Archdiocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Jude Thaddeus, Naga City | v.3, n.50 | issn 2599-5030 | 9 to 15 December 2018
giya sa prayer meeting
SALVATION FROM BELOW
H
istory, they say, is written by victors. For a long time the world believed this. From the ancient times down to the early modern period, history was dictated by “winners”. It was about magnificent empires, mighty kings and political leaders. History became a tool of propaganda to push a political agenda or an ideology. God’s glory erupting in the ordinariness of So much so, that when we read the places, time and people. Gospel of Luke this Second Sunday of The spirit of the whole season of Advent, one may feel like reading through Advent draws inspiration from the way the lens of this perennial notion of history. Christ entered the world. Clandestinely, Chronology both geographical and salvation worked its way not through the temporal is determined through the regular power structures of the triumphant people in power. We SUNDAY get to know the exact date and REFLECTION world but through the silence and depth of the human being’s place of a narrative through heart. If emperors and kings subdued Tiberius Caesar, the governorship of Pilate in Judea, Herod, one of the tetrarchs people by forcing their way through violence, pomp and propaganda, Christ ‘s and the priesthood of Annas and Caiphas. reign was made possible through love, Luke seems to conform to the old humility and self-emptying. “The Lord notion of what is worthy of history, of restores our fortunes like the torrents in recording, of being eternalized through the the southern desert”, proclaims the written word. But then, he makes the psalmist, so that those who used to sow abrupt and unexpected twist that could puzzle any early Christian reader. He writes: tears shall reap rejoicing. If there are valleys to be filled and “and the word of God came to John, the son mountains and hills to be made low, they of Zechariah in the desert.” Who is this are those of our hearts. They are those at the John? Who is this Zechariah? Why would innermost part of our being, Let us make the Word choose the desert to be its point of entry? How anticlimactic could this story advent happen from within us by filling up the lack of charity and compassion to our be! Yet, this is precisely the message that Luke wants to send across his audience. The needy brethren. Let us flatten our egos and allow the new order of Christ to take Word of God trumps the word of men. The control of our lives. God, from above, coming of the Son of God turns history upside down ushering in a new world order. became man but He wants salvation to come from below, from our hearts. 4 The good news is not about great men or fr. francis a. tordilla indestructible empires. The Gospel is about
Prepare a way for the Lord, make straight his path! — lk 3:4
lukas 3:10-18
Domingo 3, Adbyento, Taon B
“A
no an dapat ming gibuhon?” An pagsulsol asin pagbabàgo na itinutukdo ni San Juan sinusundan nin marhay na gibo. Ini an nagsisirbeng ebidensya kan saiyang pagbabàgo. An siring na pangapudan yaon na ki LECTIO Juan bago pa man DIVINA nagpuon si Jesus kan saiyang pagbalangibog kan marhay na bareta. Ano an mga hulaw (resolutions) ko sa Pasko?
“Ako nagbubunyag saindo sa tubig; alagad maabot na an urog sako kakusog...” Si Juan nagin bantog huli kan saiyang kabanalan. Ini nahihiling kan mga tawo sa dunong na nagluluwas sa saiyang nguso asin sa isog na naghahali sa saiyang puso. Alagad, dawa dakul an nagdadangog saiya, yaon pa man giraray an saiyang kapakumbabaan. Dai sya nakalingaw na itukdo sainda si Jesus. Sisay an binibida ko sa sharing ko sa Prayer Meeting?
“Alagad si Herodes an tetrarka, na sinusudya nya dapit ki Herodias na agom kan saiyang tugang asin dapit sa gabos na karàtan na ginibo ni Herodes...” Si Juan dai sana nagtukdo sa mga parasingil buwis asin sa mga soldados, kundi pati ki Herodes huli kan saiyang pagkabit sa agom kan saiyang tugang pati an iba nyang mga karàtan. Siring saiya, katungdan ta man an pagtukdo kan katanusan sa gabos, asin mayong pinapalain. Bako sana sa mga kasaraditan na madaling patubudon, kundi pati sa mga mayayaman asin makapangyarihan na masakit nang tukduan. Sisay an buot kong tukduan ngunyan sa katanusan? 4