GOD'S MOTHERLY LOVE

14^th Sunday of Ordinary Time
Is 66:10-14; Gal 6:14-18; Lk 10:1-12, 17-20

I was alone in Thailand when the superior of our community emailed from the Philippines to go to Ranong, the border town in the south of Thailand. He asked me to look for a house to be our base. I said “yes” and took the risk. I was alone, unable to speak either Thai or Burmese. Very few could understand English. I was a foreigner. Sometimes I felt rejected and ignored by people. I felt lonely and abandoned. I felt like I was a lamb among lions - so afraid and helpless. In trusting God I realized that He did not abandon me. I felt his comfort and his care. He answered my prayer and found a house. God is not only a father to me, but a mother as well.

There times in our lives that we feel hurt by other people. But also sometimes we feel abandoned by our loved ones. Sometimes we feel rejected by our friends. And we feel afraid and helpless. Those difficult times, do we think we are alone completely? Can we trust God? Do we believe in His motherly love? We need not to worry even in the midst of most painful experience. It is the motherly love of God that holds us close.

This is the same experience of Paul when he said, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” He is utterly rooted in his great trust in God’s motherly love. So he said, “From now on, no one make troubles for me, for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.” Yet troubled as we are in our life, the Gospel assures us that there is no need to worry. Carry no money, no bag, no sack, no sandals. God will provide. I remember when I went to Ranong, I was so worried what to take and what to bring. I had to take my passport with me. I had to bring enough money for the hotel, for food and transportation, and for emergency. I had these things but did I trust God? Did I bring peace to the people I met? Did I share this motherly love of God?

The harvest is abundant! So we need to trust in God. Let us offer our troubles and most painful experience to Him. We can rely on Him for He loves us so tenderly. I encourage you to pray to God. He is the God who would carry us in her arms, and fondled in her lap. If we cannot trust His motherly love, what else is there we might trust? “As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.”