Holy Friendship Day [Thursday] Rosary
The Luminous Mysteries
Third Luminous Mystery:
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
THE PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
"After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the gospel from God saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel."
- Mark 1: 14-15
Reflection:
It's already the Season of Lent and we are called to repent from our sins and to welcome the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Let us focus on the virtue of ACCEPTANCE. It is very hard to repent if we do not accept, acknowledge or recognize that sin is real and that we are sinners. The Blessed Pope John Paul II said that one of the problems of the modern world is the loss of the sense of sin. There's a discussion about this focusing on the aspect of Psychology here mentioning the late Pope's analysis.
Acceptance is the first step towards being forgiven. Without accepting our sinfulness, we cannot approach God with true humility and we will never ask God to forgive us and therefore God cannot forgive us. Without being forgiven, we cannot become part of His kingdom.
Part of human freedom is to be responsible and responsibility requires that we "own" our actions and the consequences of such actions. In case of heroism, we may expect to be rewarded; in case of violation, we must be ready to be punished. With regards to our relationship with God, we either obey or violate His will. If we obey, we become holy; if we violate, we become sinful. We may personally be indifferent but objectively, we still sin. And if we remain in sin, we shall never be able to enter His kingdom.
Let us pray for the virtue of acceptance. Today's readings - the Thursday after Ash Wednesday - tells us what the Lord Jesus Christ requires in order to become His true disciples: to deny one's self, to carry one's cross and to follow Him, that is, to go through one's own passion, crucifixion and death and so become worthy of one's resurrection. True repentance brings us to fulfill these things and so become worthy to enter into communion with the Father and become heirs of His kingdom.
Image from dominicancooperatorbrother.blogspot.com via google.com
Biblical passage from Jerusalem Bible at catholic.org
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