Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

THE WORD

1 Cor 5,1-8 / Lk 6,6-11

On another sabbath he went into the synagogue and taught, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.

But he realized their intentions and said to the man with the withered hand, “Come up and stand before us.” And he rose and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good on the sabbath rather than to do evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?”

Looking around at them all, he then said to him, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so and his hand was restored. But they became enraged and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.

IN OTHER WORDS

Today’s gospel illustrates one of the many miracles that can also be found in Matthew 12:9-14 and Mark 3:1-6. Luke account is most specific about reference to the man’s right hand. For the Jews, the right hand was a symbol of power and strength (Matthew 20:21,23). It was used for greetings and to bestow a blessing. It was the “clean hand.” A good Jew always ate with his right hand. It is also a place of distinction and favor (Genesis 48:13-19); a place of honor (1 Kings 2:19). Since this man’s right hand was withered, he was handicapped physically and psychologically.

Jesus felt mercy and compassion for the man with the withered hand. This healing on the Sabbath illustrated that Jesus was the Lord of the whole law. He stretched out his hand to restore the man to health and give him back his dignity.

On the other hand, Jesus was angered by the hard-hearted Scribes and Pharisees who were only concerned about trying to catch him doing something wrong rather than showing mercy to the man in need of help. He showed them that love is more important than simply following rules.

The story of the healing of this man with a withered man also reflects our relationship with God. When we fall into sin, we are cut off and thus spiritually dry. In all of his public miracles and healings, Jesus is directing us not merely to a physical healing, but to reconciliation with God. Thus, we too need to stretch out our hand to receive grace and healing.

The man stretched out his hand, and he was restored.

• Fr. Felmar Castrodes Fiel, SVD | DYRF-Cebu

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.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

FIRST READING: Wis 9,13-1

For who knows God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the Lord intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and uncertain our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthly tent weighs down the mind with its many concerns.
Scarcely can we guess the things on earth,
and only with difficulty grasp what is at hand;
but things in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who can know your counsel, unless you give Wisdom
and send your holy spirit from on high?
Thus were the paths of those on earth made straight,

SECOND READING: Phlm 9,10.12-17

I, Paul, an old man, and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus. I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment,

I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel, but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary. Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man and in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

GOSPEL: Lk 14,25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus, and he turned and addressed them, “If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to fi nish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say; “This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.”

Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.”

IN OTHER WORDS

When I was a young boy, there were times when my mother or father would use hard words (not harsh) to explain to me the realities I needed to understand. Some of those times, I accepted the truth and obeyed my parents. There were times I resented the truth.

The truth of discipleship or the cost of discipleship is a hard reality. Perhaps this is the reason Jesus chose the word hate and renunciation. The reality of discipleship becomes harder when it would demand that I hate even my own life. I believe that Jesus wanted to stress emphatically the point that following him could not be considered a part-time commitment. He demanded a full commitment to those who wanted to follow him. This commitment includes leaving those I loveand cherish in my life. It includes sacrificing possessions, cherished relationships and my own priorities.

Jesus becomes my only cherished possession. Jesus becomes my only love. His vision and mission become my own and my priority.

Now that I understand the weight and the enormity of the task of discipleship, I cannot just jump into it without thinking. Jesus shows me that I should not just depend on feelings or emotions in following him. I must use my intelligence to discover what’s at stake in embarking on this journey of discipleship. How much should it cost me? What is demanded of me? Can I sustain it? Do I have enough ammunition of strength, power, goodwill and practical thinking to face the challenges that are part and parcel of discipleship?

I believe that when reality slaps me hard on the face to be reminded of my commitment to God, to Jesus, I should not resent it, but squarely confront the truths. I realize that as much as I am very emotionally charged in following Jesus, I need also to have a practical mind and a lot of goodwill and be accepting of the hard truths that would fall into my lap as I follow Jesus.

• Fr. Patricio R. delos Reyes Jr, SVD | Liceo del Verbo Divino – Tacloban 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.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

1 Cor 4,9-15 / Lk 6,1-5

While Jesus was going through a eld of grain on a sabbath, his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating them. Some Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry? How he went into the house of God, took the bread of offering, which only the priests could lawfully eat, ate of it, and shared it with his companions.” Then he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.

IN OTHER WORDS

An oft repeated comment about Sunday Eucharistic celebrations is “It’s boring!” Even those brought up as Catholics nd the Mass devoid of anima – a lifeless celebration. Has Sunday worship lost its relevance?

The early church justified its own worship by choosing the first day of the week (Sunday) to observe the Sabbath. Sabbath for the Jews was a consecrated and blessed day (Ex 28: 8-11), a day of liberation when God assured them of their deliverance from slavery.

In North America, people work in shifts, even on Sundays. Sundays no longer hold a prime (sacred) importance like they used to. Sundays mean work for professional athletes, working students, and parents who go shopping and attend to family gatherings.

How do we show these people that Sunday is still relevant? What opportunities can we provide to renew them? Sunday Eucharistic celebrations in malls have long been practiced in the Philippines and in parts of Canada. Masses have also been celebrated in stadiums before some NFL pre-season games. Such opportunities for renewal need not be in the church. Sunday evening Masses are also becoming popular and in demand. Christianity has now transitioned itself into a new time, a new setting, and with a new crowd. History has shown that Christians nd a way to celebrate and to worship God.

Reforms imply that changes are possible. After all Christianity is not a rigid and joyless religion.

What we need to ask is: how can we contribute to enhancing the prophetic dimension of the Sunday celebration? In Luke 6:6-11, Jesus healed a man with a withered hand, on a Sabbath no less, by simply saying: “Stretch out your hand!” Is it possible for us to stretch not only our hand but also our imagination with regard to the days or the ways we worship God?

• Fr. Joey Miras, SVD | Toronto, Canada

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.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word

 

THE WORD

1 Cor 4,1-5 / Lk 5,33-39

The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.”

And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined.

Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. (And) no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

IN OTHER WORDS

The “tensions of the old and the new” reverberates in our readings today. And Jesus does not seem to choose which one is better. In fact, He favors the pouring of new wines into fresh wineskins; and yet an equal favor goes to the goodness of the old wine.

I am often confronted with the questions from some of our church-goers about Pope Francis, who to the portrayal of the media brings forth a new revolution for the church. In fact, Leonardo Boff calls for “a break with the past to bring in the new.” But it seems, the idea of revolution in itself is not really a new idea even Francis of Assisi, the Francis of old, preached the same message.

Jesus Himself came not to abolish the “old” but to fulfill it; for the heart of His message will always be the same: the God who revealed his immense love. This age-old reality does not mean living itself in the past. In fact, our first reading notes that the revelation of the “old” takes shape in the continuance of delity of those who have been entrusted by the mysteries of God.

Let us take the words of Pope Francis himself from Evangelii Gaudium 11: “Whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today’s world. Every form of authentic evangelization is always ‘new.’”

There will always be tensions between the old and the new because Christian life is always marked by renewal and of constant understanding of the eternal Gospel, the ever ancient, ever new.

• Fr. Antonio Gilberto S. Marqueses, SVD | Rome, Italy

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.

	Production : Fr. Carlos Maria de Guzman, Jr., SVD and Staff of Logos Publications
	Cover Design : Malou E. Domingo
	Liturgical Calendar : Fr. Atilano Corcuera, SVD
	Production Consultant : Fr. Gerardo del Pinado, SVD
	Scriptural Texts : New American Bible and Daily Roman Missal
	Cover artwork based on photos by Fr. Bar Fabella, SVD
	Published by : Logos Publications, Inc. 1916 Oroquieta St., Sta. Cruz, Manila
	Email Address: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
	Telephone : +63 2 711 1323
	Fax : +63 2 732 273
	Copyright © 2015 Society of the Divine Word