October 30^th 2016.Thirty-first Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 19:1-10

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL: Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was going through the town when a man whose name was Zacchaeus made his appearance; he was one of the senior tax collectors and a wealthy man. He was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was, but he was too short and could not see him for the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who was to pass that way. When Jesus reached the spot he looked up and spoke to him: ‘Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today.’ And he hurried down and welcomed him joyfully.

They all complained when they saw what was happening. ‘He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house’ they said. But Zacchaeus stood his ground and said to the Lord, ‘Look, sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek out and save what was lost’.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Zacchaeus is a tax-collector, someone who has become rich by the systematic exploitation of others. He appears to be beyond redemption. Why does Jesus visit his house? Because the Lord is looking for the precious gem that exists in the heart of Zacchaeus and in the hearts of you and me. As the first reading tells us, God created us and appreciates what is good and noble in us. Jesus is desperately seeking out the goodness and beauty that lies in the depths of each of us. And when we allow the Lord to visit us, then this beauty comes to the surface and we become the authentic person that the Lord created us to be. As soon as Jesus enters Zacchaeus’ house, the tax collector is transformed! He becomes joyful and promises to undo all of the wrongs that he has done to others. He discovers an incredible generosity inside of himself. If you or I wish to spread the Gospel, then we must do as Jesus did and seek out the child of God that exists within every person. Spreading the Gospel is not about spreading a system of moral rules or regulations! No-one embraces the Gospel because they are looking for an ethical system. We embrace the Gospel in order to be reborn, to become our true selves! God made us for relationship with him and others. Our hearts are restless until, like Zacchaeus, we allow Jesus to enter our hearts with his love. How many false and wayward relationships we engage in! Let us consider the extent that Jesus goes to in order to seek us out and enter into communion with us. Once Jesus enters our house then we become fully ourselves. We discover the generosity, joy, goodness and love that God planted in our hearts when he created us.

Zacchaeus is someone who appears to be beyond redemption, a violent gangster who has profited by extorting money from others

The Gospel this Sunday recounts the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was a senior collectors and would have been considered as someone beyond any hope of salvation. He was also someone rich. On previous Sundays we have heard various passages about how difficult it is for the rich man to be saved. All of this helps to confirm the conviction that Zacchaeus is someone who is outside of the Kingdom of God. Tax collectors in those days were infamous, a group of mafia-like gangsters that actually formed a legitimate part of the Roman system of revenue collection. They violently extracted excess taxes from the people in order to generate their own income. Zacchaeus, as a member of this class, seemed beyond redemption, but it to his very house that Jesus chose to go.

Jesus is searching for something in Zacchaeus that he searches for in the depths of every human being. Anyone who wishes to spread the Gospel must search for this hidden gem that exists in the heart of every person.

Why does Jesus go to the house of such a notorious individual? The first reading provides the key for interpreting this story. We hear that God has compassion for everyone and everything that exists because they were created by him. How could something exist if God had not wished for it to be? The indulgent magnanimity of God sees something precious in every creature, and pre-eminently in the human being, who was made in his image. Everything God does - his corrections, his consolations, his affirmations, when he prevents us from doing something, or affirms us, when he blesses us, fills us with gifts, or takes everything away from us at once – all of this is part of his searching out of his creatures. Every blessing or admonition is part of his strategy of salvation. In fact, this Gospel tells us that “the Son of Man has come to search out the lost”. If you know that something doesn’t exist you would not bother searching for it. We only look for that which we are convinced exists. When we are sure that something is in a particular location, we continue to probe after it. In Chapter 15 of Luke we are told how the woman keeps searching intently for the coin that is lost. When Jesus visits the house of Zacchaeus, he too is searching for something. He is looking for a son of Abraham, that which is hidden in this tax collector who is an Israelite, a member of the people that has been blessed and elected. Jesus is looking for that which every evangelizer ought to be fighting to bring out in his listeners; namely, the good that is in the heart of every human being. We do not spread the Gospel in order to bind people in chains or give them rules and regulations. No-one is drawn to the Gospel in order to have regulations but to be reborn, to rediscover ourselves, to begin again from the correct starting place! Evangelizing is not about convincing people, by coercion that is more or less subtle, to accept a certain moral or ethical framework. The primary aim is not order or security, which can be our own personal fixations. Rather, the goal is to seek out the light that is in the heart of every person.

All of us will continue to have restless hearts until Jesus comes to visit our house with his love

Jesus spots this man on the tree and immediately understands everything. By trying to see Jesus, Zacchaeus demonstrates that he is really seeking a relationship with this strange preacher who is passing by. Zacchaeus would have had plenty to keep him occupied as a tax-collector. What did it matter to him if this famous preacher was in the area? Clearly Zacchaeus was searching for something and Jesus comprehends that perfectly when he notices him up the tree. In fact, Jesus now goes in search of him. In various ways, human beings demonstrate that they are searching for something. They buy objects, go to the strangest places, follow the weirdest doctrines. They do all this because they are searching out truth for themselves, looking for the solution to the inquietude in their hearts. Each one of us will remain restless until we are touched in the heart by God.

Zacchaeus is transformed by the visitation of Jesus because Jesus helps him to become his true self. Each of us will become our true self when we enter into relationship with Jesus, when we appreciate that he is desperately seeking us out, when we open the door and allow him to enter

None of us is truly ourselves, none of us feels that he is in his place, until Christ enters our house with his love and his generosity. Our identity is fundamentally relational. We are most ourselves when we are with others. The Old Testament commandment, “It isn’t good that man should be alone”, is a commandment of awesome profundity. But we engage in a lot of relationships that are wayward and false. When we embark on a relationship with God, when we respond to his initiatives towards us, his abiding concern to seek us out, then we begin to become our authentic selves. Zacchaeus discovers an unexpected generosity within himself, exclaiming that “I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount”. He becomes a joyful man for finally he has found himself. When we discover the goodness in our hearts, the love we have in our hearts, the joy we have in our hearts, only then do we become our authentic selves.

October 23^rd2016.Thirtieth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 18:9-14

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL: Luke 18:9-14

Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself,
‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity --
greedy, dishonest, adulterous -- or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’
But the tax collector stood off at a distance
and would not even raise his eyes to heaven
but beat his breast and prayed,
‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former;
for whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The parable in the Gospel presents us with two types of “prayer”. The first does not deserve to be called prayer at all, because it is less an act of thanksgiving before God as a listing of the reasons why God ought to be thankful for the virtues of this Pharisee. The second is a prayer for the heart from a sinful tax collector who pleads for mercy. Authentic prayer always begins from our own poverty and misery before the Lord. It is only when we are conscious of our need for salvation that we place ourselves before God in correct manner. Jesus tells us that, after his heartfelt prayer, the tax collector returns home in right relationship with God. After prayer, when we “return home”, that is when the authenticity of our prayer can be measured. If we are not different than we were before prayer then our prayer was not authentic. If we remain the exact same egoistic individual, then our prayer is a profanation, an occupying of sacred space in an unworthy manner. It may seem ironic, but it is our awareness of our poverty and misery that is the only correct starting point for prayer.

God shows a distinct preference for the prayer of the poor and humble

The Gospel this Sunday is prepared for us by the first reading from the book of Ecclesiasticus. Here we read certain Wisdom sayings that appear to speak of God’s impartiality. But in reality it is not quite accurate to say that God is impartial. We hear that “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds; it does not rest till it reaches its goal”. The prayer of the poor person has two characteristics: it has great power and it will not cease until it attains its goal. The Lord does have his preferences after all; the clouds open before the prayers of the poor. Other passages in the Old Testament tell how God look upon the humble and prefers the poor man who turns to him with a simple prayer.

When we are conscious of our own poverty, then we place ourselves before God in prayer in a completely different way. We are aware of our need for salvation and our incapacity to save ourselves

In the Gospel from Luke two types of prayer are contrasted, one that arrives in heaven and the other that falls short. One of the characters is a publican, a class of people who collaborated with the Romans and would have profited unjustly by extracting money from the people. Despite this, his prayer is heard and he is justified – made righteous in the sight of God. In other words, he enters into a right relationship with God. The other character lists the things that he has done. He is not greedy, dishonest, or adulterous. He fasts twice a week, and pays tithes on his whole income. We have no reason to doubt the honesty of what the Pharisee is saying but these words do not constitute a prayer. He claims to be thanking God, but in reality he is listing the reasons why God should be thankful to him. He places himself before God with no awareness of what he is lacking, no consciousness of his own insignificance. The things he has done are enumerated but he has no conception of the great things that God can do for him. In contrast with the Pharisee, the tax collector has knowledge of himself; he knows that he lacks everything. To know that we are in a state of sin is a great point of departure with God. Moreover, the Pharisee is completely lacking in love. At the beginning of the passage we are told that Jesus recounted this parable “to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else”. The Pharisee does not know that he is someone marked by the tendency to look at others with disdain; that he is incapable of looking at others with benevolence. His prayer begins with the words, “I thank you Lord that I am not like others”. This is not a valid way to begin to address the Lord! Those who think that they are reasonably righteous become weary very quickly in prayer and end up speaking only about themselves. By contrast the publican says, “O God, have mercy on me a sinner”. Here, the point of departure is the sentiment that God is more powerful than him and is capable of saving him. If God does not come to his aid then he knows that he will remain nothing else but a sinner.

After prayer, we should “return home” differently. If my prayer is authentic then I will not remain the same identical person as before, the same type of egoist as before. But if I remain the same as before, then my prayer is a profanation.

We are told in the parable that the publican returns home justified in the sight of God. After prayer we must always “return home” in an important sense. It is possible to put together liturgical ceremonies that would rival a spectacle on Broadway, but the real issue is what we take home with us afterwards. This is where the true efficacy of prayer is measured. After we have finished our prayer, in what condition do we return to the ordinary things of life? If we are the same identical person before we pray and afterwards, if we remain the same type of egoist as before, then our prayer is a profanation, an occupation of sacred space in an unworthy manner. The prayer of the tax collector, by contrast, pierces the clouds and changes him. He has authentic sorrow that is based on the concrete facts of his wrongdoing. Secondly, his prayer is not an outward show of piety but an effort to establish an authentic relationship with God, a petition for the Lord to act in his life. He beats his breast, demonstrating his awareness that the problem is in his own heart, the seat of the choices he has made and the things he has done. Like last Sunday, the theme this week again is prayer, and we are shown that prayer must begin from the point of view of our own poverty, that which is miserable, unresolved and unsightly within us. Curiously enough, it is exactly this poverty that brings us authentically into the presence of God.

October 16^th 2016.Twenty-ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 18:1-8

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL: Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable
about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. 
He said, “There was a judge in a certain town
who neither feared God nor respected any human being. 
And a widow in that town used to come to him and say,
‘Render a just decision for me against my adversary.’
For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought,
‘While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, 
because this widow keeps bothering me
I shall deliver a just decision for her
lest she finally come and strike me.’” 
The Lord said, “Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. 
Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones
who call out to him day and night? 
Will he be slow to answer them? 
I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. 
But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel tells of the persistent widow who keeps knocking on the lazy judge’s door until he ensures that justice is done. Don Fabio tells us that we have a poor widow and an unjust judge inside each of us. And their struggle is a struggle that will not be resolved if we do not allow time for persistent prayer. The widow inside of us yearns for what is good and right, yearns for Christ, just as the lady in the parable yearned for her spouse. The lazy and unjust judge within us, by contrast, is that facet of our nature that pursues its own designs and has no regard for anything else. Every day we have this internal struggle within us between the widow and the judge. We must enable the widow to win the battle, and we can only do this is we persevere in prayer, if we establish a regular and frequent routine of prayer to which we stick tenaciously. Sometimes we think that prayer is something that is done “up on the mountain” by the privileged few, whilst the daily struggle of living is done down on the plain by the rest of us. But we all need to ascend the mountain regularly if our struggles in life are to be efficacious. Prayer and life cannot be separated; they go together, intimately hand in hand. Once we devote ourselves regularly to prayer then we will see the Providence of God assisting us in those daily struggles and bringing our lives to fruition.

Prayer is often something that happens “up on the mountain”, apparently separated from life, whilst the daily struggle of existence happens “down on the plain”. But these two things - prayer and life - must not separated at all. They must be integrated by us into an intimate whole.

Sunday’s Gospel presents us with the story of the widow who manages to achieve her goal because she does not give up. The story of her tenacity throws light on the life of prayer and our relationship with God. The first reading prepares us for this theme with a strange image. Israel is fighting on the plain against the army of Amalek whilst Moses prays on the mountain above. When Moses arms are raised in prayer, Israel wins, but whenever his arms drop, Israel begins to lose. Eventually Aron and Hur have to assist Moses in keeping his arms raised. This image reminds us that we need the support of others in prayer. When my motivation for prayer is diminished, I rely on the zeal of others to stay going, and vice-versa. How beautiful is fraternal, communitarian prayer! But the theme of this Sunday’s liturgy is the relationship between prayer and the outcome of events in ordinary life. During prayer we make appeal to God for our necessities, worries and problems. In a sense it might seem that prayer is something that happens on the “mountain” whilst life is something that unfolds on the “plain”. While we are on the plain engaged in the battle of life, we often forget the relationship with God on the mountain. And, in the same way, we are inclined to think that people who spend their lives in prayer are up on the mountain with God, far removed from those of us who have to engage in daily combat on the ground. In reality, the two things are intimately related. When I take kids into enclosed monasteries, I often hear the superficial question: “How can you enclosed nuns spend your time closed up here instead of doing the many good and beautiful things that need to be done in the world?” They do not realize that if these sisters were not in here praying, then the good actions done by others outside would have far less impact in the world. My own ministry is to proclaim the Gospel. I too have need of consecrated persons and others praying for me, who protect me with their prayers and call me to prayer, call me to the mountain from which I must descend to engage the world. Our relationship with God must be the starting point of everything else we do, lest our ministry become something of a secondary nature that does not come truly from the Lord.

Within each of us there is a noble “widow” who seeks what is just and right, and there is a lazy judge who wants to pursue his own interests. The widow within us must be persistent and must keep knocking if the lazy judge is to be persuaded to do what is right

The fact is that we cannot live our lives effectively without prayer. In the Gospel we hear how the unjust judge is finally motivated to righteous action (the defence of the widow) because of the annoying persistence of the woman. In Jewish society, the widow was at the very bottom rung of the social ladder, a person without any support whatsoever. In the parable she demands justice from her adversary. This story of the lazy judge and the persistent widow is the story of the internal struggle without each of us. We are poor and vulnerable, aware of our many limits. This noble spirit within us is conscious of the risks that our adversary has placed in our way. At the same time we have a superficial side to our character that wants to pursue our own self-interested goals. We are inclined to think that these priorities are authentic and true, and, in our laziness, we do not want to listen to the demands being made by the more noble side of our nature. Within us there is a battle between these two “hearts”, the deeper heart and the superficial heart. The deeper heart asks for justice and is able to endure discomfort and loss in order to foster a relationship with God. This struggle between profundity and superficiality is a constant interior conflict for each of us. Prayer is essential if we are to finally succeed in winning the battle. It helps to purify us of the things that are inconsistent and corrupt; and it enables us to put things right, to bring about justice. The Providence of God responds to our prayer: once the poor heart within us has overcome the lazy and unjust heart, the Lord comes to the aid and sets things right. In a sense, the poor heart within us is yearning for Christ in the same way that the widow seeks the spouse that she has lost.

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in my heart? Only if I am regular and persistent in prayer, like the widow. Only if the good and noble part of me has overcome the lazy and selfish part. Only if I devote myself regularly and tenaciously to prayerful communion with the Lord.

In the final line of the Gospel, Jesus asks, “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” This question points to a grave and serious danger of a daily sort: Am I today engrossed in things that are of a secondary nature, blinded to what is good, just and right? The fact is that the Son of Man comes to visit me often. He comes in moments of crisis and sadness; he comes during the daily vicissitudes of life. And when he comes, does he find faith is me? He finds faith in me if he discovers that I am praying. He will find faith in my heart if the poor part of me, the part that perseveres until it finds itself in God’s justice and fullness, has overcome the part that is distracted and unjust. And in order for this combat to be successful, my prayer life must be structured; it must be consistent and regular. It must not depend on my whims or my hormones, on what I feel like doing. Prayer is something that I must insist upon. I must hammer on this door regularly until it opens. It is important to lay down simple rules for prayer and to follow them. And we must battle against ourselves, our own laziness, in order to be faithful to prayer. In this way, the deeper person within us will begin to win the battle more often against the superficial person. The widow will win and the judge will have to give in to that which the widow is demanding, and we will be in right relationship with God. We must make basic rules for prayer, beginning and ending the day with prayer. We must make frequent appointments with God. As St Augustine says, these can be short if the frenetic pace of our life does not permit otherwise, but they must be often and regular. Perseverance and tenacity in prayer is something essential for each one of us.

September 25^th 2016.Twenty Eight Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Luke 17:11-19

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

(Check us out on Facebook – Sunday Gospel Reflection)

GOSPEL: Luke 17:11-19

As Jesus continued his journey to Jerusalem,
he travelled through Samaria and Galilee.
As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
“Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!”
And when he saw them, he said,
“Go show yourselves to the priests.”
As they were going they were cleansed. 
And one of them, realizing he had been healed,
returned, glorifying God in a loud voice;
and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. 
He was a Samaritan.
Jesus said in reply,
“Ten were cleansed, were they not?
Where are the other nine? 
Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”
Then he said to him, “Stand up and go;
your faith has saved you.”

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Ten lepers were cured but only one was grateful. Gratitude is a sign that the leper was not only healed in the body but was also saved in the spirit. Good things can happen to us in life. Our physical lives or bodily health can benefit from these things. But salvation involves a transition that goes far beyond physical healing. The person who is on the road to salvation is someone who places himself before life with an attitude of gratitude. The heart of Jesus before his Father is a heart that is essentially grateful. We too become children of God by placing ourselves before life with an attitude of thankfulness for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. God has loved us, but if we don’t take time to contemplate the things that he has done for us then we will not even notice that we have been loved! Gratitude for the blessings that we have been given opens the road for us to love in return. There are many obstacles to gratitude in our world. The publicity of consumerist society tries to make us feel inadequate and poorly endowed. We feel that we are insufficient and have to go out and buy certain products in order to be complete. To counteract this, it is a good exercise to contemplate God’s abundant blessings every evening before going to sleep. We should count at least three beautiful things that the heavenly Father, in his providence, has blessed us with today.

The theme of the Gospel is gratitude and its link to salvation

This Sunday’s Gospel recounts the story of the healing of the ten lepers, only one of whom returns to give thanks to the Lord. The theme of the Gospel is reflected in the first reading from the Book of Kings. Here we are told how Naaman, the Syrian, is healed of his leprosy by Elisha. This story has two aspects. The first concerns obedience. Namann is given a strange instruction in order to be cured of his affliction. He is to bathe seven times in the Jordan. Though he is reluctant, Naaman is eventually obedient and he is cured. This theme of obedience - the relation between the one who makes a request and the one who responds in conformity to the request – is NOT actually emphasized in this Sunday’s liturgy. Instead, we read what happens after Naaman bathes in the water and is healed; the aspect that is emphasized here is gratitude. Naaman responds with spontaneous and exuberant gratitude to the effects wrought in him by the action of God.

Gratitude is a sign that the person has been transformed by the good things that have happened to him in life. Gratitude is the attitude of one who accepts salvation

This is a fitting prelude to the theme of the Gospel. Jesus encounters ten lepers, one of which is a Samaritan. Jesus gives them a curious instruction: they must go and present themselves to a priest. The lepers obey the instruction and they are healed. Only one of them, however, returns to give thanks. Jesus said in reply, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?” It is true that those who live in a house often take things for granted, whilst the guest – at least for the first few days – is grateful for everything. But here Jesus is talking about nothing less than the transition from healing to salvation. He says to the leper, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.” The other nine have only been purified, but this one has been saved. It is possible to be healed in the body but not be saved in the spirit. Problems can be resolved in a practical way without any authentic interior growth. Gratitude is the sign of salvation. It is the attitude of placing oneself in front of existence with the outlook of one who has received much, who considers life to be a generous gift. This is not something unconnected or trivial. The heart of Jesus, the only begotten son of the Father, is a grateful heart. Gratitude always goes hand in hand with salvation. We would have difficulty believing a person to be saved if they were constantly complaining, if they tended to see only what is negative, if they focussed on that which was lacking instead of that which was present. Such an attitude is an indicator that the heart has not been renewed. No matter how high your position in the church or society, if your heart is not filled with gratitude then you have not truly passed from the old to the new. You do not have a proper sense of reality. Gratitude encompasses a proper perspective on reality. We often find gratitude in the hearts of people who are very sick, attitudes of peace and super abundance in people who have grave disabilities. On the other hand we find people who are constantly dissatisfied. Publicity tries to make us feel dissatisfied, insufficient, incomplete, poorly endowed, so that we will go out and buy things. We are prompted to be anxious, to crave the wrong sort of completion. But the grateful heart is a heart that is serene before all of this clamour. It is a heart that rejoices in all that it possesses already.

It is essential that we cultivate our hearts so that they become grateful recipients of salvation

It is absolutely fundamental that we engage in a “cure” that involves the contemplation of the gifts that have been bestowed upon us, a listing of all of our blessings. We cannot arrive at love if we do not first have gratitude. Love is something that we receive from the Lord, but if we do not mediate on the way that we have been loved, on the blessings that have been poured upon us, then we will not be aware that we have been loved at all. Sometimes we look back in life and see all of the people who have been kind to us, who have been patient with us, who have taken care of us. It is only later that we realize who much we have been loved. At the time we did not register it at all. This Sunday we are presented with an urgent challenge: let us not behave like people who have been shortchanged by life; instead let us have the outlook of people who have been showered with blessings. A good exercise to perform every evening is to count at least three beautiful things received from Providence that day. It is an exercise that does us much benefit, to count at least three good things that life, Providence, our heavenly Father has gifted us with today. In this way we cultivate hearts worthy of God’s children.