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THE WORD

1 Cor 12,12-14.27-31 / Lk 7,11-17

Soon afterward Jesus journeyed to a city called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd accompanied him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” He stepped forward and touched the coffin; at this the bearers halted, and he said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, exclaiming, “A great prophet has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people.” This report about him spread through the whole of Judea and in all the surrounding region.

IN OTHER WORDS

An unfortunate young doctor met his death while he was working overtime in his office. A week after the burial, his mother, a devout Catholic, came to me and said; “After I lost my son, I could still feel his presence at home. I see his images inside our house.”

Like the mother here in my parish, the widow in the gospel also lost her young son. But when Jesus saw her weeping, with heartfelt compassion, he raised her son back to life to the amazement of the people.

Today we are reminded of Jesus’ words, “I desire compassion not sacrifice (Mt. 9:13).” Jesus himself is very compassionate not only to those who are weeping but to those who are in dire needs.  The Scripture is quite clear that God takes no pleasure in the death of anyone (Ez. 33:11), hence, the Lord desires life, not death.

Jesus wants us to be compassionate to others. Being compassionate is not simply sympathizing but empathizing with the suffering. Whenever our neighbors suffer, Jesus also suffers. Thus, Jesus’ concern is our concern and His love is our love. In this sense, through the grace of our Lord, we as Christians, not see only and feel but do the best we can just as Jesus did for humanity.

  • Fr. Nelson Barbarona, 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.

 

 

THE WORD

1 Cor 11,17-26.33 / Lk 7, 1-10

When Jesus had finished all his words to the people, he entered Capernaum. A centurion there had a slave who was ill and about to die, and he was valuable to him. When he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and save the life of his slave. They approached Jesus and strongly urged him to come, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation and he built the synagogue for us.”

And Jesus went with them, but when he was only a short distance from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof. Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed. For I too am a person subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come here,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him and, turning, said to the crowd following him, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” When the messengers returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

IN OTHER WORDS

Paul’s proclamation of our faith and experience in the Eucharist represents a paramount value for the Christian. In Opening to God, Father Thomas Greene speaks of prayer, without which we can neither do missionary work nor relate to people of other cultures. He also cites John Main, once a British colonial administrator in Malaysia, who came home changed. He became a Benedictine monk, drawing his spirituality largely from the fruits of dialogue with people he met in Malaysia, and founded a monastery dedicated to the practice and teaching of meditation in the Christian tradition.

Just as Paul presents the Eucharist as a symbol of unity which should bring together all believers, the centurion in the gospel passage, obviously changed by his life in Israel, shows value and respect for other traditions which transcend colonial limitations and Jewish attitudes. The synagogue had been accepted by the people in spite of their deeply rooted aversion to the gentiles. This shows an unprecedented demonstration of respect for the sensibilities of Judaism. The centurion was aware that Jesus would become unclean in Jewish eyes if he entered a pagan’s house; consequently, his request, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof.

Therefore, I did not consider myself worthy to come to you; but say the word and let my servant be healed.” Showing an appreciation and sensitivity for what was good in the other’s culture, the

Centurion was worthy of being considered the most respectful of missionaries.

Those two valuable insights – mutual respect and the appreciation of common values - stand at the heart of mission for all Christians. They also are an indication of the relevance and necessity of the Church in the world.

  • 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

 

FIRST READING: Ex 32,7-11.13-14

The LORD said to Moses: Go down at once because your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them, making for themselves a molten calf and bowing down to it, sacrificing to it and crying out, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are, continued the LORD to Moses.

Let me alone, then, that my anger may burn against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation.

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, “Why, O LORD, should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a strong hand?

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’”

So the LORD changed his mind about the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.

SECOND READING: 1 Tim 1,12-17

Beloved: I am grateful to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he considered me trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and an arrogant man, but I have been mercifully treated because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. Indeed, the grace of our Lord has been abundant, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost.

But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

GOSPEL: Lk 15,1-10 or Lk 15,1-32

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to him, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So to them he addressed this parable:  “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?

And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.

“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’ In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

IN OTHER WORDS

She stopped going to Church. She believed she was beyond salvation and worth God’s wrath. Whatever misfortune she encountered, she would reason it out to be God’s punishment. This was her doctrine until that night when she had to accompany a friend to a certain Eucharistic vigil. She decided to come along as to satisfy her friend’s invitation.

At the mass and at the Eucharistic vigil that night, she felt that the whole liturgy spoke to her. It was not an accusing finger that judged her but a hand that gestured to her to take a step forward.  All those years, she had wanted to come home but did not know how. Grace found her that night.

The first reading has God’s burning anger towards his sinful people. Moses reminded him of his great goodness towards Abraham and the people who came before. This stresses the power of

God to punish those who transgressed greatly but reveals at the same time, the greater power of His mercy. Paul, in the second reading, remembers the friends who left him in his sufferings as an apostle while Onesiphorus remained true and was merciful to him even as he was in chains. Paul prayed that the Lord grant him mercy as well. Mercy begetting mercy.

Jesus showed this mercy and was received greatly by the so-called sinners. This was puzzling for the Pharisees and the scribes because these merciful gestures seemed incoherent with how they think God would treat the transgressors of the Law. They must be punished. However, through the two parables, Jesus revealed what the sinners looked like through the eyes of God. In God’s eyes, the repentance of the lost son and daughter merits rejoicing. It is not the rejoicing over a fallen and punished adversary or a jubilation after a satisfied lust of revenge.  It is the joy of seeing finally the face of a sorely missed loved one after not seeing him or her for a long, long time. It is such a great joy!  Way back in the Novitiate, a frater then and now, Fr. Paul Bina, SVD, a classmate from Papua

New Guinea, wrote something that touched me so deeply. He did a little but a beautiful twist to the famous words of St.Augustine: “My heart is restless O God until it rests in You”. He wrote his own reflection, “Your heart is restless O God until You will nd me”. As the woman in my earlier story confessed after 40 years, I imagined how great the jubilation in heaven was for her. Truly, when she decided to rise and go to the Father, much like what the prodigal son did and as repeated today in the responsorial psalm, God’s heart rested.

  • Fr. Ferdinand Bajao, 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.

 

 

THE WORD

1 Cor 10,11.14-22 / Lk 6:43-49

Jesus said to his disciples, “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks.

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

IN OTHER WORDS

Dr. Smiley Blanton, relates Fr. Mark Link in his Daily Homilies, shares the story of a patient who saw a Bible on his desk. “Do you – a psychiatrist – read the Bible? the patient asked. `I not only read it, `I told him, `I study it. It’s the greatest textbook on human behavior ever put together. If people would just absorb its message, a lot of us psychiatrists could close our offi ces and go shing.” (Reader’s Digest, August 1996)

Dr. Blanton continues, “If only patients put into practice and live the message of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, they could be healed overnight. Dr. Smiley Blanton concludes: “God`s loving forgiveness is infinitely greater than any mistake we can make.” May our Lord help us not only to commit to mind and take to heart but more so to put into action His message of forgiveness and love.

  • Fr. Fred Mislang, SVD | VCR, CKMS-Quezon 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.

 

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  1. September 9, 2016 Friday
  2. September 8, 2016 Thursday
  3. September 7, 2016 Wednesday
  4. September 6, 2016 Tuesday
  5. September 5, 2016 Monday
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