1 September, Wednesday – The Purpose of our Life

Wednesday of Week 22 in Ordinary Time

Col 1:1-8
Lk 4:38-44

“I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.”

I recently had to go for an interview, and one of the questions posed to me was what my direction and vision would be for the team, if I were to be offered the position. Whilst I had prepared for the question, I left the interview room thinking about what my purpose in life was. The Gospel of today seems to remind each one of us what Jesus is calling us to do — to proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God.

One of the challenges which we, as lay people, face is that sometimes the challenges of the world overwhelm us and we respond in an ‘un-Christian’-like manner. This could take place in the form of playing political games with the people around us, or maybe having a spirit of indifference to the people around us. It is at this juncture that we need to take a step away from what we are doing and ask God the Holy Spirit to come to our lives to dispel the hardness and coldness within us. There needs to be a moment where we enter into the silence of our hearts and discover how we have made an effort to proclaim the kingdom of God to the people around us.

Each of us is called to proclaim the kingdom of God. What differs from each one of us is our response. We have been placed in unique circumstances which allow us to proclaim to the people around us on the love of Christ. One concrete sign of our proclamation would be the love and joy shown to others, which St Paul affirmed in the Colossians in the first reading. If we have Christ in our heart, there will be intense joy in what we say and do, together with how we do so. Let us take time to ponder upon how we can find one possible encounter with another person where we can show the love of Christ to the other party.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, let us remember that we are called to show your love to the people around us.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for the examples of the Saints and martyrs in our lives.