Majority of us has our favorite Bible verse. It could be a whole passage, some important and inspiring event from life of the People of God or Jesus and his disciples. It could only be a sentence that gives us courage and hope in moments of difficulties, reminds us of God’s presence and action in our lives. I imagine that these words read by Jesus were ones of his favorite: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” It was a kind of manifesto for his whole mission that he was about to begin. These words guided him, gave direction to his actions, gave meaning to his days and nights spent in the service to his people.

Today’s readings encourage me to look for the Word that would inspire my whole life. Francisco Palau found them in this simple commandment of love: “Love God, love neighbor”. These four words enlightened his life and mission in the service of the Church. What words are my spirit and life? Apostle Paul assures us that each one of us has an important part to play in the life of the Church. My personal calling may be different from the calling of Jesus or of Francisco Palau, but nonetheless it is needed.

I’d love to be able to say that my life is inspired by the same words like the life of Jesus or life of Francisco Palau. But the journey of each one of us passes through different paths and needs different kind of motivation. I remember once attending spiritual retreat with a group of charismatics (not my cup of tea, but no choice). During one of the session, one participant received words of prophecy directed to me. These words were: “The Lord will wash away all your tears”. I remember the sense of happiness, of expectation that from then on, there will be no more tears in my life, no more suffering, no more pain. Of course, that’s not what happened. From then on, the most difficult stage of my life began during which I shed countless tears. But then I understood that what that prophecy was saying was that it would be God himself who would console me, who would be by my side, weeping every single tear from my face. And it’s true, since then I was always sure of God’s presence in my life, no matter what challenges stood before me.

Let us fill our lives with life-giving Word. Let us find our strength, hope, courage in Words that come from God. May each one of our days be inspired by this spirit and life that come from Him. Amen.