Today is the 49th anniversary of my final Profession made in Rome in 1960. It makes February 8th a very special day for me. From Rome I then went straight to Chile without returning to see my parents. That was hard, especially for them, but I only remember the joy of my Profession Day. As we were about 46 making Profession from all over the world, we had three ceremonies. The English one on February 8th followed by a French ceremony, and then a Spanish and culminating on February 11th with a Jubilee celebration at the Motherhouse. The name of our group is "Apostolic Courage" and has always been an inspiration for me.
Since we are now preparing Sunday on Thursday, I have given my reflection on the wonderful Gospel of today so will now focus on the Psalm (147) and the refrain:
"Praise the Lord, who heals the brokenhearted."
Praise the Lord, for he is good; sing praise to our God, for he is gracious; it is fitting to praise him.
I sometimes think that the gift of the Psalms is really a way to praise God; so many of them do help us to lift our voices to praise the Lord for he is good and gracious and, as this Psalm continues to say: He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He tells the number of the stars; he calls each by name. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; to his wisdom there is no limit. The Lord sustains the lowly; the wicked he casts to the ground.
I love thinking of the greatness of God, but a God who calls each star by name! He is all-powerful and all-wise and he love us and asks for our trust.
The second reading has Paul telling us that he is impelled to preach the Gospel and "woe to me if I do not preach it." Paul tells us that "I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the Gospel, so that I too may have a share in it." What am I doing to preach the Good News today? This week? This month? I may not be "all things to all" but hope to be some things to some!
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