EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
August 2, 2020

Today’s second reading presents one of the most quoted passages from the writings of Saint Paul, “What can separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul’s statement was one borne out of incredible experiences as he himself would enunciate. He had experienced anguish, distress, persecution, and all kinds of peril. It’s hard to find anyone who suffered more than Paul did. He was flogged 195 times by the Jews, 3 times he was beaten with rods, 3 times he was shipwrecked, once he spent a whole night and day adrift at sea and once he was stoned. Yet, his faith is Christ remained rock solid. Paul was able to experience through these times of adversity the amazing grace of God and thanks to those experiences he wrote to encourage the members of the church facing persecution. The first reading, the Psalm and the gospel are united around one theme: God satisfies His hungry and thirsty people with finest food and life giving drink. The hand of the Lord feeds us, He answers all our needs. This beautiful response from today’s Psalm speaks of the ‘hand of God’ which is symbolic of unrivaled care and unquantifiable benevolence from a God whose heart always moves with pity for the needs of His people. It is this kind of love that Saint Paul enjoins us to remember and to treasure at all times. As we confront the challenges of this week and face an uncertain future, may we always never forget that He walks with us all the way. And like Saint Paul, we must always keep in mind that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things; nothing whatsoever can separate us from the love of God, Amen.