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THE WORD

Est 4, 12-, 14-16, 23-25/Mt 7, 7-12

Jesus said to his disciples, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread, or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him. “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”

 

IN OTHER WORDS

“God is good, all the time. All the time, God is good.” This acclamation of bold faith, in other words, is the promise of Jesus in today’s gospel. It is spiritual positive thinking, one that we ought to remember and say many times over, not only when all is nice and easy, but also especially when things do not go as expected or planned.

Jesus reveals here what kind of God we have. He is a generous giver when we ask; He guides and leads us towards the truth and He opens up doors and windows of opportunity. Not because we are good, but because He is a Good Father. Prayer, therefore, even in its simplest form, is valuable. It is useful to us, and it works. This presupposes, of course, that what we are asking and seeking is good.

We have a benevolent God. He does not glory in giving us stones and snakes, or food, or sickness, or poverty and pain. Our lowliness does not make God mightier. On the contrary, it is precisely because God is almighty that he is merciful, compassionate, loving, and forgiving. Living in a contingent corruptible world, our only resort is a Father God.

Such trust in the certainty of Jesus’ assurance that God answers our prayers favorably need not be a blind leap of faith. We will truly feel assured if we look back at all the goodness of God to us in the past. Has God really been lacking towards us? If He has, we would not even be here reading this Good News today. We lag in faith when we are forgetful of the previous favors we already enjoyed from God. We saw, and thus we believe. Happy are those who have a long memory of anything that is good in their life because those are divine footsteps in our earthly journey.

Finally, Jesus tells us how to multiply goodness in life. Give and share, and the good comes back to you. Do to others as you would have them do to you. Call it the golden rule, principle of reciprocity, good karma, law of generosity and abundance, the miracle of multiplication. Jesus says this several times in different ways. Give and you will receive, forgive and you will be forgiven. Unless you die, you will not live. Lose your life and you and you will find it. Five loaves became five thousand. The two cents became the biggest offering. And the list goes on. Are we still to persist in our self-centeredness and hoarding mentality?

  • Fr. Emil Lim, SVD | Saint Jude Catholic School, Manila

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.

 

THE WORD

Jon 3, 1-10/Lk 11, 29-32

While still more people gathered in the crowd, he said to them, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.

“At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here. At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.”

 

IN OTHER WORDS

On getting his driver’s license, a young man was asked about what the colors of the traffi c lights meant. He got it all correct except for the color red about which he said: “Of course red means, go faster!” What do you think happened next?

The traffic lights help drivers navigate the road in an orderly manner. Without them, chaos ensues. As we go through the 40 days of Lent, we can draw lessons from the colors of traffi c lights.

RED means “stop” – nd some quality time each day for silence, reading and reflecting on God’s Word or just quieting down. Identify a specific time and place, and be committed to this “bonding time” with God. It also entails discipline. Any wish or desire to grow or advance in anything needs discipline. But never fail to enjoy each moment.

YELLOW means “yield” – having found the time to reflect on God’s Word vis-a-vis your life, you are invited to introspect, to look within yourself and “recognize” behaviors/attitudes and memories that have been enslaving you and that need mending or healing.

GREEN means “go” – being able to identify what needs to be mended and healed, the next task is to “go” and “move forward” and “be not afraid to seek healing from past hurts and move on with life”. Go also means, seek the best for you and what God wishes of you; help bring the best out of others; be an instrument of healing and peace; bring justice and compassion to the least, last, and lost. Go walk humbly and cheerfully with Jesus and Mama Mary each day! You are precious and valuable more than you know!

  • Fr. Flavie Villanueva, SVD | CT, Manila

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.

 

THE WORD

Is 55,10-11 / Mt 6,7-15

Jesus said to his disciples, “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.

Do not be like them. Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. This is how you are to pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.

‘Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one.’

“If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

 

IN OTHER WORDS

Prayer has been described as wasting time with God. But prayer is more an act of participating in the plan of God.

In the light of today’s reading from Isaiah, we note the cosmic dimension of our prayer –God’s word, his creative Spirit, which he bestows on us, fulfills his purpose in the prayer that we return to him. Thomas Greene called his first book on prayer Opening to God, and the Irish American storyteller, Megan McKenna, describes prayers as “invitations, commands even, to alter reality radically, . . . doors left wide open so that the Divine can slip in at any time, move the furniture around, or empty out the house so that there is space inside us for God.”

In this prayer that Jesus taught us we relate to the Father, first recognizing our creatureliness, having come from him, then immediately afterwards, we acknowledge our part in the continuing process of creation: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.”

Many think of prayer as asking God to provide for physical needs/wishes that cannot be satisfied through our own eff orts. However, in the Our Father it is only following our appreciation of our dependence on God that we ask to be given our daily bread.

We end by completely accepting our weakness and dependency on God, and asking not for things but for support in our lives. Bishop Ruperto Santos wrote, “In sum, what we really pray here is for strength, for his mediation and for his blessing for the rest of our life.”

Finally, Jesus commanded us to pray this, making it important. To be true human beings, we must pray the Our Father properly. All prayer, particularly the Our Father, is highly relevant to our lives.

  • Fr. Alan Meechan, SVD | Naujan, Or. Mindoro

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.

 

THE WORD

Lev 19,1-2.11-18 / Mt 25,31-46

Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome, naked and you gave me no clothing, ill and in prison, and you did not care for me.’ Then they will answer and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison, and not minister to your needs?’ He will answer them, ‘Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me.’ And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

 

IN OTHER WORDS

Today’s gospel fittingly reminds us about loving God and neighbor as we begin the Lenten season. The eschatological scene where “the Son of man” separates the good and the bad speaks of the final judgment. God will judge us accordingly based on how we live our lives on earth. The Lenten Season is a time for reexamining how we have lived our lives: “Do we love God and our neighbor?” This question hinges around the two greatest commandments that our Lord Jesus Christ himself taught us. It is easy to say that we love God and our neighbor but how do we concretely manifest it? Our gospel today tells us the answer: by loving the least of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the hungry, the prisoners, the sick, the marginalized and the ostracized. They are crying for help, attention, care, and most importantly for love. Jesus’ words reverberate until now: “Whatever you did to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.” Are we capable of loving them? Only if we consider them as our brothers and sisters. The world is increasingly becoming individualistic and insensitive. The only way to change it is to show that we are capable of loving. St. John says, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen (1 Jn. 4:20). ”May this season of Lent make us loving persons, especially to the least of our brothers and sisters so that when we approach God at the last judgment we will all be worthy to be among the righteous who are rewarded with eternal life in God’s kingdom.

  • Fr. Joey Ruega, SVD | SJCS, Manila

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.

 

More Articles ...

  1. February 14, 2016 Sunday
  2. February 13, 2016 Saturday
  3. February 12, 2016 Friday
  4. February 11, 2016 Thursday
  5. February 10, 2016 Wednesday
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