THE WORD
1 Mac 2: 15–29 / Lk 19: 41–44
As he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If this day you only knew what makes for peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. For the days are coming upon you when your enemies will raise a palisade against you; they will encircle you and hem you in on all sides. They will smash you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another within you because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
IN OTHER WORDS
If Jesus would circle the world today in a satellite, He would cry. He would see how virgin forests practically disappeared from many parts of the world. He would see the naked Sierra Madre mountains of the Philippines. He would see the disappearing rain forest of the Amazon River of South America. He would see cities disappearing behind black, poisonous smoke screens. He would cry with the two million mothers whose children die every year because of hunger, the result of climate change. He would cry with fathers, mothers and children in Tacloban who lost their loved ones, victims of Super-typhoon Yolanda.
Jesus the Eternal Word of God was made man. “All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be.” (John 1:3) He should have cried when He saw how humankind, driven by greed and lack of concern for others, destroyed life-giving nature and the life of future generations.
His cry today is: “Listen to the message of my Mother, listen to the cries of ‘mother nature’, whom I have endowed with all the laws to ensure the happiness of all. Study these laws. Use your brains, but do not forget your heart. Come back from the abyss of pride. Humble yourself!”
- Leo Schmitt, SVD (SAJPS, Cainta, Rizal)
The Word in other words 2015
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.
