THE WORD
Is 11,1-10 / Lk 10,21-24
At that very moment Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
IN OTHER WORDS
My father used to take me with him on trips and delighted me with stories or vignettes of real life. On a visit to Palo, Leyte near the Sacred Heart Seminary, he asked me to look at the statue of the Sacred Heart fronting the chapel. At barrio fiestas, after the mass, we would go to his friends’ or relatives’ house for a meal. Once a drunkard hit his left shoulder with a long sharp blade (sundang).
My father refused to file a case against his attacker. It was enough for him to have received two hundred pesos for his hospitalization. He could easily forgive his enemies. Tagging me along with him was my father’s way of sharing ‘secrets’ about his life, attitudes, values, and interests.
If my father is willing to share his life with me, how much more is our Father in heaven so delighted to share his life with us his children through his Son Jesus, the Christ. Jesus had such a childlike attitude that his Father easily “handled over to him all things”. Jesus knew the Father and the Father knew him. Thus, whatever Jesus said and did in his mission on earth was always in union with the Father, guided by the Holy Spirit. Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and praised the Father for his complete revelation of things to his childlike Son. Our Father in heaven will also reveal to us himself if we remain childlike and truly love Him. After all, Christ says in John’s gospel: “He, who loves me, I will manifest myself to him.” Similarly, our love for our Father in heaven will lead him to manifesting Himself to us. Let us then continue to be childlike and love our Father in heaven.
- Fr. Antonio O. Pegon SVD | Tagaytay City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
