THE WORD
FIRST READING: Rv 7: 2–4.9–14
I, John saw another angel come up from the East, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked from every tribe of the Israelites.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb.”
All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: “Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb
SECOND READING: 1 Jn 3: 1–3
See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.
GOSPEL: Mt 5: 1–12
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
IN OTHER WORDS
In 2010, my 8th year in priestly ordination, I organized with friends, benefactors and parishioners a simple charity concert and dinner at the church here in Japan, for an education fund for kids back home. A blessed day for me and hopefully for three children recipients. It was for gratitude and service to God who has chosen me in my unworthiness.
In Ofunato - devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011 – when I facilitated the Lenten retreat of the Filipino community there, I asked them for an event in their life when they felt a heavy trial and one when they felt blessed. All of them named the tsunami experience for the first and most of them answered the same for the second. They are blest because of HIM.
A wife struggling with her husband in marriage, cannot leave him because, as she reflects to understand it all, she realizes that he is a good man and provider, even if she longs for warmth and care in the relationship. She still struggles about accepting things and how to make the marriage work but offers all to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and talks to His mother Mary about her struggle to love. Despite this, she is truly blest because of Him.
Every moment of one’s life lived in God is a blessed moment. In grief and in pain, joy and celebration, persecution and confusion, every moment lived in God is a blessed moment. Blessed are the saints and blessed are you because of Him.
- Fr. Angel Peralta, Jr., SVD | Japan
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.
