Perseverance

November 28, 2018
Wednesday 34th Week in Ordinary Time 1st Reading: Rv 15:1-4
Gospel: Lk 21:12–19

Jesus said to his disciples, “People will lay their hands on you and persecute you; you will be delivered to the Jewish courts and put in prison, and for my sake you will be brought before kings and governors.

This will be your opportunity to bear witness. “So keep this in mind: do not worry in advance about what to answer, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. “You will be betrayed even by parents, and brothers, by relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death. But even though you are hated by all for my name’s sake, not a hair of your head will perish. Through perseverance you will possess your own selves.

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

Jesus said something very disturbing in today’s Gospel reading. He said, “You will be betrayed even by parents, and brothers, by relatives and friends, and some of you will be put to death.”Because even relationships as intimate as parent-child relationship are prone to failure, one who anchors his joy on human relationships is in for disappointment sometime in the course of the affiliation. Anchoring one’s source of joy on earthly relationships subjects a person to mood swings, loyalty shifts, and the unpredictability of the human heart.We are not advocating the cold neutrality of the aloof. While it is of great value to nurture earthly relations, it helps to love another person without expecting mutuality. Love, cherish, and trust a person not for the sake of having in him/her as exclusive source of personal joy but for that person’s own sake. This keeps you loving despite the response of the beloved, forgiving despite his/her weakness, persevering despite his/her unworthiness, and above all, joyous despite her/him being a burden. When you do this you exercise selfless love – a love nearest to “agape”, the highest form of love.

So love your parents, spouse, children, relatives, office mates and neighbors if you must. Cherish them in good times and in bad. But by all means do not anchor your joy exclusively on them. Otherwise, you will be disappointed. Seek peace and joy instead from the Lord and only in the Lord. This way you are not at the mercy of the mood swings, shifting loyalties and the unpredictability of the human heart. And when the appointed time comes that the beloved betrays you, you will persevere in loving because you have that inexhaustible joy that comes from the Lord. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: [email protected].

May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT at i-send sa 4467.