20260831 Monday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(1 Cor 2:1-5; Lk 4:16-30): Transparent as the Wind, Holding Only Eternal Love… Dear brothers and sisters, as we step through the doors of a new week today, I offer a prayer that we may live in this world with lightness and clarity, desiring nothing for ourselves. I pray that we may transmit the beauty of God just as it is, like clear glass that neither fades nor adds color. May we experience the boundless freedom that comes when we let go of greed and expectations, living a life filled with God alone. Just as the invisible wind flies free without being caught in any net of this world, I pray that we may live our lives in the exact same spirit. In the First Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 2:2, 4–5), Saint Paul reveals his heart regarding the mission he received from the Lord: “For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. My message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.” Indeed, it is not the vast accumulation of information nor the endless flow of eloquent words that leaves a lasting resonance in our souls. Far less should we ever seek to highlight ourselves merely to gain popularity or receive honorable invitations. Rather, I pray to be someone whose heart can be filled by nothing other than the Lord, compelled to share only Him. Before God, as a small presence passing through this world for a brief moment, we need only open our hearts and listen to the grace through which He reveals Himself in all things. It is truly enough to entrust ourselves to God's whisper in the quiet, and to the warm, wise touch of the Holy Spirit. The warmth of the air against our cheeks, the changing colors of the landscape, the tears lingering on the weary shoulders of the poor, the earnest prayer of someone weeping before the Lord under a heavy burden... In all of these, we hear a call that awakens a deep thirst for love and stirs our very identity. When sharing the God who has soaked into our hearts becomes our true joy, we grow free from the sharpness of this world—even when the Word faces jealousy or truth is confined by authority, much like the people who rejected Him saying, “Is this not the son of Joseph?” (Lk 4:22). Desiring neither honor nor to be remembered,  I hope to move forward with an unquenchable passion, pouring out every ounce of my being so that God's presence and eternal love remain in the places where I briefly dwell. As proclaimed in the Gospel of Luke (Lk 4:18, 21), “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me… Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,” we learn the pure love of the Lord who emptied Himself to come beside us, seeking to share not Himself, but only the will of God the Father. We also learn the true richness brought by His faithfulness—considering it everything to bring healing, liberation, justice, and joy to the poor whom He loves. All of this is the mystery of love brought to fulfillment by the Holy Spirit. How deeply we are wounded, and how clearly we are reminded of life's vanity, by the folly of carving one's own name on a plaque to be remembered forever, or the delusion of power that claims to change everything in the world by one's own strength! Instead, I pray that this blessed day fills you with a deep longing for true wisdom: to live in a way that leaves behind a precious memory—a fragrance of a life overflowing with love—that becomes a pathway guiding someone else through their own journey. Amen.