27th January, Wednesday
I. Heb 10: 11-18
II. Mk 4: 1-20
Theme: The soil of my heart
What the Father has planted in our lives is good. Goodness can bear fruit. But Christ has shown us that there is someone who does not want us to bear fruit. The devil tries to take goodness away from our lives through enticing us with evil, filling our hearts with selfishness, and making us insensitive to the movements of grace in our soul. We need to renounce Satan every day by fixing our will on the goodness of Christ. This is done through sincere prayer and generosity of spirit.
The strength of our resolution is tested by the difficulties we face. If we grow deeper in our prayer each day and build up the habit of letting go of our ego, we can face the bad times with peace and trust. When our spiritual roots are not deep, we find ourselves disoriented, even defeated by the tribulations that are part of authentic Christian life. With Christ as our friend, difficulties become a way to show our love and to do something that has eternal value. If I don’t fight, how can I merit a crown of victory?
To bear fruit we must be docile to God’s word. But being docile does not mean being passive. For a Christian, docility to Christ and the Holy Spirit means a willingness to work and serve. We are followers of the One who came to serve. The Spirit that is self-surrender moves us. To hear the Word of God and accept it means to make our lives an imitation of Christ’s total self-giving, day in and day out. God will grant fruit to our lives if we are willing to be other Christs here and now.
Bro John Bosco SMM
II BTH