Friday, June 26, 2015
12th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading:
Gen 17:1, 9-10, 15-22
Gospel: Mt 8:1-4
When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him. Then a leper came forward. He knelt before him and said, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.” Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I want to, be clean again.” At that very moment the man was cleansed from his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you do not tell anyone, but go to the priest, have yourself declared clean, and offer the gift that Moses ordered as proof of it.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
Today’s Gospel reminds me of “Tears of the Sun” starring Bruce Willis and Monica Bellucci. The film is about Lt. Waters of the Navy SEAL who goes to war-torn Africa to rescue an American named Dr. Lena Hendricks. She had been in Africa to take care of refugees. Lt. Waters cheats death, gets to the refugee area and rescues Dr. Hendricks. But Hendricks refuses to return to America. When Waters notices that the rebels are closing in on the camp he makes the risky decision of letting his escape helicopter go. They then lead the able-bodied refugees out of the camp, leaving the sick behind under the care of a priest. One group of rebels pursues the escaping refugees with the ferocity of a hungry lion, while another check on the refugee camp. The priest kneels pleading for the lives of the refugees. But the rebels kill them all, including the priest who is still on his knees.
Brutality like this can happen in real life. Years ago, a South Korean in a kneeling position was flashed on TV. He was taken hostage by Islamic rebels who wanted to punish the U.S. for refusing to pull out from Iraq. The rebels beheaded the hostage while on his knees.
Today’s Gospel flashes a leper on his knees. He kneels before Jesus asking for complete healing. To the eyes of the biblical Jews he is practically dead – outcast with no rightful place in society. He pleads with Jesus with the same earnestness of that South Korean hostage and that priest in the refugee camp. The manner he pleads indicates that he is not likely to insist. “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean”, says the leper. Perhaps he isn’t expecting he’d come to the point of insisting because he has great confidence in Jesus’ pastoral care. True enough, Jesus stretches out his hand, touches him, and says, “I want to, be clean again.”
Each time we plead with our faith alive, we win Jesus to our side. Be wary when your faith is dead; you could be kneeling before the wrong God and eventually lose your head. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM., MAPM. (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.