The Word God Spells

Luke 6: 20-26
Col 3:1-11 / Ps 145:2-3,10-13

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.
(Luke 6:23)

We hunger for peace and justice,
We weep for poverty all around,
Trust in the hope of God’s promise
That His love and mercy will abound.

“Fortunate are you who are poor, the kingdom of God is yours.” These words are addressed both as hope to those who are materially poor, and to those who are not poor, but “have the spirit of the poor” (Mt.5:3) in their hearts. “Fortunate are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.” Jesus here could be saying that there is a food that is more important than bread. It is a spiritual food that satisfies the soul. As He said in John’s Gospel, “He who feeds on this bread will live forever” (Jn.6:58). But “woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry,” meaning even the little faith that the materially well-off have now will be taken away from them; since they are famished in the Word of God. “Fortunate are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” Those who weep for the injustices in this world caused by the rich and powerful will have the last laugh. For God’s justice will in the end prevail. And finally, “Fortunate are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject you, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.”

Reflection

We cannot be followers of Christ unless we are willing to follow the ‘hard and narrow road that leads to life’. Bro. Hansel, our Programs & Services director, my wife Ollie and I took a short break last Sunday and followed Cleofe, our Dev. officer to one Eco-reach site in the slums of Bangkal to meet 23 ‘nanays’, beneficiaries of the BCBP’s credit for small livelihood projects. Destitution is a polite word to describe the sight, scent, and social stigma that greeted us as we picked our way through the muddy pathways. The poverty shamed us, and convicted us to the very core.

The nanays were very grateful not only for the opportunity of improving their lot in life, however small, but for the hope of human kindness and Christ’s love that we cited as the reason for our coming. But we came away saddened and embittered by the seeming neglect of our society for the least of God’s children. We realized how poor we are in caring for the poor; how hungry and empty we felt in the little help that we could give; and how we can only weep for the misery of so many of our countrymen who wallow in the muck of abject poverty.

One does not have to be a prophet to realize that this Sunday experience was a call to a deeper kind of evangelization. We thank all the brothers and sisters in our community for their contributions to the Eco-reach program. But so much more is needed to make a dent in the battle against poverty. We now feel that we are part of those being sent to appeal to more generous hearts. Help the Lord’s little ones, and you will certainly be greatly rewarded.

Lead us, Lord, to Your generous children, for it is through their kind hearts that Your kingdom will be realized here on earth for their impoverished brethren. Amen.

Matthew 7: 7-12
Est C:12.14-16.23-25 / Ps 138

Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.
(Matthew 7:7-8)

Whatever we seek in prayer,
We must be confident we shall find;
Jesus said, trust God your Father,
What we’ve received we must give in kind.

In today’s Gospel passage of Matthew, our Lord seems to be making an emphatic statement that His Father in heaven will reward those who ask Him in prayer. He even repeated Himself, and gave a comparison of a human father’s response to his son to reinforce His promise. His only condition is that we must do likewise to others. This is the Golden Rule. If we are living the Gospel values as true Christians, then we will receive what we are asking for, we will find what we are seeking, and doors of opportunities will be opened to us. “Whatever we ask we (will) receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22)

Reflection

A certain brother in our community (we will call him Bro. Rey) always practiced the Golden Rule in his dealings with others. Kindness is inherent in his nature. But one’s kindness can also be abused by those to whom it is given. When the Department of Agrarian Reform included his 5 hectare farm in its Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), Bro. Rey’s tenant demanded a share of 1.5 hectares, or P750,000 cash settlement. This he considered unfair, as his tenant had lived off his land for so long without giving Bro. Rey any substantial share of the crops. But the DAR being always on the side of tenant-farmers, Bro. Rey could not find any solution to prevent his small farm from being further reduced. He was willing to pay P450,000, which was already a very substantial amount for the poor family of his tenant, but the latter refused to settle for the lesser amount. Call it karma, but not long afterwards, the tenant figured in a motor accident. The farmer was killed and his son hospitalized. The wife of the tenant was left with no choice but to accept Bro. Rey’s kind offer.

In the case of that tenant, God did not give him what he was praying for, because as St. James tells us: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3) Yes, in this case there are also prayers that are not granted. In our prayers, let us ask God for enlightenment, so that what we ask for will not be for our own good alone but for others as well.

Lord, You always know what is best for us. Remind us to seek first Your kingdom and Your righteousness, as Jesus taught us, with the assurance that all other things will be given us besides (Mt. 6:33). Amen.

Mark 9: 30-37
Sir 2:1-11 / Ps 37

Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
(Mark 9:35)

Blessed are the small and the meek,
Unlike the proud, God hears their call.
Those who serve the poor and the weak
Are for Christ the greatest of all!

Passing through Galilee, Jesus did not want anyone to see them for He now had so little time to teach His disciples. They could not understand it when He told them, ‘The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.’ And yet they were afraid to ask Him. Instead, they argued with one another who was the greatest. When they reached Capernaum, Jesus asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they were silent. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then, taking a little child in His arms, He said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.’

Reflection

Peter, James and John had much to tell the other apostles about their experience in Mt. Hebron, seeing Elijah and Moses and actually hearing the voice of the Almighty. Greatness was the topic of the day, which the other nine apostles felt they forfeited when they failed to exorcise the dumb spirit earlier in the day. Thus they could not grasp what Jesus was telling them about being betrayed, killed, and rising again on the third day. It was as if their Master was singing a totally different tune.

Jesus was telling His apostles (and us) that in the eyes of God, the greatest is the one who is willing to be the servant of all. And greatness is reserved for those who do not care about their position in the world, but are concerned only about the welfare of others. Greatness is a form of heroism that we have witnessed in times of tragedies and crises. The response from many of our people and neighboring Asian countries to the environmental tragedy in the Bicol region in the wake of typhoon Reming bears witness to the greatness in the hearts of many who were willing to help alleviate the misery of the affected populace by sending food, relief goods and money. Just as great a heart was Fr. Paul, who adopted an abandoned malnourished baby which was literally skin and bones, and gave her to his parents to raise as their own. All of these heroes will be greatly rewarded, for as our Lord said, “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did it for me” (Mt.25:40).

May we all do our share in serving the poor, the sick, the weak and the hungry children in our midst in order to be great in the eyes of God.

Remind me Lord Jesus, whenever the little ones come to me in times of need, that it is You Who is coming to me to give me the opportunity for true greatness. Amen.