Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

Gospel: Luke 13:22-30
Jesus went through towns and villages teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, is it true that few people will be saved?”
And Jesus answered, “Do your best to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has gone inside and locked the door, you will stand outside. Then you will knock at the door, calling, ‘Lord, open to us!’ But he will say to you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’
Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Away from me, all you workers of evil.’
You will weep and grind your teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves left outside. Others will sit at table in the kingdom of God, people coming from east and west, from north and south. Some who are among the last, will be first; and some who are among the first, will be last!”

Reflections
“Do your best to enter by the narrow door.”
I have encountered many Christian groups in the course of my life as a college student. They were very attractive groups because they showed care for students from the province like me who had no family or friends nearby. Their warmth makes one feel at home right away and their cordial personalities give that fee- ling that you have been friends for a long time. These, of course, I noticed soon, were just introductory moves. The real motive is conversion, especially when the newcomer happens to be a Roman Catholic. Indoctrination slowly be- comes part of the gathering. And before long, they will lead you to pray for forgiveness and to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. Then hugs come rushing, some accompanied with tears, to congratulate you for having been saved.
There is a beautiful portion in this gospel text that provides a great caution for all Christians. Not everyone who accepts and recognizes Jesus as Lord is assured of salvation. It is only for those who pass the test of the narrow door. It is true that believing in Jesus is a fundamental requisite. But the process does not stop there. Through- out one’s life should be an avoidance of evil and of doing wicked things, and embracing the cost of discipleship, always persevering, al- ways generous, and always loving.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 13:18-21
And Jesus continued, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed, and planted it in his garden. The seed has grown, and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”
And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? Imagine a woman who has taken yeast, and hidden it in three measures of flour, until it is all leavened.”

Reflections
“What is the kingdom of God like?”
The words of Jesus today reminds me of his remark in Luke 17:21, “The kingdom of God is among (or within) you.” We do not need to look far in other words; we only need to see within ourselves and find that God reigns there. At first this reign of God within us can hardly be noticed, like a mustard seed whose size an unaided eye can barely see. Then it grows and gains more hold over our lives and we feel that like the birds we find benefit in its presence; it fires, guides, and inspires. Then we begin to see a turnabout. In silence and in God’s grace, we become the kingdom of God incarnate. Then like yeast, in spite of our insignificance, we integrate ourselves into the dough, which is the world. From within we affect it, we penetrate it, and we transform it, leavened, to be- come his kingdom.
God has a beautiful purpose for the world. He longs to see the world delight in his reign and presence. But God needs instruments to accomplish his plan. We are these instruments. But first we must see this kingdom at work within us and then make the witness of our lives become a force to change the world.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 6:12-16
At this time, Jesus went out into the hills to pray, spending the whole night in prayer with God. When day came, he called his disciples to him, and chose Twelve of them, whom he called ‘apostles’: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James son of Alpheus and Simon called the Zealot; Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who would be the traitor.

Relections
“When day came, he called his disciples to him.”
When I applied to the Society of the Divine Word (SVD), the interviewer from the Vocation Office asked me, ‘Why do you want to become an SVD?” I said that I wanted to become a missionary. He inquired further, “Why?” I reasoned that I wanted to give wit- ness to the goodness of God, to help and be one with the great missionary work of the Church to bring Jesus to the world. After a few weeks I received a notice of acceptance. But I’m not sure if my answers did the work.
The Church remembers today two apostles who were great missionaries, St. Simon the Zealot, and St. Jude son of James. Their feast is jointly celebrated most probably because in the roster of apostles they are listed one after the other, and because both ended up in Persia in their missionary journey where they met martyrdom in the 1st century. We should not miss to admire their exemplary missionary character; they spent every ounce of their strength to preach Jesus.
All of us Christ’s faithful are called to be missionaries. The world is a big mission field. But we do not need to go far to do this task. Right in our own backyards, in our own homes and communities, we can preach Jesus.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
Jesus told another parable to some people, fully convinced of their own righteous- ness, who looked down on others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Phar- isee, and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself, and said, ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people, grasping, crooked, adulterous, or even like this tax col- lector. I fast twice a week, and give a tenth of all my income to the temple.’
In the meantime the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’
I tell you, when this man went back to his house, he had been reconciled with God, but not the other. For whoever makes himself out to be great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be raised up.”

Lectio Divina
READ: Sirach in the first reading says that the prayer of the humble pierces the clouds. The gospel clearly illustrates this by way of a concrete example. God truly delights in humble prayers.
REFLECT: The Pharisee’s prayer is a litany of all the good he has done and of his faithfulness to his religious obligations. But all these he did to compare himself with others and to show how much better he had become unlike the rest. This kind of prayer is overbearing and self-righteous. When we compare ourselves with others, we will always find ourselves better and proud. We will always see what we have and what others lack. But when we look at ourselves put side by side with God, the whole picture will change and we will be humbled. We will always find that we lack in many ways.
PRAY: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
ACT: Avail of the sacrament of reconciliation within the week. Approach God in the sacrament in a spirit of humble recognition of his mercy and forgiveness.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2019