Daily Reflection | Gospel Reading | RVA

THE WORD

Ac 16,1-10 / Jn 15,18-21

Jesus said to his disciples, “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.”

IN OTHER WORDS

Many well-intentioned people with high ideals start well with their projects. However, their plans begin to crumble as soon as they succumb to their unrecognized and overwhelming need to be accepted, loved, and belong. We all want to be needed and to belong, to seek recognition and acceptance. Problems and difficulties can be hurdled if we experience acceptance and love. We thrive in an atmosphere where we feel accepted and loved. The contrary will make us very anxious and depressed. In the Gospel reading for today we see how this desire to be accepted and to belong can be lived to an extreme, subverting the Gospel value. When we want to belong to the world, to be accepted by everyone, to please others, at the expense of being true to the call of Jesus to remain focused on Him, we compromise, we cut corners, make “palusot.” Initially it feels good to be accepted by everyone. Eventually we get tired trying to please everyone. When we live with what and how others de ne us we get fragmented, we lose our identity we become everyman or every person, a nobody. On the other hand, if our actions are the expressions of who we are in our deepest self, where we experience God’s intimate affirmation, then we will never get tired of living from that place. Jesus said, “I have chosen you out of the world”. That is the root of our strength to overcome our need to be needed by people around us. That is the place where Jesus is in our lives!

If all our choices come from that place, we will always feel con dent no matter how seductive other options are.

• Fr. Melchor Bernal, SVD | 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.

	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 15,22-31 / Jn 15,12-17

Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command you: love one another.”

IN OTHER WORDS

The Democratic Republic of Congo has four national languages: Lingala, Kikongo, Swahili and

Thsiluba. These unite more than 400 ethnic groups, each one with their mother tongue. Interestingly all four translate “CHRISTIAN” simply as “CHRIST”. In Lingala for example “Nazali mo-KRISTU” means literally “I am a CHRIST”. I nd this very tting because a Christian’s aspiration is to become a Christ. The priest is “alter Christus” which means “another Christ”.

I think, you will agree with me, that becoming another Christ is the goal for us all. Hence we understand the real impact of Christ’s greatest commandment: “Love one another as I love you”. The measure of love is not only as justice requires, nor loving another as yourself, but as Jesus loves us. The New Testament writers, to differentiate this love from the popular Greek vocabularies, chose a rather rare word AGAPE because it signifies “love that tends towards the other”. It surpasses sexual love, lial love or sentimental love. The greatest love of all is to “give his own life for his friends”.

In the beginning the Christians were mostly poor and powerless. They were persecuted, humiliated and even killed in spectacles. How can we explain the unexpected turn of events? The power of love! Christ’s love lived by the Christians was the real force that conquered the Roman Empire. Tertullian, himself a Roman convert of the second century, wrote how his pagan compatriots were struck by Christian witness: “Look,” they say, “how they love one another” (for they themselves hate one another); “and how they are ready to die for each other” (for they themselves are readier to kill each other). Source: CSEL 69; translation is Glover, Loeb edition.

Jesus told those he has chosen to bear fruit. The love that “tends towards the others” pushes us to be sensitive to the needs of our brothers and sisters. Christ’s love is demanding which entails great sacrifices like forgiving as he forgave those who wronged him, even those who betrayed him. If this great commandment were put into practice there would have been no more conflicts, no more war.

• Fr. Xene Sanchez, SVD | Congo, Africa

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 15, 7-21 / Jn 15, 9-11

Jesus said to his disciples, “As the Father loves me, so I also love you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

IN OTHER WORDS

While waiting for his turn to be evaluated by St. Peter, a soul was going around inside the waiting room in heaven. In one display cabinet, he saw countless numbers of jars containing marbles.

When he asked an angel what the marbles were for, the angel corrected him, saying that they were not marbles but eyes. Eyes of people who when they were on earth, spent a major part of their time, watching beautiful paintings, sacred arts and images by great masters. It was all they did in their lives.

Another cupboard was full of hotdogs. Again the angel corrected the soul and informed him that they were tongues. Tongues of great preachers who proclaimed, when they were alive, spiritual and glorified truths. But it was all they did in life. Casually the angel mentioned also that many priests owned many of those tongues.

There were many other cabinets there, but to make a long story short, let’s connect them to the Gospel today, “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love.” You will enter heaven whole, if your love for me is total; if your love is translated into following the commandments in your daily life.

• Fr. Atilano Corcuera, 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

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

Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a re and they will be burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

IN OTHER WORDS

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.”

The grapevine needs pruning and trimming. But what part of the vine should be pruned? There are three parts of the grapevine that a good vine dresser trims.

First are the dead branches. These should be cut off because they are worthless.

Second, the leaves of the branches. Grapevines grow a lot of leaves. They look very green and very nice; but they, too, have to be pruned, because they sap the vital uid of the vine. Grapevines may not like it, of course; but if many leaves are allowed to grow, the grapevine cannot bear many fruits.

The third are the sucker shoots. Grapevines sprout many sucker shoots that grow where a branch joins the stem. These shoots are called sucker shoots because they suck the energy of the vine.

Instead of producing fruits, the grapevine produces a lot of leaves because of these sucker shoots.

It is noteworthy that a good vine dresser prunes the grapevine for three years successively. A young grapevine should not be allowed to bear fruit. Only after three years of pruning, cutting, and trimming can it bear good and sweet grapes.

In our Christian life, we, too, need a lot of pruning. For example, our green leaves of pride should

be pruned by the Lord, so that we may become meek and humble. Our “sucker shoots” of selfishness, self-suffi ciency, and stubbornness should also be trimmed by the Lord so that we may become obedient and mindful of the other.

• Fr. Raymun J. Festin, SVD | 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.

	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