Friday, May 24, 2013
7th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Sir 6:5–17
Gospel: Mk 10:1–12
Jesus went to the province of Judea, beyond the Jordan River. Once more crowds gathered around him and once more he taught them, as he always did. Some (Pharisees came and) put him to the test with this question, “Is it right for a husband to divorce his wife?” He replied, “What law did Moses give you?” They answered, “Moses allowed us to write a certificate of dismissal in order to divorce.”
Then Jesus said to them, “Moses wrote this law for you, because you are stubborn. But in the beginning of creation God made them male and female, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined.”
When they were indoors at home, the disciples again asked him about this and he told them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against his wife, and the woman who divorces her husband and marries another also commits adultery.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Pharisees challenged Jesus’ radical stand about divorce using a provision of the Mosaic Law found in the Book of Deuteronomy. But Jesus insisted that marriage is for life. “In the beginning of creation,” Jesus explained, “God made them male and female, and because of this, man has to leave father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So they are no longer two but one body. Therefore let no one separate what God has joined” (see Genesis 1:27; 2:24). So Moses was wrong in enacting Deuteronomy 24:1-4?
No, Moses was not wrong; what he laid down was procedural not the substantive aspect of divorce. Deuteronomy 24:1-4 provides that “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him (…), and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled.” It is clear from the foregoing that Moses merely provided the procedure should a divorce happens. The focus of the provision was the prohibition of the first husband from remarrying the wife he had earlier divorced. What Moses enacted, then, was the procedural and not the substantial aspect of divorce.
Granting without admitting that Moses indeed prescribed divorce, it was because of the stubbornness of the people rather than because of his conviction that divorce was legal in the eyes of God. Even then, Jesus categorically declared that marriage is inviolable. In effect Jesus revoked what Moses conceded to. - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email:dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
Prayer for the day: God our Father, grant us the humility to respect your Will in regard to the inviolability of marriage. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
May 23, 2013
Thursday,7th Week in Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Sir 5:1–8
Gospel: Mk 9:41–50
If anyone gives you a drink of water because you belong to Christ and bear his name, truly, I say to you, he will not go without reward.
If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a great millstone around his neck.
If your hand makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a hand than with two hands to go to hell, to the fire that never goes out. And if your foot makes you fall into sin, cut it off! It is better for you to enter life without a foot than with both feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye makes you fall into sin, tear it out! It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than, keeping both eyes, to be thrown into hell where the worms that eat them never die, and the fire never goes out. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is a good thing; but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The sayings of Jesus compiled in today’s Gospel reading appear unrelated but they actually converge in the concept of “skandalon”. This is the Greek word for “trap” and is adapted to the English language to mean a cause of sin.
Today’s Gospel identifies some common causes of sin and how a follower of Christ should handle them.
If the cause of sin is a person, the Lord suggests that he be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck. A person thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck is a dead person. To say that Jesus didn’t mean it literally could only mean that he meant it spiritually. Wouldn’t this be a worse condemnation in the last analysis?
If the cause of sin is any part of one’s body the Lord suggests voluntary mutilation on the ground that it is better to enter heaven mutilated than to die complete and languish in hell. Anyway, the worms will just feast on every body part, for as Isaiah, describing hell, puts it: “Their worm will not die nor their fire go out…” (Is. 66:24). In a word, the fires of hell will preserve bad people in their wretched state. The suffering would be eternal.
While Jesus did not mean it literally when he recommended death to an author of scandal or mutilation of that body part that leads one to temptation, the exaggeration indicates Jesus’ aversion to sin. We should thus be serious about our fight against evil. Let’s cut to the quick attempts of the devil’s agents to lead us to perdition by killing opportunities as they emerge. Meanwhile, woe to those who create scandals! By leading others to sin they call upon themselves the heavier hand of justice. - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email :dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
Prayer for the day: God our Father, deepen our sense of sin so that we may not succumb to temptation and cause big scandals that lead others to perdition. We make this prayer though Christ our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
7th Week in Ordinary Time
St. Polycarp
1st Reading: Sir 4:11–19
Gospel: Mk 9:38–40
John said to him, “Master, we saw someone who drove out demons by calling upon your name, and we tried to forbid him because he does not belong to our group.” Jesus answered, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon after speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is for us.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Jerome Biblical Commentary parallels today’s Gospel story with an account in the Book of Numbers involving Moses and Joshua. In Chapter 11 of the Book of Numbers a certain Eldad and Medad started prophesying and Joshua asked Moses to stop them. Moses’ answer was, “Are you jealous on my account? If only the whole people of Yahweh were prophets…” (Num. 11:24-30). There is a similar episode in the Acts of the Apostles. Some itinerant Jewish exorcists who tried to cast out demons using the name of Jesus and of the Apostle Paul shouted one day to a possessed person: “I command you by the name of Jesus whose spokesman is Paul”. But the evil spirit replied: “Jesus I recognize, and I know who Paul is, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15). The man with the evil spirit attacked them and handled them so violently that these exorcists ran away naked and badly mauled (see Acts 19:11-20).
Eldad and Medad were legitimate prophets whose only problem was that they were not around when Yahweh came down in the Cloud taking some of the spirit that was in Moses to apportion them to the seventy elders (see Numbers 11:25). The exorcists in the time of Paul however were impostors. They were mimickers who envied Paul because “so remarkable were the miracles worked by God at Paul’s hands that handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched him were taken to the sick and they were cured and the evil spirits came out of them” (Acts 19:11).
In today’s Gospel episode we do not know if the person involved was a legitimate follower of Jesus. But when his activity of driving out evil spirits in the name of Jesus was brought to Jesus’ attention, Jesus displayed a tolerant attitude. He even chastised the disciples for being exclusivist. “Do not forbid him”, Jesus said, “For no one who works a miracle in my name can soon after speak evil of me. For whoever is not against us is for us”. This is a fitting reminder to parish priests not to be too legalistic about giving permission to their parishioners who desire the services of priests of their own choice on special occasions. Likewise it is a perfect chastisement to charismatic groups not to engage in unhealthy competitions in the vineyard of the Lord. To do otherwise without compelling reason will sow suspicion in the hearts of members of their flock that either it is a case akin to Eldad and Medad’s or their spiritual leaders are just making their lives miserable. - Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
Prayer for the day: God our Father, help us work together for the good of souls and for the growth of your kingdom. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
