Molded by God

The WORD in other words by Fr Franlou Bardon SVD – Univeristy of San Carlos, Cebu

Thursday 17th Week in Ordinary Time

We do want transformation to take place in the lives of the people we are serving. But do we have programs suitably crafted for them? A program may take a long time before its intended goals are fully realized. It includes a series of structurally related projects and activities for it to eventually become transformative.

Perhaps, God has His own transformative program for every individual when He decided to create human beings. When this program becomes far from being realized due to humanity’s unwillingness to cooperate, He does not hesitate to revise His program, as the prophet Jeremiah realized during his ministerial years. For God’s people are all in the hand of the Mighty Potter. When the fullness of time came, God sent His Son to announce the coming of His kingdom, into which everyone may be able to enter like “a dragnet thrown into the sea that collects all sorts of fish.”

However, no matter how inclusive such a beautiful program of God is, it can also be selective. “The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” When the final judgment comes, whoever has entered into that mold and yet remains resistant to change what needs to be changed will be denied God’s joy.

This invites us then to grow into a person who resembles the new mold of humanity – Jesus. Thus, we continue to pray as St. Arnold Janssen used to do during his lifetime: “May the Heart of Jesus live in our hearts and in the hearts of all.” Amen.