July 08, 2016 Friday 14th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Hos 14: 2-10 Gospel: Mt 10:16–23
Jesus said to his disciples, “Look, I send you out like sheep among wolves. You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves. Be on your guard with respect to people, for they will hand you over to their courts and they will flog you in their synagogues. You will be brought to trial before rulers and kings because of me, and so you may witness to them and the pagans. “But when you are arrested, do not worry about what you are to say and how you are to say it; when the hour comes, you will be given what you are to say. For it is not you who will speak; but it will be the Spirit of your Father in you.“Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against parents and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever stands firm to the end will be saved. “When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. For sure, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
“You must be clever as snakes and innocent as doves” (Mt. 10:16). As to what it takes to become as clever as snake we take some clues from the parable of the Shrewd Manager (Lk.16: 1-15). The manager in this parable secured his future by his cunning use of his present resources. The idea is not to be dishonest but to be resourceful. That’s why Jesus said that we must also be as innocent as doves. The shrewdness he wants his disciples to acquire is not the shrewdness that harms the soul. As evangelizers we should strive to offend no one since the greater law is charity. This rules out evil machinations. Let us be “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Rom. 16:19). “In regard to evil, be infants, but in your thinking, be adults” (1 Cor. 14: 20).
Being clever as serpents also means being prudent not to harm one’s own soul. Snakes preserve themselves from humans by escaping. They only fight back when cornered. “A prudent man foresees danger and hides himself” (Proverbs 22:3). It is often prudent to run away from temptation. A head-on collision could be disastrous because the devil is cunning. An evangelizer should preserve his righteousness first because he needs to save himself too.
Being wise as serpents and innocent like doves means being resourceful and astute enough to deliver, but being prudent and considerate enough not to harm one’s soul and that of any other. Christianity is charity that bites! -(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM., MMExM., REB., Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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