Monday, June 30, 2014
13th Week in
Ordinary Time
THE FIRST
MARTYRS OF ROME 1st Reading:
Amos 2:6-10; 13-16
Gospel: Mt 8:18-22
When Jesus saw the crowd press around him, he gave orders to cross to the other shore. A teacher of the Law approached him and said, “Master, I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
Another disciple said to him, “Lord, let me go and bury my father first.” But Jesus answered him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Today’s Gospel never fails to take me back to an experience several years ago. I was in a hurry to catch up with my flight for Manila to attend the preparatory sessions in Makati City organized for the delegates to the World Youth Day in Australia. With only a few minutes to go through airport security check I lost my sense of direction and ended up at the pre-departure area of another airline. When I realized my mistake I rushed out and inquired from a man dressed in white. Too bad he too was in a hurry and he merely shrugged his shoulders. “How arrogant of him”, I thought to myself. Another airport personnel standing nearby understood my problem and told me to follow the man. I did so even if I did not like him. I was told he was the pilot of my plane!
The Gospel today is about the story of two persons who desired to follow Jesus. To the first he said “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.” To the second he said “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.” Jesus was not being arrogant. He simply wanted to check on their motives. He frankly told the first that he could not offer him the luxuries he was expecting. He told the second that there are important decisions in life that cannot be postponed.
The story of the two aspirants is our story. Some are like the first; they follow Christ for convenience. Others are like the second; they postpone following Christ to a future time after they are done with the pleasures of this world. Who of the two was fit to follow Jesus? Let me draw the answer from my experience. Only when I recognized the man as the pilot was I able to set aside my biases and to follow him without hesitation. Applying this to the Gospel issue, I believe it was best that both postponed discipleship until they ascertained who Jesus was and how important following him was to their salvation. Until these are clarified, discipleship can be tainted with selfish motives – a condition that is not conducive to total self giving to the Lord. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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