Acts 14:5-18 / John 14:21-26
Many people are often honoured but it is usually only after their death. That would also include most of the saints. The fact is that no one is ever canonized during their life-time.
But if all the honour and adulation are given to a person when he is still living, how would that person react to it? What would be his response to people putting him high up on the pedestal?
These questions are difficult for us to answer because maybe we have not been in such a position before.
Yet it also cannot be denied that in each of us, there is a yearning for people's attention and the limelight. Or at least to be praised for our good word and contributions.
In the 1st reading, Paul worked a miracle of healing a crippled man. And almost immediately, he and Barnabas were worshipped as gods by the people.
And even though Paul desperately tried to explain that it was the work of God, the euphoria of the people just overwhelmed him and Barnabas.
If we were Paul and Barnabas, what would have been our response? How would we have reacted?
It would have been very easy to succumb to our ego and to the temptation and lap up the glory and feel exalted by others.
But that would be to love ourselves in a corrupted manner. But if we truly love Jesus, then we would keep His word and let His word make its home in our hearts.
The true beauty (and glory) of a person is when he lets God make His home in his heart.