September 27, Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest
Daily Readings: Jb 3: 1-3. 11-17. 20-23/ Ps 88: 2-3. 4-5. 6. 7-8/ Lk 9: 51-56
The evangelist Luke presents the ministry of Jesus in the format of a journey. This journey has three phases: (i). Jesus’ ministry in Galilee (Lk 4:14 – 9:50), (ii) Jesus’ ministry on his way to Jerusalem (Lk 9:50 – 19:27), and (iii) Jerusalem ministry (Lk 19: 28 – 24:56). Jesus says, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way” (Lk 13: 32, 33). According to some Scripture scholars, the words ‘today, tomorrow and the third day’ refer to the above three phases of his ministry. That is ‘Today’ refers to his Galilean ministry, ‘tomorrow’ refers to his ministry on the way to Jerusalem, and ‘the third day’ refers to his Jerusalem ministry.
It must be noted that in all three phases, Jesus encountered rejection. At the beginning of his ministry, his own villagers rejected him and went to the extent of killing him (Lk 4: 28, 29). Secondly, knowing that he was a Jew and on his way to Jerusalem, the Samaritans rejected him. Thirdly, in Jerusalem, he was rejected by all those in authority and the crowd and was hung on the cross as a criminal. This is to tell us that feeling rejected is part of every human being. However, like Jesus, we need to gather ourselves and proceed on our life journey.
Though rejection is something that we cannot avoid in our lives, if we properly approach it and rightly handle it, it can be of great help for our personal enhancement and self-growth. An apparent perception of life reveals to us that failures and rejections are the negative and unnecessary parts of our life. But a right perception of life will reveal to us that failures and rejections are very much positive and they contribute a lot to the growth of human maturity and enhancement of happiness. Quite often we think that, if it were for the rejections and failures, our lives would be happy. But the truth is that it is because of the rejections and failures that our life gains momentum. But for the rocks, will there be songs in the journey of a river? But for the valleys and hills, will there be beautiful scenery? It is the rejections and disappointments that make us more mature and grown. So let us try to straighten up our understanding of rejections, failures, and disappointments that we encounter in our lives.
Radio Veritas Asia (RVA), a media platform of the Catholic Church, aims to share Christ. RVA started in 1969 as a continental Catholic radio station to serve Asian countries in their respective local language, thus earning the tag “the Voice of Asian Christianity.” Responding to the emerging context, RVA embraced media platforms to connect with the global Asian audience via its 21 language websites and various social media platforms.
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