DIVINE WHISPER with FR. PIUSRALPH EFFIONG, SMMM

Saturday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary Time of the Year (C)

Mystery of the day: Joyful 

Celebration: St Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

(540-604). He was a Prefect of Rome and later became a monk. He was papal legate at Constantinople. Five years after returning to his monastery, he was elected pope. He greatly influenced the life of the Church. He unified the liturgy and compiled the Gregorian chant named after him. One of Gregory's most far reaching actions was to send missionaries to England. This was to have been prompted by the sight of fair-haired Anglo-Saxon youths exposed for sale in the Roman slave market. He wrote many works on morals and dogma.

Table of the Word: 1 Corinthians 4:6-15; Luke 6:1-5

Theme: Be boastful in the Lord.

"What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Beloved in Christ, it is obvious that we all are dwelling in God's abundance, His gratuitous blessings upon us cannot be over-emphasizd. 

Indeed, we are nothing without Him, our beings solely depend on Him and only Him alone. 

Taking cognizance of this reality that St. Paul in his first epistle to the Corintnian Cburch avers:

"What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Many at times, we are being caught up in the web of pride, thinking that: who we are, where we are and what we have are the products of our efforts. Though our efforts may contribute to it but the primordial cause or foundation is God Himself. We need to acknowledge this fact, else we will be dwelling in foolish paradise where pride, ego and self-sufficiency will certainly becloud our vision.

Let us therefore, boast in the power of the resurrection as the beginning and end of our existence; for nothing last forever except the Word of God. Let this Word nurture our hearts and grant us the grace to be faithful to all that was entrusted to our care for the salvation of our souls, glorification of our God and betterment of others and the society we live in.

Peace! Be with you.

Let us pray

O God, who care for your people with gentleness and rule them in love, through the intercession of Pope Saint Gregory, endow, we pray, with a spirit of wisdom those to whom you have given authority to govern, that the flourishing of a holy flock may become the eternal joy of the shepherds. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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