Friday, July 05, 2013
13th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gen 23:1-4, 24:1-8, 62-67
Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13
As Jesus moved on, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why is it that your master eats with those sinners and tax collectors?”
When Jesus heard this he said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE (Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life
Experience)
For collecting taxes from his own people on behalf of the invading Roman power, the Jews hated Matthew. Consider what scandal Jesus created when he chose him. But there was a compelling divine interest that eclipsed the scandal. “I did not come to call the righteous but sinners,” Jesus explained.
Today, Jesus’ preferential option is still for sinners. Unfortunately, human hearts have remained impenetrable. We hasten to add, however, that this impenetrability may not always be willful because there are times when people are moved to sin by sheer compulsion. Let us illustrate further using the Magnetic Principle called remanence. According to this principle, even when you cut off the supply of electricity, an electromagnet still retains a certain amount of magnetic power due to remanent magnetism. Something similar can happen at the spiritual level. Sin inclines you to evil. Even when you flash out sin at the confessional your system still retains that inclination. The longer you had been a hardcore sinner, the more powerful the “remanence”.
In light of this we cannot always impute malice on a hardhearted person because he may be under the spell of this remanent power. Much as he wants to shape up, this remanent power holds him up. He is like a helpless lamb led to the slaughter every time this remanent power finds the right bearing. The resulting compulsion often mitigates moral culpability. In the eyes of God he is the lost sheep requiring personal attention. Such is the sinner Jesus was referring to when he said, “I have come to call sinners, not the self-righteous”.
If you are this kind of person, hang on in faith because Jesus is coming. Like Matthew he will pull you out from your working station in order to reconfigure your system and free you from the clutches of sin. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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.