Dec
Wednesday, 31 December – Tempted to Self-Reject
31 Dec – Seventh Day in the Octave of Christmas. St Sylvester I, Pope
Sylvester (d. 335) was pope in the reign of Emperor Constantine I, who built the Lateran and other churches. He sent legates to the First Council of Nicaea, and was involved in the controversy over Arianism. The spurious Donation of Constantine was supposedly given to St. Sylvester.
- Patron Saint Index
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1 John 2:18-21
Children, these are the last days;
you were told that an Antichrist must come,
and now several antichrists have already appeared;
we know from this that these are the last days.
Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged;
if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us;
but they left us, to prove that not one of them
ever belonged to us.
But you have been anointed by the Holy One,
and have all received the knowledge.
It is not because you do not know the truth that I am writing to you
but rather because you know it already
and know that no lie can come from the truth.
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John 1:1-18
and the Word was with God
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things came to be,
not one thing had its being but through him.
All that came to be had life in him
and that life was the light of men,
a light that shines in the dark,
a light that darkness could not overpower.
His name was John.
He came as a witness,
as a witness to speak for the light,
so that everyone might believe through him.
He was not the light,
only a witness to speak for the light.
The Word was the true light
that enlightens all men;
and he was coming into the world.
He was in the world
that had its being through him,
and the world did not know him.
He came to his own domain
and his own people did not accept him.
But to all who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to all who believe in the name of him
who was born not out of human stock
or urge of the flesh
or will of man
but of God himself.
The Word was made flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,
full of grace and truth.
John appears as his witness. He proclaims:
‘This is the one of whom I said:
He who comes after me ranks before me
because he existed before me.’
Indeed, from his fulness we have, all of us, received –
yes, grace in return for grace,
since, though the Law was given through Moses,
grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.
No one has ever seen God;
it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,
who has made him known.
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He came to his own domain and his own people did not accept him.
Rejection can take many forms. It can manifest in the form of someone disliking you, someone giving you a dirty look, someone looking at you as though you have said the dumbest thing anyone can say, someone gossiping about you, and the list can go on and on. I’m sure that you have had many moments in your life when you have felt rejected. I’m also sure that the feeling of rejection is extremely painful and hurtful.
Whenever I feel rejected or hurt, I immediately choose to reject myself. I begin saying harsh words such as “Idiot Jean, you’re an idiot”. Other times, I think that the world would be better without me and feel like a mistake for being alive. I begin to doubt that I can ever do anything good and in that moment, I give up striving to do good. As you can tell, whenever I engage in self-rejection, the focus is on me and no longer on God.
Jesus faced much more severe and extreme rejection. This rejection did not just come from anyone, but it came from His own people: people who grew up with Him, knew Him, and were perhaps formerly friends with Him. Yet, when He began to live out God’s will for His life, the people whom He thought were friends, began to mock Him and ridicule Him. Since Jesus was human like us, the pain He experienced must have been no less than ours. Perhaps, like us, He was also tempted to reject Himself.
Fortunately, unlike me, Jesus did not engage in self-rejection. Instead, He always turned to God and prayed. By keeping His focus on His Father’s will and holding onto the truth that His Father loved Him, He courageously faced sufferings and rejections and continued to be fruitful in His work on earth.
My brothers and sisters, whenever we are rejected, let us immediately turn to Jesus. He knows the pains of rejection and understands the temptations to engage in self-rejection. Let us turn to Him and pray for His strength and grace to continue doing His will so that, like Him, we too can be fruitful in our work and can continue to move forward in spite of obstacles.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Jean Cheng)
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Prayer: Lord, I am weak. In my moments of temptations to reject myself, help me to first turn to you and to trust in your love for me. Help me to trust that I am worthy of love and I have a right to live in this world because you, the creator of this world, also created me. Help me to learn to be fruitful in the midst of sufferings.
Thanksgiving: We give thanks to Jesus for showing us the way to live and the way to eternal life.
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Upcoming Readings:
Thu, 01 Jan – Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 67:2-3. 5-6. 8; Galatians 4:4-7; Luke 2:16-21; Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Fri, 02 Jan – 1 John 2:22-28; John 1:19-28; Weekday before Epiphany; Sts Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, bishops, doctors
Sat, 03 Jan – 1 John 2:29-3:6; John 1:29-34; Weekday before Epiphany; Holy Name of Jesus
Sun, 04 Jan – Isaiah 60:1-6, Psalm 72, Ephesians 3:2-3a. 5-6, Matthew 2:1-12, Epiphany of the the Lord
