DIVINE WHISPER with FR. PIUSRALPH EFFIONG, SMMM

SATURDAY OF THE 15TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR

Mystery of the day: Joyful 

Celebration for the day: St.Mary Magdalene (Feast)

She was one of the few who remained with Christ during His agony on the cross. With two other women, she went to His tomb and found it empty. It was to her that our Lord first appeared after His resurrection. He asked her to announce His resurrection to the apostles.

Theme:  Be Renewed in Christ.

"Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." (2Corinthians 5:17)

The only constant phenomenon in life is change. In a more clearer term nothing last forever. Everything undergo change upon changes to suite space and time and so is our lives. 

In the light of this scenario, that the Church invites us this morning as we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene who is referred to as the first witness and announcer of the news of the risen Lord; to gird our loin so as to be renewed in Christ. 

In our spiritual journey, we keep on making effort to be renewed, some in a slow state others faster but above all effort must be made daily to get it right else we derail from the right path.

Today we have seen as St. Paul in his second epistle to the Corinthians Church proclaiming the need to walk away from the old self and be renewed in the Lord:

Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come." (2Corinthians 5:17)

This walk away form the former self entails a paradigm shift from comfort zone or detaching from what pleases us and attach to that which the Lord desires. We are quite familiar with the story of this woman of faith - St. Mary Magdalene despite her sinful beginning through the grace of God made a bold step to walk away from that world of fun and then identify with the cross of Jesus through sincere contrition, and later became the harbinger if the goodness if the Lord's resurrection. 

Beloved in Christ, in our little way let us make sincere effort to get rid of our former selves and put on a new man as Mary Magdalene did. This can only be possible when we let go hurt inflicted on us and malice then turn to see Jesus in every situation of our lives. Peace, be with you!

Let us pray

O God, who for the glory of your name and the salvation of souls bestowed on the Priest Saint Lawrence of Brindisi a spirit of counsel and fortitude, grant, we pray, that in the same spirit, we may know what must be done and, through his intercession, bring it to completion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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