Friday, January 19, 2018
2nd Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: 1 Sam 24:3-21
Gospel: Mark 3:13-19
Jesus went up into the hill country and called those he wanted and they came to him. So he appointed twelve to be with him; and he called them apostles. He wanted to send them out to preach, and he gave them authority to drive out demons.
These are the Twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John his brother, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means “men of thunder”; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alpheus, Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated
Life Experience)
All roads lead to Cebu where the Sto. Nino is honored two days from now with a grand celebration that attracts devotees and tourists alike from all over the world. In 2006 the image of the Santo Nino de Cebu almost fell off from its pedestal during the Fluvial Procession. The guardian of the sacred image forgot to bolt its feet to its pedestal. This plunged me to some theological reflections on the crucifixion.
Bolting the feet of the Holy Child is like crucifying Jesus ahead of time.
Poets say Jesus’ hands and feet are fastened and so he needs our hands and our feet to continue the work of recreating the world. We cannot dismiss this as cheap poetic expression of sentimentalism because Jesus himself had shown his need for people to continue his mission. For this purpose he chose Apostles. After the Apostles died the Church took over the responsibility. But the Church is “us” and so we are all tasked to be Jesus’ hands and feet to perpetuate the mission.
To be his hands and feet one need not shift vocation. A family man can evangelize children as priests evangelize parishioners. Parents have their own advantage over priests. When children hear it for the first time from parents, the Word will leave a lasting imprint in their hearts. Priests likewise have their advantage over parents. Because they are called to greater witnessing empowered by their vows, they stand as shining examples of detachment from this material world. Jesus needs people who do not only have hands to point the way but also the feet to walk the way. In a noisy world like ours, there is more eloquence in action than in speech.
The custodian will bolt the Sto. Nino image again for tomorrow’s Fluvial Procession in Cebu. If bolting symbolically points to crucifixion, then we are crucifying Christ too early. This is a welcome symbol prodding us to start this early to carry our crosses and be ready to die with Jesus at Calvary. -(Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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