Reflection by Sem. Cedric Diolazo
Good evening, my dear fathers and brothers.
How are you all?
I hope that you are happy and not feeling discouraged.
I have a question for you, my brothers in Christ. Have you ever been driven away from your own community, parish, home, or religious community? Do not worry, my brother, because even Jesus was driven away by His own town of Nazareth. But did Jesus become angry with them? No. Instead, He continued to love them and save them from sin.
In our lives, we sometimes think that if we cannot understand someone, it is better to push that person away completely. Yet there are also times when we value other people more than those who are already beside us, those who are ready to stand with us and willing to accept us as we are.
I would like to borrow something Cardinal Tagle once shared in his speech at the Philippine Conference on New Evangelization. He told the story of a young girl who said that because some children were noisy inside the church, the people in the church community seemed to set her aside, making her feel as though she did not belong.
What Cardinal Tagle said in response was truly inspiring. He reminded us that those noisy children, and the people who may seem bothersome in our lives, should be loved rather than avoided. When we love and accept them, their hearts can be transformed. They will grow closer to God instead of feeling separated from us.
In our own lives, how do we receive Jesus? Do we receive Him only in Holy Communion, or do we also receive Him through our brothers and sisters, especially those who live on the margins of society?
From a practical human perspective, we might think, “Why should I stay close to that person? They only bother me. They are troublesome in the parish. They are troublesome in the seminary. They have no use to me.” But my brothers, Jesus reminds us to love one another.
Just as the song based on the Book of Ruth says:
Wherever you go, I shall go.
Wherever you live, so shall I live.
Your people will be my people,
And your God will be my God, too.
Let us keep in our hearts that wherever God leads us, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Christ our Master, even through the hardships of life, until our final journey.
Amen.
By Gerick Tolentino
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