By William Selvaraj, CSC –
Readings: 1 Thes 2:1-8; Mt 23:23-26
Today the church celebrates the feast of St. Monica, mother of St. Augustine. St. Monica was unceasing in her prayers to God for his son Augustine’s conversion and shed many tears for him.
In the first reading St. Paul says that we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel. The gospel passage of the day says that our appearance matters a lot in our daily life. There are two ways of looking at the people. One is the outer appearance that is Physical.
The other is the inner appearance that is our Behavior, Thoughts and Character. Most often I am worried about my physical appearance because I think people often observe my outer appearance and have opinion about my life. So I compel myself to appear better physically.
Only few of us in our society look at our inner appearance which is good behavior, thoughts, values and character. Our inner life is always infused by many values especially justice, mercy, faith and love. These values are not visible to our physical eyes. But they should be perceived through our spiritual eyes.
A person who always worries about his or her external appearance won’t have a minute to examine his or her inner appearance, whether he is a worthy person in the eyes of God or not. Our God sees the inner appearance that is of our heart where there is pure love of God and humanity and all the selfless values. So let us become aware of ourselves and grow in our inner appearance which is loved by God and humanity