Monday, October 23, 2017

Reflection for Thursday October 26, Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time: Luke 12:49-53

Gospel: Luke 12:49-53
Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing! There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
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Reflection:
Has there been an instance in your family wherein you created conflict because you tried to correct a wrong behavior? For example, you gently reminded your spouse to go home early and not hangout with his/friends after work for the simple reason that when he arrives late he/she is a little bit drunk.

In the gospel we hear Jesus telling us to loudly speak out whenever we observe deviation from normal behavior within family and friendship. If by speaking out we create walls that might temporarily divide us, so be it.

For example, if we see immorality within the family (The husband/wife is playing around in the field) should the wife/husband just ignore this and pretend to see and hear no evil with this blatant show of disrespect to her/him? Of course not! The wife/husband must speak out!

The problem with some of us is we sometimes have a passive or no concern attitude even if there’s already wrongdoing in the family. We have this attitude because we are afraid that it will create division and enmity.

This is terribly wrong! What Jesus wants us to do whenever we see a wrongdoing is to denounce the evil inside that wrongdoing. Even if our denouncement would create temporary divisions and enmity. Why? For the simple reason that we cannot correct a wrong behavior by keeping silent.  – Marino J. Dasmarinas 

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