Mystery of the day: Joyful
Saint of the day
St. Anthony of Egypt(Abbot)
He was an Egyptian and was also called St. Anthony of Egypt. He was born in a wealthy family in about the year 251 A.D. in Lower Egypt (in Cooma near Herokleopolis Magna) and inherited about 300 acres of land. He sold everything he owned and distributed it among the poor after keeping very little for his needs and his sister's needs as per the verses of Gospel ' Go sell what you have and give to the poor' (Mark 10:21). He entrusted his sister to a convent and went out of the village for a life of fasting, prayer and manual labor. He lived a life of solitude and lived in an enclosed old abandoned Roman Fort for about 20 years and he communicated with outside only through a crevice in the Fort and food was sent to him through it. The Governor of Alexandria once called St. Anthony and ordered him not to confess to Christianity publicly. But he refused. He was so saintly that once Emperor Constantine-I wrote him praising and requesting him to pray for him. The saint was credited by two local noble men for assisting them in recovering from skin disease. Those noble men founded the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony, which specialized in nursing of victims of skin diseases. St. Anthony is generally appealed by people to get cure from skin diseases.
Reflection for the day
Theme: Obedience: the greatest of the sacrifices
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king." ( 1 Samuel 15:22-23)
Today's reflection takes its lead from the ancient biblical aphorism: "Obedience is better than sacrifice..." a command from God through Samuel to Saul when Saul paid deaf ear to God's command by returning from the war with the spoil of the war, which supposed to be destroyed along side with the city.
His justification was not good enough for he said, it was to be offered to the Lord as burnt offering. It is in this line of thought that, God spoke to Samuel reminding of the need to obey:
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king." ( 1 Samuel 15:22-23)
However, in our society today, many prefer to take this path by getting to the top through fraud and cheating and at the long run offered part of the wealth as ransom in the Church.
Morally speaking no matter one's justification, what is wrong is intrinsically wrong. The end can never justifies the means. What is evil, is evil itself. And what us good remains good in itself. This therefore provoke this thoughtful question:
Does God delight in offering of tears, oppression or human sacrifices?
"No" remains the answer. For His detects and ordinances should be our watchword.
Man desires nothing but the product of the Lord's Prayer which Christ Himself taught His disciples - "provide us the daily bread." And in another part, the Scripture says "with the labour of your hands you will be blessed." (Psalm 128:2)
But not through crook and mischievous way of getting wealth.
Keeping to the detects and ordinances of God wins one eternal blessing, blessing beyond every sacrifice and human telling. As the Psalmist reechoes today in the liturgy of the word:
"To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God." (Psalm 50:23bc) We need salvation, for in it has all that we need or desire, but not in sacrifice with the ill-gotten spoil from debauchery. Let our sacrifice comes from our daily toil of sincerity, then our offering on the altar will be acceptable like the sacrifice of Abel the just, and Abraham our father in faith and bosom friend of God. Peace, be with you.
Let us pray
Almighty God, we thank You for the many blessings You showed on us every now and then. Bless us we pray with the grace to keep faithfully to Your detects and ordinances; and may our daily toil be characterised with sincerity of mind, so that our offering before You will not be in vain. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
© The ARCHIVE 17012022
Amen, thank you fr more grace.
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