OMG positive!

The story is told about a bank robber who told the cashier: “Give me all the money, or you’ll be geography!” The cashier nervously answered: “You mean, history, sir. “Whereupon the robber shouted: “Don’t change the subject!”

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In today’s Gospel (Mt. 13:44-52), Jesus, in the parable of the buried treasure, the pearl, and the net thrown into the sea, teaches us, so to speak, that the presence of the Kingdom of God can change the outlook, the horizons, the subject of a person.

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Are you OMG (Oh My God) positive? If the Kingdom of God is within you, then you are OMG+. What are the symptoms? According to our gospel today, if you begin to value the treasure within you over the worldly treasures outside you, then you have been infected by the OMG virus. The real treasure within you is your character—your humility before God, and your goodness to other people. When you can joyfully let go, and just peacefully watch the parade of worldly treasures, power, fame, and achievements go by without envy, then, you are definitely OMG+.

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“Mene, mene, tekel, parsin” (Daniel 5:27). “You have been weighed on the scales and have been found wanting.” Our treasures, fame, and worldly achievements weigh nothing on the heavenly scales. It is our big and clean hearts that will have weight there and then.

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The second symptom of being OMG+ is the presence of fine pearls in your life, more precious than all the pieces of jewelry in this world. The real pearls in our lives are the values and the lessons we have learned and earned because we persevered, endured, and held on to God and goodness. As olives are pressed to produce oil, and grapes are crushed to produce wine, so, too, we produce pearls because we remained steadfast amid trials, temptations, and persecutions.

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The third symptom that we are OMG+ is the presence of goodness and righteousness in the choices that we make. When goodness becomes our basic orientation in life, even when we fail and falter at times, then we are carriers of the OMG+ virus in our thoughts, words, and deeds. There are a lot of temptations around us, but let us make a conscious decision and constant effort to be good, anyway, and in any way.

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One more symptom of the OMG+ virus in a person is the presence of an inward, silent joy in a person in spite of pain, deprivation, humiliation, and suffering. It is a joy and peace which this world cannot give or take away. People who claim to be prayerful and religious, but continue to be sad, proud, angry, nasty, and complaining, as it were, are perhaps what we’d call asymptomatic of the presence of the OMG+ virus.

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Think about this: “May your life be full of thanks and giving.” Thanksgiving!

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Let’s continue to let the sunshine in. Let’s not join the darkness of fear and hopelessness. Let our faith be greater than our fears, let us spread the good news of joy and hope, and let the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all.

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“It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord” (Lam. 3:26). One with you in hope, and one with you in quiet waiting, not only outside, but also inside our hearts, filled with confidence that the Lord is in full control, and He is working in ways unknown, always, and in all ways.

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A moment with the Lord:Lord, make me positive, and a carrier of the OMG virus. Amen.

jorbos@inquirer.com.ph