Thursday,
February 26, 2015
1st Week of Lent
1st reading: Esther 14.1, 3-5, 12-14
Gospel: Mt 7:7–12
Jesus said to his disciples, “Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and the door will be opened to him who knocks. Would any of you give a stone to your son when he asks for bread? Or give him a snake, when he asks for a fish? As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Jesus cited parental dedication for children to illustrate God’s willingness to answer prayers. “As bad as you are,” he said, “you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” This may no longer be true today given the collateral damage to families brought about by the overseas labor phenomenon and the shrinking of the world into a village. The overseas labor phenomenon has produced many children growing up with only one parent. The shrinking of the world into a village has allowed undesirable intrusion to family values.
Today it is no longer unthinkable that there are parents who “give stones to their children when they ask for bread and snake when they ask for fish”. Current events validate this. Years ago a husband in Talisay City, Cebu killed his whole family, while a couple in Labangon, Cebu City had clubbed their son to death and made it appear he died from frat hazing.
Since parental dedication can no longer stand as fitting illustration of God’s willingness to answer prayers, we have to find better metaphors. The problem is that there is no better option. The family is still the best illustration of God’s concern for his people because it is human being’s entry into this world. We have to rehabilitate the family so that it may once again stand as sign of God’s attentiveness to the needs of His people.
Praying parents make good start ups. “A family that prays together stays together”, said Father Patrick Peyton. The physical togetherness occasioned by prayer brings untold benefits to the family. When prayer brings family members together, parents can orally impart values to their children. Togetherness allows children to absorb the values of their parents.
Let us begin the crusade of rehabilitating families so that the family may stand once more as powerful sign of God’s concern for his people. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
May comment ka ba sa column ni Father Dan? May tanong ka ba sa kanya? I-type ang BANDERA REACT <message/name/age/address> at i-send sa 4467.