June 25, 2015
Thursday
12th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Gen 16:1-12, 15-16
Gospel:
Matthew 7:21-29
Jesus said to his disciples, “Not everyone who says to me: Lord! Lord! will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my heavenly Father. Many will say to me on that day, ’Lord, Lord, did we not speak in your name? Did we not cast out devils and perform many miracles in your name?’ Then I will tell them openly: ‘I have never known you; away from me, you evil people!’
“So, then, anyone who hears these words of mine and acts accordingly is like a wise man, who built his house on rock. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house, but it did not collapse because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not act accordingly, is like a fool who built his house on sand. The rain poured, the rivers flooded, and the wind blew and struck that house; it collapsed, and what a terrible fall that was!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
Although Jesus attacked their religious practices the Jews couldn’t dismiss him altogether as a nuisance teacher. It was not entirely owing to the miracles he performed; had people perceived inconsistency in his lifestyle, he would have lost credibility just the same. It was neither entirely owing to the fact that he walked the talk; they had many other teachers who lived what they taught. What made Jesus very attractive to the Jews was the inherent power of his words.
Words have inherent power. A speaker, for example, can hurt a listener without intending it. Emily Dickenson wrote: “Some say a word is dead when it is said… But what I say is, it just begins to live that day”. A word has inherent power because the speaker has no more control of it the moment it leaves his mouth. Once uttered, it assumes a life of its own with an inherent power potent enough either to give life to listeners or to break hearts.
But McLuhan who popularized the dictum “The Medium is the Message” tells us that the speaker can affect the impact of his message. Most listeners see the message and its origin as a unitary whole. Consider the case of hypocrisy. After the words “Lord, Lord” leave the mouth of a hypocrite, would his hearers be inspired? But the message of a morally upright person comes as thunder too loud to be ignored. Imagine what words can do if coming from the Word-made-flesh! Take it from the Jews who couldn’t dismiss Jesus as nuisance teacher. Unfortunately their hearts remained impenetrable. Hypocrisy withstands even the combined powers of the Word and His words. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM. ([email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org).
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