Tuesday, March 5, 2019
8th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Sirach 35:1-12
Gospel: Mark 10:28-31
Peter spoke up and said, “We have given up everything to follow you.” Jesus answered, “Truly, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or father or mother, or children, or lands for my sake and for the Gospel, who will not receive his reward. I say to you: even in the midst of persecution he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and lands in the present time and in the world to come eternal life. Do pay attention: Many who now are first will be last, and the last, first.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Here is Sa-eh Po’s joke of the day: BUDOY: Ma’m, gusto ko sanang mag-apply; kahit anong trabaho lang po sa bahay ninyo. MADAM: Sige, tanggap ka na. Tuwing umaga pakainin mo yong aso namin ng corned beef, hotdog at bacon. BUDOY: Ma’m, pwedeng mag-apply bilang aso?
Some people wish they were someone else grazing at greener pastures. Others hope that the hands of time turn faster and the winds of change blow harder to their favor. Others look forward to the biblical promise of reversal of fortune to happen in this lifetime. The bitter ones invoke “gaba” (comeuppance) on the takers of undue advantage in the social ladder, only to realize that comeuppance is not at any one’s beck and call, and the persecutor becomes more powerful while the oppressed remains depressed. How often do we see the villain rewarded and the just languishing in misery? “Natutulog ba ang Dyos?”
Today’s Gospel assures us that God’s reward can take place in this lifetime. We need not wait for the dawning of eternity to experience reversal of fortune. Jesus said: “I say to you: even in the midst of persecution he will receive a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands in the present time and in the world to come, eternal life”. Jesus gave this assurance to the Apostles and to his disciples in general. It finds application today in the experiences of divine providence by priests and nuns. But this can also apply to persecuted people who persevere in God’s grace, aware that with their sufferings they too are assuming a special role in the vineyard of the Lord.
Let not the unfavorable vicissitudes of life draw us down to depression. Let us give God our all for he is a wonderful Master. He gives the hundredfold when he rewards. Moreover He does not go too far as to crucify us on Calvary Hill. When He asks for sacrifice, it is more for our own cleansing and sanctification. Aren’t these the better part of the hundredfold that we can already enjoy in this lifetime? – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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