Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

THE WORD

Ac 17,15-22-18,1 / Jn 16,12-15

Jesus said to his disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.  “Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.”

IN OTHER WORDS

Life is full of questions, of conundrums to which we do not usually have any answer. A promising marriage ending up in separation; a son into drugs; a daughter prematurely pregnant; a young mother afflicted with cancer; a father of five losing a job; innocent people killed in a suicide plane crash; people waging war in the name of religion, etc. One author captured this conundrum of life when he wrote a book, When Bad Things Happen To Good People.  To all these questions and conundrums, life has no answer, at least immediately, but faith has.  Faith consoles and gives hope to a distraught and dying person. Faith is the manifestation of the Spirit of the Triune God abiding in us. Faith is the Spirit of truth leading us to the truth of life—dialogue, forbearance and commitment being the hope in a marriage rocked by trials and challenges; hard work and sacrifice as the road to genuine happiness in the face of fleeting feature and drugs; triumph of the human spirit is the way out of the doom and gloom of senseless suffering; death as a passageway to real and eternal life. Life begs questions; faith offers answers. To all of life’s doubts and queries, the crucified and the risen Jesus is the answer.

One of the most moving moments in the papal visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines in January 2015 was his encounter with the youth at the University of Sto. Tomas. When the 12-year old Glyzelle Palomar from Tulay ng Kabataan Foundation asked him why God allowed children to suffer pain, Lolo Kiko, as he was fondly called by many Filipinos, had no rational answer to offer but the power of tears before an indescribable pain and suffering. He said, “When the heart is able to ask itself and cry, then it can understand something.” He added, “Let us learn how to weep as she has showed us today.” This is the answer from faith informed by the Spirit of truth.

• Fr. Raul Caga, SVD | DWST, Tagaytay

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 15,1-8 / Jn 14,6-14

Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”

IN OTHER WORDS

A middle-aged couple who lived very close to our home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, looked almost identical. The face of the wife resembled very closely that of her husband, just as his face resembled hers. It was as if they were twins born of the same parents. I did not think much about this until recently. And now I wonder if perhaps this was—and, in certain cases, is so even now—a sign from God about the power of love. When we love someone, we may not change physically, but spiritually we draw closer to that individual. If they, in turn, love us, they will also draw closer to us.

To a much greater extent, when we love God, we surely draw closer to Him, and He to us. Today’s

Gospel passage seems to say something about this phenomenon. Jesus tells Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, then you also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Throughout John’s Gospel, we see how deeply Jesus loved the Father. “I have come from heaven,”  Jesus said, “not to do my own will, but to do the will of the one who sent me” (Jn 6:38). Jesus then demonstrated this over and over again during his life in his preaching and in his actions. But the final proof came when he offered his life on the cross. Jesus knew that the Father willed that he offer himself by doing this in order to testify to his obedience as well as to show to the whole world his love for the Father. In other words, there was a one hundred percent identification between the Father’s will and that of Jesus. Jesus, indeed, was a living reflection, a perfect mirror-image of the Father.  Jesus is the model of what we would like to become, a living image of God. How can we become more and more an image of God? Jesus tells us this in today’s Gospel. He is the way to God. Thus, by imitating Jesus in our thoughts and behavior, we grow more perfectly into God’s image—we become more God-like. This being so, we also become a way for others to draw closer to God.

• Fr. John Seland, 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.

	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

Ac 16, 11-15 / Jn 15,26-16,4

Jesus said to his disciples, “When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. “I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you. I did not tell you this from the beginning, because I was with you.”

IN OTHER WORDS

In legal matters, we hire lawyers as counselors or advocates, because they advise and defend us.

Through life’s difficult times, we depend upon psychology professionals to comfort us, to help us.  Not only are such professionals expensive, they are available only by appointment and are subject to error. For us as an institution, we regularly seek their assistance. Our culture leads us to paying expensive lawyers and psychologists for their services.

Our particular Gospel passage has a special term for those who render such services: Parakletos.

According to William Barclay, this word can mean a lawyer who pleads your case or a witness who testifies in your behalf. It can refer to a person who gives comfort, counsel, or strength in time of need. The literal meaning is “someone called in;” but it is the reason why the person is called in which gives the word its distinctive associations. Always a parakletos is someone called in to help when the person who calls him in is in trouble or distress or in doubt or bewilderment.

Further, Parakletos has been translated into Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, and Intercessor, but each of these expresses only one facet of parakletos. The original readers of this Gospel would have heard the full richness of its various meanings. Some Bibles use the word Paraclete, which is not an English word but a transliteration of the Greek word. The problem is that most people don’t know what a Paraclete is, so using Paraclete without explanation will probably convey less meaning rather than more.The Paraclete, of course, is the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit dwelling in and among God’s people.

Note that the various translations of Paraclete (Advocate, Counselor, Comforter, and Helper) all point to the helping, supporting role of the Spirit. The Paraclete is with us always, and offers power and wisdom that are simply unavailable elsewhere at any price. This is not to say that we should not consult lawyers and psychologists, but it gives us an appreciation for the ever-present and powerful help that God makes available to us through the Paraclete.

To those early Christians, whom the world would hate, the synagogues would excommunicate, and Rome would persecute, this was good news. They had no access to professional counsel, but they did have each other – and they had the Paraclete. This is also good news for us. Neither our lawyer nor our psychiatrist welcomes a phone call in the middle of the night when terror jolts us from our slumbers. The Paraclete, however, is always present and ready to help.

Finally, in these verses, Jesus talks about the persecution that his disciples can expect to experience – about a world that will hate them for not belonging to the kosmos. He talks about kosmospeople who hate the Son for exposing them to the light and making them accountable for their sins.  The invitation is for us to depend on the Parakletos in its fullest meaning.

• 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 Ac 15,1-2.22-29

Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and presbyters about this question.

Then the apostles and presbyters, in agreement with the whole church, decided to choose representatives and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. The ones chosen were Judas, who was called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers. This is the letter delivered by them: “The apostles and the presbyters, your brothers, to the brothers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia of Gentile origin: greetings. Since we have heard that some of our number [who went out] without any mandate from us have upset you with their teachings and disturbed your peace of mind, we have with one accord decided to choose representatives and to send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we are sending Judas and Silas who will also convey this same message by word of mouth: ‘It is the decision of the holy Spirit and of us not to place on you any burden beyond these necessities, namely, to abstain from meat sacrificed to idols, from blood, from meats of strangled animals, and from unlawful marriage. If you keep free of these, you will be doing what is right. Farewell.’”

SECOND READING: Rev 21,10-14.22-23

He took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal. It had a massive, high wall, with twelve gates where twelve angels were stationed and on which names were inscribed, [the names] of the twelve tribes of the Israelites. There were three gates facing east, three north, three south, and three west. The wall of the city had twelve courses of stones as its foundation, on which were inscribed the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the Lamb.

GOSPEL: Jn 14, 23-29

Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me. I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.”

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.

IN OTHER WORDS

Aside from the smile, the joy, the faith and the warmth that our Filipino brothers and sisters are known for here, the most significant for me are their calloused hands. Maraming kalyo, so to speak.

Every time I shake hands with them or when they reach out for my hand for the traditional “mano”, I come in contact with their struggles, tribulations, difficulties and daily challenges. One even remarked that hearts get calloused too.

Peace is found in Jesus. While Sunday gatherings can turn also into, yes, just gatherings, it also helps me know the migrant Filipinos’ deep yearning for a faith-life. In the beginning, I thought that everything could be reducible to work or euros and that faith did not authentically occupy a spot in their lives. “May pera po, may trabaho pero ‘di naman po mapayapa ang loob ko…” (There is money, there is work but I am not at peace…). Such a statement is very revealing of this need for peace and not just money. The world can always challenge this. Why sacrifice the time for rest by going to Mass when there is TV at home or friends to hang out with? The search for peace may not really commence with eluding the sources of peace. Neither can it take root by rooting out Jesus. Neither can wealth fill up an empty heart.

Yes, it can be uncomfortable sitting, standing and kneeling next to someone you don’t like; suffer the homilies of good Padre who may hurt at times or bore at times or simply stress forgiveness, or ask for donations or exhort people to help out in some activities. All these can be very disturbing.

However, the Sunday that disturbs and confronts our consciences is the same day for softening our calloused hearts by God’s grace. No calloused hand can work simply in isolation or simply out of good intention or serious effort. From the same font we drink of God’s mercy and compassion.  There we find that peculiar peace which the world cannot simply distribute to every heart. Call itfanaticism or wishful medieval thinking, but many of these calloused hands and hearts, and let us say, calloused life histories, find peace in His word, in His sacrament and in the Christian community.  “May problema pa rin po pero naliwanagan po ako nung narinig ko yung rst reading, medyo gumaan…” (The problem remains but I was enlightened upon listening tothe rst reading and somehow it lightened me up…) This experience may not be understandable to the world of eeting perks but it is not impossible to understand it from the heart. A person at peace with the Lord and with others shows somehow. Then, we hope to be that person.

• 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.

	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