I KNOW THOSE WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN

When I was a young priest and principal of a big school many years ago, my assistant principal was someone who had been at his job for decades. He started as a classroom teacher (when I was a student), adviser, department head, and then eventually became assistant principal. In retrospect, I felt so small and unworthy before his towering, experience-filled presence in the school. But that was not what I remember him mostly for.

He had the knack of matching names and faces. He knew everyone by name, including alumni whom he had taught decades before. During morning assemblies, he would call by name anyone who happened to be misbehaving or fidgeting in the line, or not wearing the prescribed uniform.

I was impressed by the fact that he knew his students. For even if I could not do this feat, I knew that people appreciated being called by name, being known by their mentors and treated as unique persons. I must tell you that my most favourite passages in Scripture refer to the fact that God knows us personally, that our names “are written on the palms of his hands,” and that He knows us even more than we know ourselves.

Today, the Lord reinforces this truth for us, not just by words but more so, by deeds. After washing His disciples’ feet, after calling them “friends,” He reassured His disciples with words that are as comforting as they are heart-warming: “I know those whom I have chosen.”

I held on to these words during the lowest moments of my life, when I thought that everything good I ever did in my young and most productive years all went down the drain, thanks to certain influential individuals who went against me. I am sure my readers have their own share of similar pain, when one feels alone against a hostile world. For whatever reason, whether justified or not, your feelings can never be wrong. In such moments of utter aloneness, the words of the Lord can be more than just words of comfort, but words of salvation: “I know those whom I have chosen.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

When things get rough, do I trust in God’s words and promises to me?

 

Dearest Lord, teach me to always trust in You.

 

Blessed Peter de Duenas, pray for us.