16 December, Thursday — Obstinacy in the face of love

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Advent

Isa 54:1-10
Lk 7:24-30

…but my love for you will never leave you…

There was a time where I entered into a heated argument with another friend of mine, which did not end off very well. I was called a stubborn person and this was indeed very difficult for me to accept. What made it worse was that the same person who called me that came to apologise to me and I refused to accept it. Looking back, this is not of one of my finest moments. This incident came back to me as I prepared for the readings of today, where we read how the Jews rejected the message of God.

The refusal of the Jews to believe in John the Baptist’s message in the Gospel of today is a warning to all of us. Their hearts were not warm and open to the message of God in their lives. This meant that they refused to accept the plan which God had for them. I believe that in some ways, all of us are called to answer the call which God has made for us. This means that we need to enter into a spirit of prayer and reflection — to ask Jesus what he desires from us. It will be good for us to speak to a spiritual director to help us make sense of what we are going through, and to discover how we are supposed to respond to them. The most difficult part, in my opinion, is responding to this call of God. Sometimes, we feel that our way is the right way and that it is not possible for us to change our lives to respond to the message of God.

I would ask each one of us to pause and gaze onto the crucified Christ. The love which He has shown to us in His death on the Cross has demonstrated to us the tremendous love God has for us. It is this love which will melt the obstinacy of heart. The first reading reminds us of the rainbow which was shown to Noah. We have the crucified Christ as a visible sign of Jesus’s love for each one of us. Love requires a total and undivided response from each one of us. If we take a small step towards working towards the response, it may actually lead us to a path which we never thought was possible. Let us use the eyes and ears of faith to accept the call of God and walk boldly in that direction.

(Today’s OXYGEN by Nicholas Chia)

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, melt within us the coldness of our heart.

Thanksgiving: We give thanks for those who love us for who we are.