First Reading: Gal 3:22-29; Psalm: 105. Rv. 8a; Gospel: Lk 11:27-28.

THE TESTIMONY OF GOD

BY FR VALENTINE NNAMDI EGBUONU, MSP

The truest testimony is often not the self acclaimed testimony but the testimonies of people about us. We cannot claim to be good when every other person around us do not see us so. People testify to who we truly are based on what we do and what they see. The woman who spoke from the crowd in the gospel of today was so overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the person of Jesus that she marvellously exclaimed “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” This was a pure testimony borne out of experience.

But Jesus immediately pointed out that God’s testimony of us is the best testimony we should desire for. We shall be called “blessed” by God and truly his own if we kept his word. God was not ashamed to testify about Jesus at his baptism. God called Jesus “his beloved in whom he is well pleased” (Mat 3:17). This was because Jesus was an obedient son of the Father.

If God were to testify about us; how would it sound? About the things we think and say, what would God’s testimony of us look like? On what we do openly and secretly, what would God say of us? Jesus reminds us today that the only way God can be proud of us as his children is by keeping his words. Because sometimes we are only moved by the excitement of God’s word or by the person of the preacher just like this woman from the crowd; but fail to keep the message that we hear. Indeed, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Lord Jesus, we pray for the grace to be hearers and doers of your word. Amen.