By Friny Peter Ruwnglal, CSC –
Readings: 1 Tim 4: 12-16; Lk 7: 36-50
Everyone has God given gifts that have to be shared in Love, in Faith and in Purity of heart. The first letter of St. Paul to Timothy highlights the need to introspect and pay close attention to oneself and the message contained in the proclamation of the Scripture. Further, in doing the will of God, one will save others and oneself. The Gospel presents Jesus Christ encountering the woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and her great gesture of love marking the depth of faith leading to the forgiveness of sins.
Hence, the Gospel reading brings to mind the importance of having an attitude of saving people who have low self-image, bad reputation, and cast out living a miserable life in the society. Indeed, every one of us at some point of time in the community and ministry places will be faced with such tendencies to speak and talk about the vulnerabilities and failures of others.
Therefore, today’s invitation for you and me is to try situating ourselves in this scenario, imagining what would be our experience of being alienated and cast out by own family members, companions, confreres and people around us in the community and in the society. Even more as a religious, it is a challenging call and task to remember not to degrade and devalue a person at any cost, but rather to uphold those person’s dignity with respect and love like Jesus Christ in today’s Gospel passage.