘The Kingdom of God has come near to you.’”

These instructions are forever relevant for all who want to bear witness for Jesus. Like Job, the true disciple is ever conscious of God's presence, and turns his/her heart towards Him. His words of preaching and acts of righteousness express in concrete terms his hidden longing for God. This silent longing for God impels from within. In other words, it is transformed in a force that carries him/her along the difficult pathway of witnessing to Jesus Christ.

Therefore, there's need for us to immediate the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi in following the directives of Jesus today, and detach from material grains. Francis abandoned all comfort to ‘rebuild the house of God.’ The call to witness carries within it the call to be detached from material things so as to be attached to God. This is how we are disposed to be conscious that our Redeemer lives, and are energised to proclaim it, even with our lives.

St Francis, pray for us.

Fr Jude Chinwe Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
October 4th, 2018.