February 10, 2017
Friday 5th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gen. 3:1-8
Gospel: Mk 7:31–37
Again Jesus set out; from the country of Tyre, passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, he came to the territory of Decapolis. There a deaf man who also had difficulty in speaking was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him.
Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him, “Ephphetha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he insisted on this, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
After Jesus restored speech and hearing to the deaf and dumb man, the people cried out: “He has done all things well.” This won’t differ much from our reactions to God’s interventions in our lives. When God intervenes he does it well. He can write well using crooked lines. He makes all things new. Suffice to recall those experiences when we thought we were heading for ruin. But by God’s intervention the looming crisis turned into surprises.
When God intervenes, he does it well. Unfortunately there is an increasing number of people who would not want to have anything to do with God. One day while driving somewhere in Batangas, I called the attention of my friends on a huge billboard with the caption, “God is the answer”. One of them quipped: “Yes, God is the answer, but who is asking the question?” This plunged me into deep reflection on God’s status among people. Many no longer go to God for the right answers because such answers impose the onerous condition of self-denial. They go for what the world dictates instead. In effect they bar God from making interventions in their lives.
The world’s answers may not be as onerous but can the world take us to the realm of the eternal? Let us not forget that the world cannot soar higher than itself. In contrast Jesus need not take us anywhere else, for he is both the way and the destiny. But following him could be tough. “Nothing worthwhile comes easy” is not without any basis in reality.
People were so amazed about Jesus’ power to restore the faculties of the senses of the deaf mute man in today’s Gospel reading. With a deep sense of awe they exclaimed, “He has done all things well!” But with so much power notwithstanding, he can only do so if we allow him to. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM.
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