How do you, in the light of faith in Christ, handle rejection? - Daily Reflections September 2,2013

ACCEPTING REJECTION

 

Have you ever experienced rejection? Chances are, you’d say, “Many times over.” And you are not alone. Even the best of us experience rejection every day. The truth is, it has become a natural and common part of our daily life. However uncomfortable this idea may seem to us, we need to accept the reality that rejection does exist, and yes, it hurts. But this same hurt brought about by rejection can only make us better individuals if we have the right disposition and faith in Jesus, who was Himself rejected.

       We read in the Gospel today: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted  n his own native place.” Jesus was not talking about just any other prophet. He was talking about Himself. He knew He would be rejected but He did not fret. He gladly accepted His fate because He knew that it was necessary, however painful that may seem to the ordinary eye.

       But His love is beyond the ordinary. His love accepts even rejections. He is able to go about His ministry because He is assured of one thing: that God the Father loves Him and will never forsake Him. Jesus knew that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because He was anointed “to bring glad tidings to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

       We find assurance in the fact that Jesus embraced rejections with a full heart. Those who do the same, however difficult and impossible it may seem, “will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” We shall always be with the Lord. We can claim this to be true because we know, through the forgiving heart of the Lord, that we are made stronger each day because of the rejections we experience.

       Rejections may hurt us, but they will definitely make us stronger and wiser. Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS

 

REFLECTION QUESTION: How do you, in the light of faith in Christ, handle rejection?

 

Lord, while I may be rejected by others, may I remain always pleasing to You. Amen.