Tuesday,
September 20, 2016
25th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Prv 21: 1-6. 10-13
Gospel: Luke 8:19-21
The mother and relatives of Jesus came to him, but they could not get to him because of the crowd. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside and wish to meet you.” Then Jesus answered, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The 1997 Chiong sisters rape case in Cebu dubbed as the trial of the millennium highlighted the saga of two mothers, one seeking justice for the fate of her two daughters, the other fighting for justice because her son, she said, was wrongly convicted. Sympathy poured in for the mother of the victim. But when the mother of one of the accused went public with her anguish, public attention shifted from the crime to the struggle of both mothers. Beyond the issue of guilt, this was established: mothers will always stand by their children.
This takes us back to the story of the Virgin Mary. Everyone deserted her son yet she stood by him till the end. Jesus also wanted us to have a mother standing by us until the end. Thus at the foot of the cross he bequeathed Mary to us when he told John, “Son behold thy mother”. Many people have not only refused to accept her as John did but have also denounced her. Now is Jesus’ turn to stand by her mother, and he will do so until the end. Nobody denounces a good mother without hurting her son.
People denounce Mary for the title “Mother of God” ascribed to her. But if it was God’s decision to be born of her, who can justifiably deny her this title? “Mother of God” is not even a Marian propaganda but a profession that her son is God. An admission that the son is God is not necessarily a claim that the mother also is.
Others are afraid that by this title Mary might derive more honors than she deserves. Yet Jesus himself was so lavish in giving her honor. In today’s Gospel reading he said, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it”. The shift of focus from Mary’s biological motherhood to the quality of her discipleship heaps even greater honors upon her. She was no passive recipient of honor from God, for while it was God’s decision to make her Mother of God, it was Mary’s decision to become keeper and doer of the Word.
If you insist in denouncing her, rest assured that she’d still be there in your worst crisis in life. As mother, she will stand by you even more than the two mothers in the Chiong sisters rape case stood by their children! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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