Friday, May 12, 2017
4th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 13:26–33
Gospel: Jn 14:1–6
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be troubled; trust in God and trust in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms. Otherwise I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again and take you to me, so that where I am, you also may be. Yet you know the way where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The time to suffer at Calvary was one moment the disciples couldn’t be with Jesus. Peter, the leader of the band, had promised the Lord to lay down his life for him. Yet not even him followed Jesus to this moment of his Passion. Jesus had already pointed this out to Peter when he said, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later” (John 13:31).
As Jesus rightly predicted, Peter “followed” him later in martyrdom. It happened this way: After the Council of Jerusalem in year 49 he went to preach the Gospel in Rome and was crucified downward on Vatican Hill during the persecution of Nero in year 64. He chose to be crucified upside down because he felt he was not worth the lofty image of a Christ on the cross.
There is an appointed time for us to “follow” Jesus to the garden of his Passion. Lest we be caught unprepared let us make it a habit to follow Jesus in every little way we can. Only a shameless disciple of a Master carrying a cross on foot will follow him on board a luxury car!
Jesus never cheated his disciples with false promises and doubletalk. On the contrary he had told his followers without mincing words right from the start: “If they persecuted me they will also persecute you” (John 15: 20). When we reflect on the fact that the same warning of persecution applies to us we get scared. Yet we know that grace is not wanting, for Jesus said: “Do not be troubled; trust in God and trust in me.” With this exhortation came the assurance of a reserved place in heaven. “In my Father’s house there are many rooms. Otherwise I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again and take you to me, so that where I am, you also may be” (John 14:1-2).
Peter chose to be crucified upside down. You can have it your way. What matters is not the positioning on the cross but the eagerness to be with him in his moment of self-oblation. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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