THE WORD
Hos 14, 2-10 / Mt 10,16-23
[Jesus said to the Twelve,] “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.
Beware of people, for they will hand you over to courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will be led before governors and kings for my sake as a witness before them and the pagans. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say. You will be given at that moment what you are to say. For it will not be you who speak but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will hand over brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise up against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, ee to another. Amen, I say to you, you will not finish the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
IN OTHER WORDS
When a Society of the Divine Word missionary is about to be sent out to the mission, the superior prays for him in this way:
O Lord, look kindly on these your servants: NN.
The Church and the Society of the Divine Word send them forth as messengers of salvation and peace, marked with the sign of the cross (Rite of Blessing and Sending of Missionaries).
Jesus sent out his first missionaries, saying: “Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves.” The twelve disciples were to go into the
lion’s den so to speak – sa lungga ng mga ulupong, in Filipino. In the Old Testament, serpents were associated with wisdom and doves with stupidity. The prophet Jonah whose Hebrew name means “dove” was anything but a prophet. Despite his simple-mindedness, Nineveh repented. At times, God’s grace can work well in one’s naivite. As Saint Paul said, “We are fools for the sake of Christ” (1 Cor 14:10).
To be wise as serpents and simple as doves may mean in today’s language to have both good IQ and EQ. The best example is Saint Paul. As a student of the great Rabbi Gamaliel II, he was intellectually prepared for the mission. He also had good human sensitivity. When a famine hit Jerusalem, he spearheaded a collection for the poor (1 Cor 16). When misunderstandings arose among members of a community that he helped found, he intervened, preaching love and reconciliation (1 Cor 13). When he was punished without a trial, he invoked his Roman citizenship and demanded an audience before the Roman emperor in Rome (Acts 25:11). He was simple; but he was also wise.
- Fr. Randy Flores, SVD | DWST, 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.
