May 28, 2014
Wednesday, 6th
Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 17:15, 22–18:1
Gospel: Jn 16:12–15
Jesus said to his disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into the whole truth.
“He has nothing to say of himself but he will speak of what he hears, and he will tell you of the things to come. He will take what is mine and make it known to you; in doing this, he will glorify me. All that the Father has is mine; because of this I have just told you, that the Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
A story is told of a man who found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress.It appeared like it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.” (From the internet).
The moral is: Without the right dosage of suffering, we won’t be as strong as we are meant to be. There is nothing new in this concept because Jesus’ whole life was a demonstration of the importance of sufferings and how to go through them. We are talking here, or course, of redemptive sufferings, not those resulting from self-indulgence. Redemptive sufferings are those inflicted upon us by bad people who use their freedom to make us suffer despite our prophetic denunciation of their evil deeds. Sufferings of this kind make us grow in faith.
But while we are convinced of the importance of sufferings, we chicken out in times of crisis. We need the Holy Spirit. It is his role to enlighten our minds when harassed by tribulations. With the light of the Holy Spirit we do not only appreciate the value of sufferings but meritoriously persevere in every significant trial that comes by. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.