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Belief in God comes from self-surrender without counting our resources. 

Home|Reflections|Belief in God comes from self-surrender without counting our resources. 

Good morning, good people. 

May the Lord bless you with peace and good health.  

It is 31st January 2024.  We celebrate the memorial of St John Bosco, Priest.   We reflect on 2 Samuel 24:2, 9-17; and Mark 6:1-6.  

Are we undermining the providence and abiding presence of God in our lives?

Entirely relying on human resources for the existence and development of humanity undermines the providence and the abiding presence of God in our lives. On most occasions, we value God less or over-emphasize the power of humanity.  Human self-sufficiency placed over the need to acknowledge the presence of God angers God.  

We read in the first reading that David took the census of the people to know and to be assured of his political security and economic empowerment. The need for God is undermined by this act of David, he seeks to know the power of his military over the mighty presence of God that offered success to David all along. It is a type of unbelief expressed by David that angered God.  

Belief in God comes from our self-surrender without counting our resources. 

When we overemphasize human resources and only seek human consolation, we willfully undermine the power of God in our lives.  

Relying on human means is the expression of unbelief in God.  A growing lack of trust in God and the intervention of God in our lives is the sickness of the soul that needs to be treated urgently.  It is better to surrender to the Lord daily than to expose ourselves to famine, war, and disease by relying on our human reckoning.  

The responsorial Psalm begs for mercy, “Forgive, Lord, the guilt of my sin.” (Ps.31:5).  

May the Lord heal our unbelief.

In the Gospel, we reflect on the people of Nazareth who undermined the power of Jesus.  They did not believe in Jesus and in His mighty power to heal just because they knew His family of origin.  

The unbelief expressed in their attitude distanced them from the Only Son of God -Jesus.  The people of the town lacked faith to accept Jesus. 

Are we relying on ourselves and our perceptions over having a simple and self-surrendering faith in Jesus?  May the Lord heal our unbelief and let us lean on God more than ever in our lives, not on a human person, or created things.  

May you have a good day.

 

Fr. Peter Fernando, OFMCap.

Director, Office of Family Ministry, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA).Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.♣Website:https://reflectionsofpeter.org/.♣Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/samarpet

 

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FilcomAdmin January 31, 2024

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