A nun gave a sermonette during the Novena @ Holy Trinity yesterday. It was a timely and lovely sermonette.
In life, we will meet all kinds of people...some nice ones and some not so nice ones. Sister shared with us that we must remember and "we are children of God" and this is a PRIVILEGE. We cannot reciprocate negatively to those who had wronged us.
She gave us the image of Our Lady. She must have felt and heard lots of criticism and ridicules from relatives, friends and people when they taunted her for being an unwed teenaged mother-to-be and later on as a young mother. Those words and behaviours must have been like darts piercing her heart. Later on, when her beloved Son died a criminal death on the cross, those same people must have again made fun of her and her faith in her God. They must have told her that Jesus can't be a Son of God if he is allowed to die such a shameful and public death. But did she waver and reciprocate in a negative way? NO, she DIDN"T!
We are all called to holiness. Holiness is not having a halo over our heads or to be saintly. Holiness means living our lives in Christ-like manner.
It is difficult. Our human nature tells us to take revenge. To take an ear for an ear. An eye for an eye. But Christ calls us to act as a child of God. To act with kindness to an unkind act.
Recently, our family have encountered some people, be it classmates or colleagues who "sabo" them. Feelings of hurt, disappointment and disgust were there. Fortunately, they did not react back in a negative way. Looking at yesterday's sermonette, we may be called idiots by others, idiots for being cheated, not seeking justice etc, but if we look at the actions of the Holy Family, especially Mother Mary and Jesus, we are called to act differently from what the world would normally do. That's why it's so difficult to be a Catholic. People have certain expectations of us and when we react negatively, non-believers would quickly point that out...that's because they most probably are taking advantage of our faith to their advantage. If that is so, so be it.
Love Theresa
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