By love compelled

Friday, November 15, 2019
32nd Week in
Ordinary Time
First Reading: Wis 13: 1-9
Gospel Reading:
Lk 17:26-37
Jesus said to his disciples, “As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be on the day the Son of Man comes. Then people ate and drank; they took husbands and wives.
“But on the day Noah entered the ark, the flood came and destroyed them all. Just as it was in the days of Lot: people ate and drank, they bought and sold, planted and built. But on the day Lot left Sodom, God made fire and sulfur rain down from heaven which destroyed them all. So will it be on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
“On that day, if you are on the rooftop, don’t go down into the house to get your belongings, and if you happen to be in the fields, do not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever tries to save his life will lose himself, but whoever gives his life will be born again.
“I tell you, though two men are sharing the same bed, it may be that one will be taken and the other left. Though two women are grinding corn together, one may be taken and the other left.”Then they asked Jesus, “Where will this take place, Lord?” And he answered, “Where the body is, there too will the vultures gather.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Netherlands has a working replica of Noah’s Ark, which was opened to the public more than a decade ago. The ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That’s two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold. A contractor by trade, Johan Huibers built the ark in May 2005.On the uncovered top deck is a petting zoo, with baby lambs and chickens, goats and one camel. But that still leaves enough space near the keel for a 50-seat film theater, where kids can watch a video that tells the story of Noah and his Ark.
When interviewed, Huibers said he hopes the project will renew interest in Christianity in The Netherlands, where churchgoing has fallen dramatically in the past 50 years. Fear is a potent captivator of interest. There is little doubt Huibers project will succeed in renewing interest in Christianity, for the story of Noah inspires fear as it brings back the picture of a great deluge where God did a major cleansing of a sinful world.
Fear is coming closer to home because still shocked by a series of earthquakes in Mindanao, typhoons are frequent visitors trying to outdo one another in driving the last nail to our coffins. But anything we do out of fear is useless to the Lord. God prefers that we go back to him out of love. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., J.D., D.M.