GOD’S BLESSING IS GIVEN TO THOSE WHO ARE OBEDIENT TO HIS WILL
Life journey is full of highs and lows, twists and turns. Life journey may not always be smooth, to reach the destination you have to arm yourself with faith, trust and hope. You have to surrender your will to the will of God. When we trust and follow God, he leads us to the blessings he planned for us. In those times of challenges we should be able to say with Jesus, “Not my will but your will be done.” St. Paul teaches us in the second reading that God called us not according to our works but according to his own design. A design is a plan or arrangement that was put in place to achieve something. God has already created a design of blessing for us. To receive this blessing demands to follow God and surrender to his will. Abraham our father in faith is an example of those who listened to God, followed him in total surrender to his will and received his blessing. He believed that God will never fail him. God told Abraham to leave his family, his brothers and sisters and his country to a place he has not seen. Abraham obeyed God even though he did not know exactly where God was taken him. He was not afraid to follow God. It takes faith and complete trust to embark on this kind of journey. Change can be very challenging. There are those who moved to a new place but unfortunately could not deal with the challenges and so returned to where they started. Abraham embarked on this journey and never looked back. Abraham teaches us how to leave behind the old ways and embark on a journey of self-surrender to God. Because Abraham was ready to follow God without looking back, God told Abraham “you will be a blessing and I will bless those who bless you.” When you follow God with all your heart, not only that you are blessed, but you will in turn be a blessing to others. Though life is full of challenges but the existence of these challenges does not mean that one is not blessed. Abraham was blessed but he faced many challenges. The challenge of moving to a new place. The challenge of not having a child when he needed one. The challenge of raiders who took his family, and even marriage and family challenge. In all these challenges he trusted in God and lived by his will. When Jesus called his disciples many of them had jobs but they left their job and followed Jesus. At a point some of them maybe questioning the decision to leave everything behind and follow Jesus. What about if there will be no benefit in following him? Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, we left everything and followed you, what are we going to gain?” With the transfiguration Jesus showed Peter and his disciples a glimpse of what they will gain. The beauty and joy of heaven will eventually be their inheritance. There are people who questions the benefits of going to church or being devoted to God. God blesses us daily even more than we know. In the transfiguration Jesus showed his disciples the blessing they have not known or seen. Like Abraham they have to embark on the journey of faith, hope and trust to get there. Jesus transfigured in the presence of his disciples to show them that they lost nothing in following him, rather they gained everything including the blessing of the glorious splendor of heaven. Peter was excited and wanted to remain in this glorious beauty. But the image disappeared and he was back into the world of suffering and pain. The transfiguration teaches us that when we faithfully endure the challenges of life we will inherit the joys of heaven. In this forty days journey of Lent we are invited to listen to Jesus and follow him with all our hearts to lead us to our blessing.