God in our aspirations

The Lord Is My Chef Daily Recipe for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II
Tuesday in the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time, Year I, 19 September 2023
1 Timothy 3:1-13   ><))))*> _ ><))))*> _ ><))))*>   Luke 7:11-17

Your words today,
O God our loving Father,
are very encouraging
and assuring 
with our varied
aspirations in life:

Beloved: This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.

1 Timothy 3:1

When is an aspiration
to any office or post,
not just in the Church,
is a desire for a noble task?

Help us, 
dear Jesus to make
our aspiration a desire
for a noble task
by first looking at the needs
of others and not for our
personal advantages;
looking at how
to console others,
alleviate their sufferings
and strengthen their
faith and hopes in life
like you did to the widow 
at Nain when you were moved
with pity upon seeing the grieving
mother who had been widowed 
with no one to turn to in life;
awaken and heighten
our sensitivities,
our sense of empathy
to the silent sufferings
of so many people these
days who sometimes hide
their grief because no one
seem to care at all for them.

Secondly,
make our aspirations a
noble task by sincerely
confronting our very selves
if we have the qualifications 
for any office; let us not aspire 
for positions for selfish, personal motives
nor to what would please us;
like the criteria set by St. Paul
for those seeking to become
bishop and deacon, may we
realize that you also give the
gifts necessary to respond 
to your call; let us not insist
on ourselves, Lord.

Lastly,
may we always leave 
your mark, dear Jesus
in our works
as the surest sign
that ours is an aspiration
for a noble task; may God
our Father be the only One
recognized and seen,
felt and experienced
in our tasks like when
you raised the dead 
young man in Nain 
with everyone exclaiming
"God has visited
his people" (Lk. 7:16).

Many times, 
O God, many are losing
that aspiration to serve
you in others lest they be
mistaken for many 
opportunists politicians
who shamelessly aspire
for posts with purely
personal motives;
send us, dear God,
with many people
who would aspire
for noble tasks
of serving you
through our poor and
marginalized brothers
and sisters totally forgotten
in our many social equations.
Amen.