Jan 14 – ENDURES ALL THINGS!

“Love….endures all things” (I Corinthians 13:4, 7).

Love alone has the power to endure everything. With his earnings, an affectionate father runs a family.  The loving mother tolerates all the problems, struggles and the sufferings because of her affection over the children. The pious parents uphold every member of the family in their prayers.

A widowed mother came to know that her son was involved in gambling and she chided him with tears. But the son did not pay heed to her words and continued to gamble. One day, he and his accomplices were arrested by the police for gambling. The other persons were able to pay the penalty and thus were released. As the son of the widow had no means to pay the penalty he was put behind the bars. The mother was sad, and the son’s disobedience did not affect her level of love towards him.

One day, when the son was looking out of the window from the prison cell, he saw his mother toiling hard in a quarry. She was breaking stones, and her hands were bleeding. After months of hard work in the quarry, the mother was able to settle the penalty levied to her son, and brought her son out of the prison. From that moment both of them loved each other immeasurably. Above everything, the son turned to be a responsible person, and he also became pious.

St. Polycarp presented himself as a blood witness at the age of 86 because of his love on Christ. Since he stood firm, declining to deny the Name of Jesus, the king Marcus Aurelius commanded his soldiers to bring Polycarp to him for killing. When the soldiers met Polycarp, he requested the soldiers to spare a little time for him to pray to God. He prayed for two hours.

While placed before the king, Polycarp firmly told the king “Sir, I accepted Jesus Christ at the age of 6 when He came towards me like a divine river. He has fed me, guided me, blessed me and exalted me for the past 86 years. He never did an evil thing to me. He did not leave or forsake me. I will never deny such a loving Jesus Christ.”

In his ripe old age, he happily sacrificed his life and accepted death for the sake of Christ. His blood speaks even today. Dear children of God praise God for His power of love.         

To meditate: “….bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:2, 3).