10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
June 9, 2013
First Reading: 1 Kgs 17:17-24
Psalm 30:2, 4, 5-6,
11, 12, 13
Second Reading: Galatians 1:11-19
Gospel Reading: Luke 7:11-17
Who among us did not suffer the lost of
a loved one – a parent, brother or sister, wife or husband, son or daughter, relative,
friend, etc., due to pain, sickness, suffering and death? Nobody.
Also, is there somebody or anybody celebrates or rejoices, and laughs
and be happy when someone lost a loved one?
No one. Rather, he or she extends
his/her condolences, sympathy, support financially and morally, if not
spiritually. We all understand the
difficulties, (such as emotionally, physically, psychologically); the feelings
and emotions (i.e., sadness, fears, anxiety, loneliness); the hopelessness,
when one of the members of the family dies.
As if we lost everything we hope for, we lost the future and the
present, we lost the energy and enthusiasm to continue living, as if it is end
of the world, our world is melted away, and as if we lost everything we
have. When someone dies in our family,
we die also with him/her because we lost one part of our body, of our
life. It is really terrible event, when
one dies, to those who left behind.
Although, we know also that those who
went ahead of us or died before us were already enjoying the beatific vision of
God, that they see face to face their Creator and Lord, but for us who are
still alive, it is hard for us to accept the death of our loved ones because we
cannot see them any longer, we cannot hear anymore their voices, their
laughter, their advice, their paglalambing. We cannot talk to them and walk with them, to
listen to them and to live with them; to dream with them for better future and
to grow old with them even until the last breath we wanted to live together, to
stay together, forever, if possible.
Nevertheless, life is very short and
unpredictable. Now, you see them active,
healthy, strong, happy, full of life and joy; but, suddenly, tomorrow or
instantly, we see them sick, bed ridden – you cannot talk to them because they
are in coma, in ICU, in the operating room – nag-aagaw-buhay, they cannot move, paralyze, dead and gone. We even say, he is still very young. She is very beautiful and active. He has many plans in life. She is marvelous and wanted to marry and have
many children. He is at the top of his
life. He is like superman – a man of
steel. But, suddenly, in just an
instance, in just a wink of an eye, he is gone.
She has left us – dead. Death has
sting in our life.
In the first reading, the mother in
Zarephath and the mother in Nain in the gospel, both widows and their only hope
and chance to survive in a chauvinistic and patristic society are their sons, now
dead. You can imagine the sufferings and
pains of a mother in Nain – though she was silent but deep inside she was
crying long and hard, her heart is broken, her eyes wet and red of tears,
because she lost everything, even life.
You too can imagine the widow and mother in Zarephath, that was full of complaint
to Elijah, because after giving everything to him – the last food (bread and
oil) they have and letting him to stay in her house, her son felt sick severely
and stopped breathing (cf. 1 Kgs
17:17). She was accusing Elijah for her
sin (1 Kgs 17:18).
Does God punish us of death because of
our sin? Remember the fall of man and
woman in Paradise because of sin of disobedience and the remarks of the widow
in Zarephath. Or is it our destiny (tadhana) that our time has come and we
have to go back to our Creator, in whatever means, as death is the key to
return to God, our Father and Redeemer?
That our real life and home is not here on earth but in Paradise called
Heavenly Kingdom of God – as what Jesus said to the one of the thieves, “Today,
you are with me in Paradise.”
Elijah and Jesus, when these two mothers
and widows suffered death of a son, became compassionate. “When
the Lord saw her, he was moved with pity for her” (Luke 7:13). If they can
bring life to them they will do it, in whatever manner, in whatever possible
prayers. And God listened to their pleas
and prayers because God understands the importance of life at that moment and
the sincerity of the heart. “The LORD
heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child's body and he
revived” (1 Kgs 17:22). Jesus even touched the coffin, which is
prohibited by the Law, and even the dead son, broke the Law, just to show his
sympathy to the mother in Nain. Elijah
put his own body on the top of the dead boy’s body three times just to beg and
make pleading and supplication to God on behalf of the mother in Zarephath. (1
Kgs 17:21). And how many people, you and
me, praying to God for the life and safety of their and our loved ones. All these prayers were heard by God and
responded to them, though in different ways and manners, yet He answered.
You can also imagine the joy and
happiness of a mother, or a father, and family members, of the mothers in
Zarephath and Nain, when suddenly their sons were brought to life and given
back to them alive. “The life breath
returned to the child’s body and he revived” (1 Kgs. 17:22). “The dead man sat up and began to speak, and
Jesus gave him to his mother” (Luke 7:15).
All anxieties were gone. “Do not
weep” (Luke 17:13). There is amazement
and awe of what had happened. They
cannot believe that their loved ones are alive, seated on her lap (1 Kgs
17:19), seated on a coffin and began to speak (Luke 7:15) – Mother! Father! My
brothers and sisters! My friends! What a
wonderful sight, what a wonderful miracle!
There will be music and singing and dancing, and rejoicing, a grand
celebration for a dead son has come to life!
"See! Elijah said to her, "your son is alive.“ (1 Kgs
17:23) The mother in Zarephath said: “Now
indeed I know that you are a man of God, the woman replied to Elijah. The word
of the LORD comes truly from your mouth” (1 Kgs 17:24). The people in Nain exclaimed: “A great prophet
has arisen in our midst,” and “God has visited his people” (Luke 7:16)! We can sing also, as the psalmist sung, “I
will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me” (Ps. 30).
Question(s)
for Reflections:
1. Do you believe that because of your sin, you
are punished by God, and death in the family, and even pain, sickness,
sufferings, poverty, kamalasan, etc.
are brought by your sin?
2. Does God punish your sin and the sentence He
gives you is death of a loved one? Or
does God’s reward is death to His people whom He loves, for example Jesus His
beloved Son died and rose from the dead?
3. Do you believe in Tadhana, or time or the death of loved ones have come and it is
time to go back home – in Paradise or in Heaven?
4. Is death a key to enter into the next life or
into a new better world?
5. Do you believe in the resurrection of the
dead, as Jesus rose from the dead, and that our religion – Catholicism, is born
on the Post-Resurrection of Jesus from the dead?
6.
Can you say also, “A great prophet
has arisen in our midst,” and “God
has visited his people” (Luke 7:16), when death come?
