April 15, 2015
Wednesday
2nd Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 5:17–26
Gospel: Jn 3:16–21
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but may have eternal life. God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through him the world is to be saved. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God.“This is how the Judgment is made: Light has come into the world and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For whoever does wrong hates the light and doesn’t come to the light for fear that his deeds will be shown as evil. But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel
in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The day after the Philippines concluded its fire prevention month in 2005, a big fire caused by an unattended candle erupted somewhere in Luzon. The old woman who started it all cited the high cost of electricity to justify her use of a candle. Her daughter, manager of a prestigious company, lamented and said to her: “Mama, haven’t I told you a hundred times that the company is paying for our electricity?”
The light of the resurrection is not only expensive but unaffordable. But the price has been paid with the life of God’s only Son. We have easy access to this through Baptism gratis et amore. There should be no reason to settle for lower forms of light then. Yet many people do. When in poverty they’d settle for material treasure. When sad and lonely they’d go for carnal pleasure. When walking through life’s monotonous alley they’d settle for illegitimate forms of leisure.
The bad news is that in exchange for the use of these lower forms of light we would have to meet the devil halfway in the execution of our baptismal promises. Greed, for example, is not among the fruits of the Light of the resurrection. Yet we compromise and sanitize the act my calling it moderate submission. Consider how employers lavish their workers with bonuses in December but steal a chunk of their salaries from January to November. In their relationship with God they do not perform any better. They give to God what they earn from shady deals and donate to noble causes what they gain from corruption.
But why settle for lower forms of light when real light is available to us gratis et amore? You will only burn in a conflagration that also chars your soul. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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