By Praveen Bandula, CSC –
Readings: Gen 15: 5-12, 17-18; Phil 3:17-4:1; Lk 9:28-36
Stand firm in the Lord, this is the invitation we get through the readings of the day.
Everyone wants miracles to happen, but no one wants to follow God’s ways because they are very hard and challenging. The world that we are living in is very attractive and misleading. It offers us all our needs, yet we don’t confine ourselves to satisfying the needs, so we want to go for satisfying our wants and comforts.
St. Paul through his letter to Philippians conveys a message to all generations of the world that is not to set our minds on earthly things because our citizenship is in heaven. When the Lord called Abram, he did not remain in his comfortable life; he chose to follow God who led him to an unknown land. It is a complete trust in God’s promise, which inspired Abram to go to a place where the Lord showed him to go. God was happy with Abram’s faith and promised to make him the father of the nations.
At transfiguration disciples felt very happy, so they asked the Lord to stay on the mountain, and not to go down. They did not realize the will of God, the mission of Christ, is not to remain in the comforts rather to suffer for the humanity. Through the readings of the day the mother church is inviting all of us to have faith in God and to sacrifice earthly possessions and pleasures in order to inherit the kingdom of God which is our destiny.