THE WORD
Ac 16,1-10 / Jn 15,18-21
Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”
IN OTHER WORDS
Many well-intentioned people with high ideals start well with their projects. However, their plans begin to crumble as soon as they succumb to their unrecognized and overwhelming need to be accepted, loved, and belong. We all want to be needed and to belong, to seek recognition and acceptance. Problems and difficulties can be hurdled if we experience acceptance and love. We thrive in an atmosphere where we feel accepted and loved. The contrary will make us very anxious and depressed. In the Gospel reading for today we see how this desire to be accepted and to belong can be lived to an extreme, subverting the Gospel value. When we want to belong to the world, to be accepted by everyone, to please others, at the expense of being true to the call of Jesus to remain focused on Him, we compromise, we cut corners, make “palusot.” Initially it feels good to be accepted by everyone. Eventually we get tired trying to please everyone. When we live with what and how others de ne us we get fragmented, we lose our identity we become everyman or every person, a nobody. On the other hand, if our actions are the expressions of who we are in our deepest self, where we experience God’s intimate affirmation, then we will never get tired of living from that place. Jesus said, “I have chosen you out of the world”. That is the root of our strength to overcome our need to be needed by people around us. That is the place where Jesus is in our lives!
If all our choices come from that place, we will always feel con dent no matter how seductive other options are.
- Fr. Melchor Bernal, SVD | CKMS, Quezon 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.
