Monday, October 19, 2009

29th Week, Ordinary Time, Monday, 19-10-09

Romans 4 : 20-25
Luke 12 : 13-21

It is necessary, even crucial, to have a faith-vision, because a faith-vision will help us to look beyond the present situation and to put our faith in God who is master of the future.

Just like Abraham continued to believe and to trust in God even when things did not look good at that moment, nor was it looking good for the future.

There is this story of two altar-boys.
One was born in 1892 in Eastern Europe and the other, three years later in a small town of Illinois in the US.

Although they lived thousands of miles apart, they had an almost identical experience as altar servers.

Both had an accident with the wine while serving Mass. They spilled some of it on the floor during the offertory.

That's where the similarity in their story ended.

The altar-boy in Eastern Europe was harshly reprimanded for being so clumsy and was told to stop serving Mass.

That boy grew up to become an atheist and a communist. His name is Josip Tito, who was dictator of the  former Yugoslavia for 37 years.

The altar-boy in Illinois was consoled with these words from the priest : It is alright my boy. You will do better next time. You may even serve God as a priest.

That boy was the famous Bishop Fulton Sheen.

Many reflections can be made out of these two stories. But looking at it from the aspect of the faith of Abraham, then it is about having a faith-vision of a hope for the future.

Both altar-boys had a similar unfortunate experience of making a mistake, though one was punished and the other was not.

But one lost his faith-vision and took control of his future, which turned out to be a tragic one, while the other was given a faith-vision and put his future into the hands of God.

So it is a question of where our future lies.

If it lies in the self-made security of our riches and wealth, we may have to re-think our future.

If it lies in the hands of God, then despite the trials and turmoils of the present, we will still have hope for the future. Because we know that God is in control of our future.