Daily Reflections - December 6, 2011

A Lasting Inheritance

My father passed on to eternal life during my first year in the seminary. I was 17 years old then. Our family is not rich; neither are we very poor. We had enough to get by and to share with other people. When my father passed on, he did not leave anything behind as an inheritance — anything passing and transitory, that is.
Until now, I have his Bible. He gave it to me when I entered the seminary after high school. I use it until now. Even though I have bought new and bigger ones, I still find myself gravitating to that old, ragged book, leafing through the now brittle pages of my dad’s Bible.
I could really say it was his Bible because I can still see the marks and the highlights he made on some of the pages of the Holy Book. That was his inheritance to me and it shaped the person that I am now. Or more precisely, the priest that I am now.
The first reading today affirms that “the word of our God stands forever.” Isaiah considers everything else as “grass that withers” or a “flower that wilts” compared to the enduring Word of God. And so if there is anything worth pursuing, if there is anything worth passing on as an inheritance, it is the Word of God, before whom everything else is secondary and transitory.
I remember going to a book fair one time, looking for books for our library in the seminary when I noticed a commotion at the other end of the hall. Throngs of men were lining up excitedly. When I took a furtive look, it was a bargain sale of a sex-oriented magazine masqueraded as a classy reading material. I went home that day thinking, “I saved some of their money for books about the faith and God’s Word that their children can also read.”
Today, I still feel warm in the heart and moist in the eyes whenever I say, “That is my dad’s Bible, that is my dad’s inheritance!” I wonder what other children feel inside when all they can say is, “That is my dad’s FHM collection!” Or will they even have the pride to declare it? Fr. Joel O. Jason

Reflection Question:
“All mankind is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field… though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the Word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

Lord Jesus, help us to see and live our life always with the perspective of eternity. Amen.

St. Asella, pray for us.