Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

THE WORD

2 Kgs 17, 5-8.13-15.18 / Mt 7,1-5

Jesus said to his disciples, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.  Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye rst; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.”

IN OTHER WORDS

Jesus condemns our judging others. We jump into conclusions without first knowing the facts, like the manufacturing plant owner who, during his surprise shop visit, saw a young man lazily leaning up against some packing creates and thought he was a regular employee. Disgusted with this behavior, he shoved 300 dollars into the man’s pocket and terminated him. The boy had left before the owner realized that he was just a delivery man.

We also tend to judge by appearance like the lady at the airport who found the man sitting next to her open a bag of cookies, she thought was hers, and started eating them. Though appalled, she ate some. When only one was left, the man reached into the bottom of the bag, broke the cookie in half, ate it, glared at the woman, got up and left. It was on the plane, when she realized her bag of cookies was actually in her purse!

Why do we tend to judge others? 1. Judging boosts our self-image. Pointing out someone else’s failure and tearing him down make us seem a little bit better. The experience is good for our pride, ego, and self-image. 2. Judging is often enjoyed. Human nature tends to take pleasure in hearing and sharing bad news and reveling in the shortcomings of others. 3. Judging makes us feel that our own lives are better than the person who failed. In other words, it builds us up in our pride.

Have we been guilty of passing judgment on other people because they do not live like we do? Has the Lord spoken to our heart about this matter? If He has then we need to come make it right and get the log out of our eye!

• Fr. Lex Ferrer, SVD | DWST, Tagaytay 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

FIRST READING: Zech 12,10-11;13,1

I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of mercy and supplication, so that when they look on him whom they have thrust through, they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and they will grieve for him as one grieves over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.  On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David* and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to purify from sin and uncleanness.

SECOND READING: Gal 3,26-29

For through faith you are all children of God* in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendant, heirs according to the promise.

GOSPEL: Lk 9, 18-24

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude, and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They said in reply, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’” Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said in reply, “The Messiah of God.” He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said, “The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

IN OTHER WORDS

Last year, David Cameron, the British prime minister, described moslem terrorists as not being true moslems. Probably their greatest weakness is that they equate their worldly ambitions with God’s will. It appears that they do not know God, only what they want for themselves.

Many Christians make the same mistake, albeit without the same horri c consequences. But it is important for us is to come to know Jesus through living with him and trying to become like him, sharing his life in everything we do. Peter, who stands for all the apostles and the whole Church, had gradually come to know Christ and so was able to make his confession: “the Messiah of God”.

After many years of trying in its and starts to come closer to Christ to get to really know him, my aspiration would now be like St. Paul’s, “Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.” I hope gradually I can eventually open myself to Christ so that it is my nature to do only God’s will through Christ. Discernment is our coming so close to Christ that we eventually aspire not to seek/wish for anything contrary to God’s will. In John’s gospel, Jesus says, “. . . whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.”

The Anglican theologian Professor Fuller wrote, “it is putting the cart before the horse to approach the Gospels with this kind of question: If Christ is divine, why could he not do (or say or know) this or that? We hear first what he says and see what he does, and then, as we encounter the presence of God in him who is truly human, we confess with Peter, ‘You are the Christ of God.’”  Many other people have recently condemned terrorist acts by “fake moslems”. However, we Christians often tend to hold Christ at arm’s length, trying to limit his in uence in our lives so that we can use him without allowing him to use us. Does this mean that we are “fake Christians”? Just as “fake moslems” miss much beauty in their religion, so we “limited” Christians deprive ourselves of the best in our religion – in fact we deprive ourselves of Christ.

• 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.

	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

2 Chr 24,17-25 / Mt 6,24-34

Jesus said to his disciples, “No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat (or drink), or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more important than they?

“Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about the clothes?  Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.  They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them. If God so clothes the grass of the eld, which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow, will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?

“So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear?’ All these things the pagans seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom (of God) and his righteousness, and all these things will be given you besides. Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.”

IN OTHER WORDS

More Than Many Sparrows, a book by Father Leo Trese, 1958. Lilies of the Field, a 1963 movie starring Sidney Poiter, Best Actor at the Oscars that year. I rst read and saw them in 1963 when, as a high school graduate, I entered Christ the King Mission Seminary in Quezon City. By the grace of God I am now just over forty years in the SVD missionary priesthood, living in the same place,

reflecting on the Gospel text from where both Leo Trese and the lm took their titles. This is Providence: God’s hand guiding me to consider certain things at certain points in my life.

Gratitude immediately comes to mind and heart. Thank You, Lord, for the gift of life, family, and friendship. For the gift of education and vocation. For your constant love despite my many and repeated sins/ failures. Thank You for your blessings. Let my gratitude spill into faith and hope – that even when skies are gray and days are lonely, in the darkest of my nights when I feel abandoned and alone, You are still there, loving me, providing for me. Help me convert my gratitude into graciousness that I share with others in what I do, in who I am.

While I must look to the future and plan for it, teach me to live Today. Now is when You come.

Here is where You are. As poet R.S. Thomas says, “Life is not hurrying on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past. It is the turning aside like Moses to the miracle of the lit bush, to a brightness that seemed as transitory as your youth once, but is the eternity that awaits you.”

Thank you for loving me More Than Many Sparrows. For clothing me even better than you do the Lilies of the Field.

• Fr. Roderick C. Salazar, SVD | CKMS, QC

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

2 Kgs 11,1-4.9-18.20 / Mt 6,19-23

Jesus advised: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

IN OTHER WORDS

My sister once told me about her hardworking Chinese officemate who was obsessed with saving up money in the belief that it was the surest way for her to enjoy life after death. Jesus teaches us that we cannot bring with us to the next life any of our earthly material possessions.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus asks us to store up treasures in heaven. Such treasures – for example, acts of kindness, mercy, love and compassion – can never be destroyed nor taken away from us. When we selessly share with others what we have, we find the deeper meaning and purpose of our life. When we realize that every human being is a child of God and is, therefore, our brother or sister, we come to understand what truly matters in the eyes of God and what endures beyond our earthly life. The Chilean saint San Alberto Hurtado affirmed with conviction: “The poor is Christ.” San Alberto spent his life and all his energy to love and serve Christ whom he saw in every poor person he met. When we love, we overcome our fear of losing ourselves because we believe what Jesus has promised us: “Whoever loses his life for my sake will nd it.” Our treasure that will last for all eternity is the total giving of ourselves in love so that others can have a better life. Where is your heart right now? What kind of treasures are you storing up in your daily life?

• Fr. Edwin Fernandez, SVD | DWC, Laoag

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