November 13, 2014
Thursday, 32nd Week in Ordinary TimeST. FRANCES CABRINI
1st Reading: Phlm 7–20
Gospel: Lk 17:20–25
The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was to come. He answered, “The kingdom of God is not like something you can observeand say of it: ‘Look, here it is! There it is!’ See, the kingdom of God is among you.” And Jesus said to his disciples, “The time is at hand when you will long to see one of the glorious days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Then people will tell you: ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go, do not follow them. As lightning flashes from one end of the sky to the other, so will it be with the Son of Man. But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this people.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE(Daily Gospel
in the Assimilated
Life Experience)
The Pharisees were teaching the people that God’s kingdom was a future reality though already observable through the signs of the times. Jesus taught the people more. He said to this effect: While the Pharisees were right about the kingdom being a future reality and observable through the signs of the times, it was already in their midst in his preaching and healing ministry.
God’s kingdom is already in our midst through Jesus’ preaching ministry in and by the Church. This presence establishes the necessary connection between our life now and our life after death. This has serious implications. First, if we choose to be with God we must live that choice beginning today, lest death catch us off guard and lose any opportunity to exercise the choice.
The second implication is that even if the time of death were predictable, no evil person could make the big switch to God at the last moment of his life. Paradigm does not change overnight because habits are hard to break. This play of words is instructive: HABIT is hard to remove. If you remove “H”, you still have “a bit”. If you remove “H” and “A”, you still have a “bit”. If you remove “H” and “A” and “B”, you still have “it”! There is truth to this play of words. When one is in the habit of living the godless life and the shadow of death creeps behind him unexpectedly, the brief interval between the appearance of the shadow and the arrival of death for real will not allow the person to abandon his bad habits. He dies as he had lived. Even if he were strong enough to make the big switch, do you think the devil would take it lying down? He had the man in his lifetime and the devil will make sure he will have him forever.
The wisest option is to live our choice for God now. The kingdom has begun. It is here in our midst! – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.
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