July 13, 2013, Saturday
14th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gen 49:29–32; 50:15–26
Gospel: Mt 10:24–33
Jesus said to his apostles, “A student is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. A student should be glad to become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If the head of the family has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of the family! So, do not be afraid of them.
“There is nothing covered that will not be uncovered, and nothing hidden that will not be made known. What I am telling you in the dark, you must speak in the light. What you hear in private, proclaim from the housetops.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Rather be afraid of him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. For only a few cents you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. As for you, every hair of your head has been counted. So do not be afraid: you are worth much more than many sparrows.
Whoever acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Whoever rejects me before others I will reject before my Father in heaven.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
While no one categorically denies God’s existence, many transact their affairs as if God did not exist. What about God? Can he deny our existence or transact his affairs like we do not exist? This question sounds strange but today’s Gospel reading triggers it. Jesus said, “But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
But to conclude from this Gospel that God can deny us will lead to inconsistencies. In the first place, denying or ignoring the people he created is inconsistent with his nature as the Truth. When Jesus said, “Whoever denies me before others I will deny before my heavenly Father”, he was talking about God’s great respect for human freedom. If we choose in freedom to deny God before our fellowmen, God will not retaliate. He will simply respect that choice.
Thus, if ever there is denial in the human-divine relationship, it can only be attributed to human beings. If we transact our daily affairs like there is no God taking care of us, our whole life becomes a grand denial of God’s existence. Such denial takes us somewhere else other than heaven. Neither can we bluff God at the end of our lives by making the last minute switch at the crossroad of heaven and hell and slip to heaven unnoticed. If our life on earth has been spent denying God, there is no logic why we should look for God at the end. A godless adventurism hardly leads to a desire for God. —Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website:www.frdan.org.
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