Friday of Week 4 in Ordinary Time (Year I)
Hebrews 13:1-8 | Psalm 26(27):1,3,5,8-9 | Mark 6:14-29
Continue to love each other like brothers, and remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:1-2)
Some weeks back, I was approached by an elderly woman who wanted to sell me tissue packs, 3 for a dollar. I apologetically declined, then refocused on my meal.
A few seconds later, I changed my mind, and turned around to go after the old lady and relieve her of a little worry. To my surprise, she was nowhere to be found.
Perhaps she was the fastest senior citizen in Singapore, besting even our septuagenarian national sprinter C Kunalan.
Or maybe I was not in my right mind at the time.
Or…
✞ ✞ ✞ ✞ ✞
St. Augustine once wrote this about angels:
‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel’.
We too can be “angels” of a sort, mortal messengers of God’s abundant love. This requires that we actively demonstrate that love, and not just speak of it.
We only need to look at the likes of St. Teresa of Calcutta to understand, and to emulate.
For it is only when our words and deeds are in loving harmony, that we may earn our “wings” of eternal salvation.
Lord, send us into the world to be your messengers of salvation. Help us convince others, not just by the rightness of Your Holy Word as we recount it, but especially by the grace and peace that we bring to others through our loving actions. Amen.