IN THE LIHGT OF TRUTH

Meditation for Tuesday of the 10^th Week in Ordinary Time

(2 Cor 1:18-22; Mt 5:13-16)

There seems to be an impression that if we continue to push forward a false idea or action, after a long while, we may get accustomed to it and forget it to be false in the first place. Most governments and worldly powers operate more or less on this erroneous principle. What is untrue cannot become truth! A falsehood grows and gives birth to numerous offspring, which people deal with and forget the originating mother. But sooner or later, the edifice of lies shall crumble. On the other hand, truth is immutable; truth has a life standard that pierces through times and seasons, and remains alive in those who embrace it. We can rightly say that while people MAKE UP LIES, they SURRENDER TO TRUTH!

St Paul quickly pointed out in the first reading of today that the message Christ he preached is always true. There is no room for ‘half-truth’ or falsehood, it is always YES! Jesus is the Truth; in Him it is always Yes. There no double standard. All God’s promises find their truth and fulfilment in Jesus. “That is why we utter the Amen through Him, to the glory of God.” To surrender to truth is to surrender to Christ, and through the Gospel, we establish our lives in Christ, standing secure in truth with the seal of the Holy Spirit.

It is on this EDIFICE OF TRUTH, which Christ Jesus, that our hearts receive guarantee and assurance for the future and fulfilment of God’s promises. Then, our lights will continue to shine, withstanding the blowing winds of lies and deceit that fight against the light of truth. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Tuesday June 8^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

THE HEALING COMFORT

 Meditation for Monday of the 10^th Week in Ordinary Time
(2 Cor 1:1-7; Mt 5:1-12)

It is popularly said that you cannot give what you do not have. We need to receive in order to give out to others. This is the message St Paul emphasized at the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians. Interestingly, he talks about COMFORT as what we need to receive and give out to others.

Who needs comfort? It is the suffering and afflicted. If we are to comfort others, we need to receive comfort first. And for us to receive it, we must be in need of it, which is suffering and affliction. Should we then create affliction in order to be comforted? He answers, no! “For as we share abundantly in Christ’ suffering, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” So the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, through our SHARING IN THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST, comforts us in all our afflictions, “That we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

By meditating on and embracing the sufferings of Christ, St Paul says we learn how to patiently endure in suffering. This transforms our human suffering into a means of our participation in the sufferings of Christ, which brings us divine comfort. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

In the spirit of the beatitudes, the comfort we receive is what we must give out to others, building up their hope in Christ Jesus. In others words, the only comfort we have is the one we received and have given away! There are so many lonely and wounded hearts around us today; fear and uncertainty have build nests in many people. Let us go forward, marked with the sufferings of Christ, to bring His divine comfort to those around us. Amen.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Monday June 7^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com