24.07.25 Berbahagialah Mata dan Telingamu

Thursday 16th week in ordinary time "Mt 13:10-17" The disciples said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away...blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." We are privileged people. Think: How many of your age are friends of God in your country? Or how many have been taught that Jesus Christ longs for their love and prayer, or that their prayer can be powerful? Probably not many. But you are among them. 'Why me?', you might wonder. Because He wants you. Then... why doesn't He give the same to everyone? It seems as if God isn't fair because to those who already have, He says, 'more will be given'... Some people are convinced that saints were given more grace than the rest of us. But that is not true. God gives to everyone the favours of His grace. Nevertheless, saints receive more... because they ask for more, they want more, they insist more, they beg for more; "at all times and in everything, they sought for everything in God...and in God they got everything." Eventually, the common features of saints are 'the mouth of a beggar' and 'the hands of a thief'."A saint is a glutton who is filled with God by emptying himself. A saint is a poor man who makes his fortune plundering the coffers of God. A saint is a weak man who has walled in God and in Him he builds his fortress... A saint is one who washes his miserable filth at the mercy of God. A saint is a coward who becomes striking and brave, shielded by God's power... A saint is such an ambitious person that he is only satisfied owning an ever bigger portion of God... A saint is a man who takes everything from God, a thief who even steals from God the love he needs to be able to love Him. And God loves to be looted by his saints. That's the joy of God. And that is the secret business of the saints" (P. Urbano, The Man of Villa Tevere). Mary, with your help, may I 'loot' from God the love and virtues I need to become a saint.