Tuesday,
October 25, 2016 30th
Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Eph 5: 21-33
Gospel Reading:
Lk 13:18-21
Jesus said, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? Imagine a person who has taken a mustard seed and planted it in the garden. The seed has grown and become like a small tree, so that the birds of the air shelter in its branches.”
And Jesus said again, “What is the kingdom of God like? Imagine a woman who has taken yeast and hidden it in three measures of flour until it is all leavened.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Like a mustard tree that grows from a tiny seed, the kingdom of God has humble beginnings. It begins by sprouting on earth. Then it soars to greatness by the blood of the martyrs and the sufferings of Christ’s faithful followers. Is the world fertile enough to produce anything spiritually great like the Kingdom of God? How humbling that the kingdom of God should submit to human conditions in order to develop!
When Jesus started calling people to build God’s kingdom on earth, only a few humble fishermen responded. In return Jesus made this promise: “…When the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:27-29). The promise was irresistible, but the requirement was demoralizing because it involved so much self- denial. Jesus said, “Unless you deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me, you will never become my disciple” (Matt. 16:24). The other word for self- denial is humility.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step” is not what really Lau Tzu said. The original is: “The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet” (quotationspage.com). If we want to set that thousand mile journey of building God’s kingdom, our feet must stand firm on our humble beginnings. The Gospel reminds us of this humble origin when it says, “Remember man you are dust and to dust you shall return” (see Ecclesiastes 3:20). Humility is supposed to be innate to us because we came from dust. The words ‘human’ and ‘humility’ share the same Latin root “humus” (soil). Humility is not really inconsistent with humanity.
A kingdom so humble cannot flourish in the hands of proud people. Let us recover our lost humility because this is what Jesus meant when he compared the growth of the kingdom to the process of growth of a mustard tree. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya?
I-type ang BANDERA
REACT <message/ name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.