And the Easter Celebration continues!
This past Sunday, I was able to listen to my friend, parish priest Fr. Bill Konicki’s, homily. And since, as you know, I am always looking for a topic for these reflections, I was fortunate enough to find one in his words. He told a story – and you know how I LOVE stories -- that I would like to share with you, and it seems to fit in well with what I’ve been writing the past few weeks. I’ll do my best to tell it well.
There was a young fugitive who was looking for safety and he came upon this village. He told the people he was a fugitive and that he was looking for safety from the enemy. The villagers welcomed him and cared for him.
Then the army came and asked the villagers if they had the fugitive, for they knew the villagers were hiding him. The army gave them an ultimatum that they have till morning to hand him over, or else they would burn the village and kill all the men.
The villagers were frantic and didn’t know what to do or who to turn to. They decided to go to the minister. The minister asked them to give him some time to think and pray about it and so he went off to his room. There in prayer, he searched the Bible looking for the answer asking God to show him what to do.
Eventually he came to this quote, ‘It is better that one man’s life be offered to save the lives of many’.
With that he handed the young man over to the army. The villagers were overjoyed that the minister had saved their village. All were celebrating… except for the minister.
He went to his room that night and an angel appeared to him. ‘What have you done?’ The minister replied that he had handed over the young fugitive. The angel responded, ‘Didn’t you know that was the Messiah?’
‘How was I to know?’ asked the minister.
‘Instead of looking into the Bible, if you had only visited the fugitive once and looked into his eyes, you would have known,’ the angel replied.
So ends the story, but for us it is only the beginning. In our world today it is so important that we look into each other’s eyes. We have the ability to be bearers of the Good News; we have the responsibility to look into the eyes of our brothers and sisters and see the God that is dwelling within!
Eyes are windows to the soul, after all, and so many are in need of letting the Good News reach into their soul. Ah, but we need to look deeply into their eyes and welcome the stranger, for they may be the Messiah!
Am I willing to reach out and look into the eyes of my brother or sister? How sad it would be to hear ‘if only you had looked into their eyes’. Remember, we are called to be witnesses to the Good News; let’s not miss an opportunity to be just that!
The Kingdom of God is within each of us; we just need to look into each other’s eyes to see it. The Kingdom is one of Joy, Peace, Love and Caring.
Continue to help others to experience that Kingdom!
Till next week,
Sister Theresita
