Friday, February 13, 2015
5th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Gen 3: 1-8
Gospel: Mk 7:31–37
Again Jesus set out; from the country of Tyre, passed through Sidon and, skirting the sea of Galilee, he came to the territory of Decapolis. There a deaf man who also had difficulty in speaking was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him.
Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man’s ears and touched his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him, “Ephphetha,” that is, “Be opened.”
And his ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he insisted on this, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely astonished and said, “He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
After restoring speech and hearing to a deaf and dumb man, people exclaimed of Jesus: “He has done all things well.” This remark echoes our experience of God’s intervention. When God intervenes he does it well. Recall those experiences when we thought we were heading for ruin but by God’s intervention the looming crisis turned into surprises. Like a sculptor that can bring out the figure of an angel from a crude piece of rock, God can draw grace from disgrace. When God intervenes, he does it well.
But takers of God’s intervention are decreasing in number. In the 90’s a religious sect popularized a caption on huge bill boards that read: “God is the answer.” In reaction a friend remarked: “But who is asking the question?” His remark was thought-provoking. Jesus is the answer but nobody is asking the question. Might it be because people prefer the more comfortable answers that the world offers?
The world’s answer is often quick-fix. At the heart of it is either money or power; at the core of it is either convenience or pleasure. In terms of convenience Jesus as the answer fails miserably because he requires self denial. If we want to stay at the level of the world, going the easy way will do. But if we want to ascend to a level higher than the finite, Jesus is the answer. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. The easier the path the more suspicious we should be of where it leads to. The way of the world is easy but it ends nowhere, for the world cannot soar higher than itself. Jesus as the way is arduous, tough and onerous yet the destiny is eternity. This is precisely why we say when he intervenes he does it well. His interventions always take us closer to our eternal destiny. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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