June 25, 2013
Tuesday 12th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading:
Gen 13:2, 5–18
Gospel: Mt 7:6, 12–14
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not give what is holy to the dogs, or throw your pearls to the pigs: they might trample on them and even turn on you and tear you to pieces.
So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you: there you have the Law and the Prophets. Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many go that way. How narrow is the gate that leads to life and how rough the road; few there are who find it.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life
Experience)
“Plus Ultra” (Going for more) is an inherently Christian motto because of a Christian’s marching order to be perfect just as the heavenly Father is perfect. Compliance involves going beyond the minimum requirement of avoiding evil by going for more (“Plus Ultra”) until the good is better, the better best and the best divine. In this sense Christianity is essentially a positive religion.
The golden rule “Do unto others what you want others do unto you” banners the active nature of Christianity. Incidentally, this rule originated from negatively formulated mandates such as that of the Book of Tobit in the Old Testament and that of Confucianism. In the Book of Tobit we read: “Do to no one what you yourself dislike.” (Tobit 4:15). Confucianism formulated this rule in an even more negative manner: “What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.” Christianity has reformulated this positively in this wise: “Do to others whatever you would others do to you” (Matt. 7: 6, 12-14).
The reformulation is significant because it reflects how active Christianity is. The Christian is not content with avoiding evil. What good can the faith community derive from a person who is neither doing good nor bad? He becomes a mere bystander in an active world governed by mutual love. Moreover, mere avoidance of evil creates a vacuum. If nothing positive is done, this vacuum turns into a formidable force that will suck in more evils. Beyond mere avoidance, Christianity it seeks performance.
The active nature of the spirituality of a Christian is akin to that of one of the traits expected of an Executive in the world of Management. In a book describing the five characteristics of an Executive, Peter Drucker wrote that an Executive is supposed to be ‘results-oriented’. A Christian is an Executive par excellence in the sense that he aims for more by going beyond the minimum requirement of avoiding evil. For this purpose his motto could be no other than “Plus Ultra”! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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