Today’s Readings:
Exodus 1:8-14,22
Psalm 124:1-8
Matthew 10:34,11:1
I am sad whenever I hear that someone has passed. I do not need to know who the person is or where they are from. It is already sad enough that the person has left this world without a chance to fully live out their potential and impact the world for the better. It is sadder if this person is only a child. Approximately one in four children experience child abuse or neglect in their lifetime. And more than 25% of pregnancies end in abortion. We need to be sad about the state of our world so that we can do better. Often, we justify the neglect and killing of children in situations which are inexcusable.
The Egyptians, in today’s first reading, gave three reasons to justify their population control plan for the Israelites:
Their strength and number are a threat;
In the event of a war, they will add to the number of our enemies;
They might take up arms against us and escape our country.
While this seems like a politically correct thing to do, morally it is a depraved thing to do. And it is no different from what happens in families today where people think it is right for them to terminate the life of their unborn child because they do not have the money to take care of the child. In the event of a decision to travel out of the country, the child may become a burden that they cannot afford to keep. Or that they can even afford to keep their child with a relative, all in the name of wanting to seek greener pastures outside the country.
When Jesus says, in the Gospel, that “a man’s enemies will be those of his own household”, He was not just referring to fall-out on moral grounds or an issue of faith. He is basically saying that people have grown too selfish that they are now turning on each other for the sake of money and furthering their own dreams. We have to rethink our understanding of family. And that understanding has to have Christ as its foundation. Family is founded on sacrifice. We need to make the kind of sacrifice that Jesus models for us when He was crucified on the Cross and died for our sins. If you are not willing to make sacrifices and forego even things that are good for us, just so that our families can be better and united, then we have not started living. A culture that justifies the killing and neglect of children (for whatever economic gains), is a dying culture, a depraved culture, one that is doomed to extinction and chaos.
My prayer is that we will wake up and realise that we are our own problems. And that only the love of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, can truly change us and make us who we are meant to be – the household of God; God’s family. I pray that you will receive the grace and strength to take care of your family, to be there for them and to love every member of your family so that we continue to propagate a Gospel of love all over the world.
JUDE-MARY OWOH
Prayer:
The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof.
Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou has formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.
God bless me and grant me the grace that I need to truly live out my Christian call to help your family and find God in all circumstances, in Jesus' name.
Lord give us Christian homes where the Father is true and strong, in Jesus' name.
Homes where the mother in queenly quest strives to show others Your ways are best, in Jesus' name.
Lord unite the body of Christ in Your love, in Jesus' name.
Father, thank you for moving our nation forward by Your mighty power, in Jesus' name. Amen.
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