Sound Upbringing

Today’s Gospel Text:  At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus; 2 and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist, he has been raised from the dead; that is why these powers are at work in him." 3 For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison, for the sake of Hero'di-as, his brother Philip's wife; 4 because John said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5 And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. 6 But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Hero'di-as danced before the company, and pleased Herod, 7 so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter." 9 And the king was sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given; 10 he sent and had John beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. 12 And his disciples came and took the body and buried it; and they went and told Jesus. Matt 14:1-12

Reflection: The parent-child relationship is a special relationship; a relationship of tender care and guidance.

Yet it may not always be that the parent may train up their children in the way of sound morality and sound doctrine.

How unfortunate is our generation that parents train up their children either in the ways of the world or expect the school, in which they are, to bring them up in the sound principles of life.

How many parents can say with conviction that they have brought up their children well or given them constant guidance in the ways of righteousness?

Many of them do not know the way of righteousness themselves, so what could the children expect from their parents.

Some depend on the poorly formed priests and religious leaders of our time and expect them to teach their children the ways of the faith.

How many of our modern parents do the least expected of them: Pray along or with their children daily and in a dedicated manner. 

Then will they be able to add to their prayer time instructions concerning the faith, which they can freely avail through the catechism of the Church or reading of well discerned articles and explaining  them to their children.

How many of our children are trained in holy disobedience, which is to reject what is contrary to the faith and sound morality even in the face of odds?

If only Herodias had taught her daughter these sound elements of faith rather than to dance to her tune then the daughter would not have been party to her mother’s crime; a crime she may escape in this life but not in the eternal of life.

Alas the future we intend giving our children, only for this life!

Prayer:  God our Father, your care reaches to all who call on you, may we constantly reject all that is not of you and teach our children to do the same.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Mourn and Weep

Today’s Gospel Text: Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. John 16:20-23

Reflection: There are many reasons to weep and be sorrowful in life:

We could be weeping and sorrowful because we have lost a loved one or because we have failed in an exam or lost a precious article or on account of hurt, rejection, pain or on receiving a beating from someone or a break in relationship, etc., etc.

There are sacred reasons too why people mourn and weep and are sorrowful; when people see the desecration of sacred things, whether material or spiritual deposits; be it the dogma of the church or the sacred artifacts that belong to the patrimony of the church.

The saints weep for the church even in heaven when it faces persecution whether of internal origin or external. The saints weep also when the doctrine of Christ is watered down or when the members of the body face persecution; for this is their suffering.

They weep and are sorrowful when sinful men continue in their stubborn ways and those in authority practice a tolerance of evil and crush righteousness for the sake of momentary peace or for pseudo-values, which are sometimes falsely termed as gospel values.   

Sorrowfulness and weeping is a fruit of great pain, which need not always be physical but most often is on account of a deep emotional hurt due to a feeling of rejection, public shame, insults, etc.

In the scripture we have a situation of sorrowfulness and weeping for a particular reason; Jesus is clearly the reason for this weeping.

When it comes to Jesus there is no neutral ground either you are weeping and sorrowing for him and his cause or you are rejoicing over your triumph over the God of all creation.

But God’s silence, his patience, his endurance of our wicked ways,  his tolerance of our attacks on him or by way of corruption of his teachings are but momentary  instances of victory for the evil human mind who allow themselves to be deceived while interpreting God’s action with blind selfish gratification.

May we who follow the path of Jesus learn from this patience of God and not take advantage of it and seek to change ourselves with his grace. 

Prayer:  You O lord, who sets on high the lowly and lift up those who mourn console us in our day of perversion against your holy one. (cfr. Job 5:11)       

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us

Perfect Duty

Today’s Gospel Text:  And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, 27 and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. 28 The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."

30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade." Mark 4:26-32

Reflection: There are some people who are only concerned with performing their duty and nothing else.

There are some who hold on to this philosophy as if it is the only thing in life that counts; duty for duty sake!

It is a wonderful noble thought, but how can one  think about duty without a goal in life? On the other hand, a compulsion to perform, not originating from an upright moral source, is dangerous.

When one diligently follows the orders of duty without asking the subjective conscience, which God has created and which, unless it is totally contaminated, can result in moral degeneration of the society.

One of the popular examples of such obedience to the call of the duty is the famous holocaust and many genocides committed in the name of duty.

It is necessary for humanity to be safe in what it practices, in all of one’s action. One cannot just say we have to be practical and without asking conscience work for the betterment of society. That betterment has to be first defined, before being dutiful.

To those who would pay more attention to performing their duty then the best is what Christ Jesus gives us and he even shows us, in the parable above, the fruit of such a labour in God’s vineyard.

Such a duty is sound in every doctrine, because one will first pick up the seed which Christ himself, by means of the gospel, gives us and we have to dutifully sow it.

What is more, he shows us the process our action will generate and the fruit it will produce. Christ Jesus approves of the fruit and there is a reward that awaits, not the wages that perish but the abundance that should accompany us to eternal life.

Prayer: Lord, I pray that I may seek to sow the seed of the gospel and have the strength to do so dutifully.

DD = Dedicated Discipleship:  Come grow in the Lord with us