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THE WORD

Is 29: 17–24 /Mt 9: 27–31

As Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed (him), crying out, “Son of

David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him.

 Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened. Jesus warned them sternly, “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread word of him through all that land.

 IN OTHER WORDS

 The time: At the crack of dawn.

The place: SVD Residence atop a hill in Talamban, Cebu City.

 I’ve just been out there on my favorite spot in the balcony of my room where I have a chair directly facing the chapel of the University of San Carlos. This chapel serves as my altar as I pray sitting on my comfortable chair. This is what I do upon waking up in the morning: pray as I behold the naked beauty of creation around me. This is my hour for meditation.

 What do I see? An explosion of beauty and light! It starts with the eastern horizon turning pink, then slowly becoming orange, then gold, throwing shafts of light to chase away the darkness, and finally the fiery ball rising ever so gradually. Until that point, I can still look at the sun directly, but eventually not anymore when it has emerged fully. At this point, a bird in flight crosses my view, perhaps out to be the first to catch the worm. All this while, hundreds of birds are singing in salutation to the dawn, as it were, in the forest around me. Is all this loveliness an intimation of heaven?

 Earlier, when it was still dark, I saw stars spread out in the clear heavens, especially the brightest among them right there on the eastern sky. It appeared to me as though it were laughing heartily to call attention to its brightness. Was it also calling attention to the beauties within its sight soon to appear to human eyes as well? Yes, a cluster of beauties pointing to the same Creator and Father of us all.

 “ Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name…”

Thank You, Father, for the gift of Beauty!

Thank You for the gift of sight!

So gifted, we must readily understand the misery of the blind. We know very well how much they miss. Imagine to be living in darkness all the time…!

“Son of David, have pity on us!” The two blind men in our gospel today cried their hearts out to Jesus as he was passing by. Untold anguish—and now much hope—could be discerned in that cry. People who saw with their own eyes how Jesus healed the sick, made the lame walk, and even the blind see, must have recounted these miracles to these blind men. And so, when it was announced to them, “Jesus is in our midst now!”, they must have jumped up, overjoyed, and asked to be led to him. Now was their golden opportunity to get healed of their blindness, and they meant to seize the moment.

“Son of David, have pity on us!” they cried as they followed him into the house. Was Jesus happy with that title? Would that not point more to the military leader and conqueror that the Jews expected the messiah to be? Would not Jesus be more comfortable with the title “Son of God”? But never mind the titles now. He was going to respond to their need, knowing fully well how much they had been deprived. Just one important thing he needed now: the assurance of their faith in him. Which they readily gave.

That was the key that released the divine power to heal. “Let it be done to you according to your faith.” Now they could see! And look whom they saw first: Jesus the Healer! They looked straight into his eyes as if to make up at that brief moment for the deprivation of so many years. A foretaste of the Beatific Vision! If eyes were made for seeing, is not Eternal Beauty the ultimate reason for being?

  • Fr. Dong Alpuerto, SVD (USC, Talamban, Cebu City)

The Word in other words 2015

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 26: 1–6 / Mt 7: 21.24–27

 Jesus said to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

 “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock. And everyone who listens to these words of mine but does not act on them will be like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. And it collapsed and was completely ruined.”

 IN OTHER WORDS

This is a powerful passage, to put it mildly. The message basically contained in this passage is the tragedy of self-deception, of thinking that all is well between you and God when in fact it is not. It is a message addressed to people who are to some degree religious people. In fact, this whole sermon is focused on the Jewish religious leaders who have the outward form of religion but without its heart. They say their prayers but they are hypocritically superficial. They fast but their fasting is so that they might look religious. They offer gifts but their gifts are nothing more than a paraded facade of piety. Their hearts do not belong to God and it is that which Jesus confronts.

The issue here is not what you say and not what you know, but how you live. So we could split it into two subjects and say Jesus is addressing empty words and empty hearts. And there are multitudes of such self-deceived people even today for whom this is one of many warnings in the Bible.

 What causes people to be self-deceived? Well, there are a number of ways.

  • People’s false assurance may be based on the past. The false confidence in their own salvation may have been the result of a baptism or a prayer at the conclusion of a sermon. It may have been due to a gesture, such as lifting the hand or walking down an aisle as a response to the plea of a preacher. Making a decision, saying a prayer, going through a baptism, receiving catechism or the like can give false assurance to a person because in themselves those externals do not save. Many people in and around the Christian church look to such an event as an evidence of a genuine relationship to the living God and to Christ, even if they are actually living in false self-assurance.
  • Some are lulled into deception because they are unwilling to do self examination. They do not look deeply and honestly into their own hearts, content that they have an interest in the church and believe in Christ. They are so used to grace that they become comfortable with their sin and are threatened by honest self-examination.
  • People are lulled into a state of deception because they become content with religious activity. They think that their regular involvement in the life of the church is good enough. Well, it might be good enough for human beings, but not necessarily for God.                                                   Thus, having false assurance based upon some past act, being so used to grace that one gets comfortable with one’s pattern of sin, and being content with one’s church involvement and beliefs - these are what may lull people into deception and complacency.

Moreover

  • Many people have a mentality that says, “Well my good certainly outweighs my bad. And on the basis of that, I think I’m okay.” They tend to become over-indulgent in the name of grace. They explain their lack of repentance for their sin by saying, “We live in grace, God is gracious.” They can throw the Christian freedom issues around as a way of explaining away their lack of brokenness over their sin.

These people have no real hunger for holiness. They are not like the deer that pants for the waterbrook, as the psalmist said. These are self-deceived people who are banking on some past event, who are unwilling to do self-examination, who are content with their external activity and who take a look at their lives thinking that they are sort of good Christians because the good in them outweighs the bad. These are the people who need to hear what the gospel passage for today says. Really, it is a time for us to search our own hearts.

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, help us to truly hunger for holiness and search our own hearts. Amen.

  • Felix Ferrer, SVD (DWST, Tagaytay City)

The Word in other words 2015

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 25: 6–10 / Mt 15: 29–37

Moving on from there Jesus walked by the Sea of Galilee, went up on the mountain, and sat down there. Great crowds came to him, having with them the lame, the blind, the deformed, the mute, and many others. They placed them at his feet, and he cured them. The crowds were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the deformed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind able to see, and they glorified the God of Israel.

Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “My heart is moved with pity for the crowd, for they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, for fear they may collapse on the way.” The disciples said to him, “Where could we ever get enough bread in this deserted place to satisfy such a crowd?” Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” “Seven,” they replied, “and a few fish.” He ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds. They all ate and were satisfied. They picked up the fragments left over—seven baskets full.

IN OTHER WORDS

It is said that women are from Venus and men are from Mars. They are located in two different worlds and far from each other. Thus, both have different qualities and personalities.

In the traditional Filipino culture, there are some practices that only women should do because, like rearing a baby, they are a “woman thing.” This holds true of some Filipino male practices, too. A Filipino man should not cry because only a woman does. While these are practices particular to the Filipino culture, there are also traits which are universally understood to be exclusively masculine or feminine. Masculine pertains to strength, power, and virility, while feminine denotes being soft, caring, and nurturing. These stereotypes imply an understanding that male and female are truly coming from two very different worlds.

However, in our gospel today, Jesus shows us something different. He was moved with pity, and showed concern for the crowd. These reveal his other side – the soft side. In the Jewish culture, being emotional was not acceptable for a man, it being associated to women. Man was expected to be “manly”. But Jesus deconstructed the socio-cultural framework of his time and taught that a male person can also be maawain at maalalahanin (merciful and concerned) without losing his masculinity. Jesus had his softer side revealed so that others might have life. Providing life requires one to be a caring and nurturing person, just like Jesus!

  • Fr. Ross Heruela, SVD (DWST, Tagaytay City)

The Word in other words 2015

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 11: 1–10 / Lk 10: 21–24

Jesus rejoiced [in] the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

IN OTHER WORDS

“Peace is not the absence of war; it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence and justice.” Although eerily close to the words of Vatican II on peace and justice, these words actually came from Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza, a Jew who lived in 17th century Amsterdam after his family got expelled from Portugal on account of their faith. Even among the Dutch Jews who eventually drove him away from their synagogue because of his radical views on the Bible, Spinoza preserved his conviction about peace as a gift from above. In his lonely life as a lens grinder he sought consolation by way of reason. Faith, in his case, illumined reason.

Our history of salvation tells us that the prophet Isaiah bewailed the Assyrian violence and injustice against God’s people. In the name of God he vented his anger on the Israelites themselves for their act of injustice: their infidelity to the Covenant of love which they had forged with the Lord. This changed, of course, with the coming of Christ who promised lasting peace and blessing to God’s people, and beyond.

These days, as thousands of pilgrims journeyed to the Holy Land, they entered Jerusalem, the city of David, the city of peace (salem or shalom). Mingled with those pious pilgrims were two Pinoys, Percy and Flor, who went there on their wedding anniversary to thank the Lord for their many years of blissful marriage. Contrary to the frightening reports of deteriorating conditions in God’s city, the couple was delighted to find Jews rubbing elbows with Christians, Muslims praying in their respective places while plying their trades for a livelihood.

It was Advent, and together with millions all over the world the couple prayed that one day Jerusalem would truly and rightfully be the City of Peace. It was there that the Lord humbly seated himself on an ass and came as the Prince of Peace.

  • Flor Lagura, SVD (Bordentown, NJ, USA)

 

The Word in other words 2015

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. November 30, 2015 Monday
  2. November 29, 2015 Sunday
  3. November 28, 2015 Saturday
  4. November 27, 2015 Friday
  5. November 26, 2015 Thursday
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