Daily Reflections - June 24,2013

BEING GREAT, BEING HOLY

 

It’s funny how very staunch Catholics now fall for the fad popularized by the big media networks — feng shui! Of late, rival networks have been bringing in so-called experts from Hong Kong and elsewhere to bring the “good news” of feng shui.

       Feng shui, horoscopes, astrology — they are all alike. Unknown forces, undefined factors (to the uninitiated) are manipulated, given a semblance of control or modified, in the hope that they would lead towards a desired goal and future or, at the very least, avoid the undesirable ones. While they all can be given a thin veneer of spirituality and made to appear compatible with Christian faith, they really have nothing to do with faith in a personal God, who is the ultimate Lord of history and author of our glorious destiny.

       St. John the Baptist was a great man by any standard. There is greatness in being simple and humble. I think it was Eleanor Roosevelt who once said this: “Nothing is simpler than greatness; indeed, to be simple is to be great.” Still, that greatness starts from the pole of the human, the earthly, from the individual himself, who happens to have that particular virtue.

       Let us look at it from the vantage point of God. This time, what do we see? I see a God who chooses. I see a God who calls. I see, too, a God who qualifies whom He calls. And what do I learn? I learn that this God who chooses and calls is the very same One who forms, prepares and qualifies the called.

       It happened with John the Baptist. “Yahweh called me when I was in the womb; before my birth He had pronounced my name.” His simplicity brought him greatness, but God’s call gave him much more than greatness. I learn that God and man need to work together, and John the Baptist is a shining example of the triumph of God’s grace and human effort. Holy. Simple. Great. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: God is calling you. Are you ready to be formed?

 

Thank You, Lord, for calling me to service. Thank You also for preparing me for my mission. I offer everything to You.