Daily Reflections

July 23, 2011
TO BE GODLY, BE COOL

In today’s Gospel, we read about the wonderful disposition of the owner of the field. Even if he realized that the culprit behind the growth of weeds among his wheat crops was “an enemy,” he did not react as I would have reacted. Had I been the owner, I would have immediately instructed my tenants to pull out the weeds and called in mercenaries to do something against the “enemy” who maliciously planted the weeds.
Beyond the great message about God’s mercy and magnanimity, today’s Gospel teaches us a lesson for day-to-day living. That is, one way to make the best of the life given us is to remain cool in good and bad times. Reactionary ways, even in situations when one is clearly disadvantaged, lead to:
1 . Waste of our time: Instead of moving on and accomplishing more important tasks, our efforts to avenge the wrong done to us eat up our time.
2. Waste of our energies: Bent on punishing the enemy who did us wrong, we spend our intellectual abilities and even our material resources negatively.
3. Waste of our emotional drives: We need passion to do good and to pursue our plans. Instead it is spent on planning and pursuing our revenge.
The option of the owner of the field to just let things be until harvest time, when wheat and weeds will be pulled out anyway, is not just symbolic of God’s magnanimity. It is wisdom. The owner refuses to be enslaved by negativity.
Without trying to be a political analyst, I feel that what actually pulled us down as a nation during the post-Marcos era was because we were so bent on pursuing justice for all the supposed transgressions of the previous leaders. We regressed into past pains and hurts, and we failed to follow the path of transcendence. Late did we find out that justice is always imperfect in this life anyway! Fr. Domie Guzman, SSP

Reflection Question:
How do you take oppositions and attacks in your life? Do you spend so much time trying to get even with those who do you wrong? What is today’s Gospel personally challenging you to do?

Lord, give me a magnanimous heart to be able to accept criticisms.

St. John Cassian, pray for us.