July 12, 2014 Saturday
14th Week
in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Is 6:1-8 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 none of us would deny that there is a God responsible for this world, many transact their affairs as if God did not exist. People make money as if they have not known of any God who takes responsibility over them. The truth is: there exists a God who has the power to keep people alive, who wills to give creatures life, and who even died so that human beings may keep that gift of life for all eternity.
In today’s Gospel Jesus said, “But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.” This is not about getting even or taking revenge but about God’s respect for human freedom. If we choose in freedom to deny God before our fellowmen, God will rather respect that choice than drag us out of our dark hideouts and lock us up in heaven. Heaven won’t be heaven to people who are not free. For as long as we exercise human freedom God stays on the side lines.
So we should be wary about how we handle ourselves. The way we transact our affairs may send God the signal that he is a persona non grata in our lives. With great respect he will quietly leave us alone. That would leave so much power to the devil over us. Alone and without God only the devil takes interest in us, not for our own good but for our destruction. And when we will be so used to living without a God, our pattern of thinking and acting will bear no trace of God’s mark. Our whole life will soon become a grand denial of God’s existence. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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