Sunday, August 14, 2016 20th Sunday Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading; Jer 36:4-6,8-10 2nd Reading: Heb 12:1-4 Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples, “I have come to bring fire upon the earth and how I wish it were already kindled; but I have a baptism to undergo and what anguish I feel until it is over! “Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on, in one house five will bedivided; three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father; mother against daughter and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
A caller I didn’t know blurted out over the phone his piece as if we had known each other for years: “Father,” he said, “I cannot understand why I am having fears instead of peace after abandoning my carefree lifestyle to draw nearer God.” “What fears?” I inquired. “I had more peace then,” he declared. He sounded to me like he was a man remorseful of his past, disappointed of his present and fearful of the future. When he felt silent I knew it was my turn to talk.
Some people claim they have given up their evil lifestyle because they want to be close to God. But their expectations are giving them away. If they want things in life to go “business as usual”, then they are not really looking for God but for better fun. A person who returns to the Lord is presumed to abide by God’s plan.
When one makes representation before God and leads Him to believe that he is already remorseful, and God timely acts upon that representation by sending sufficient grace to perfect the process of repentance, that person is presumed to have submitted to God’s Will. God presumes that he is ready to set aside his own plan should it go in conflict with God’s. His joy is now in following God’s Will.
The implications can be scary because after God shows the repentant person the root of his problem, He leads him to discover disturbing solutions. The discovery can be intimidating and the person can lose even the external peace he used to enjoy. But the loss is momentary — as momentary as the pangs of birth, which God allows if only to lead the repentant person to real peace.
“I want this kind of peace, Father, the inner peace, I mean”, my telephone counselee interrupted.” He stopped sobbing and, before I could say anything, he put down the phone. I had my peace! — (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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