Tag: Fr. Lino Gregorio V. Redoblado

Everything belongs to God, “the giver of growth and the sole determiner of the time for harvest.”

We have two seed parables in our Gospel today. The first is about the seed growing secretly and the second is about the mustard seed, a tiny seed that can grow big. Both are parables that speak to us about the Reign-Kingdom of God. In the first parable, the role of the farmer is apparently disregarded. In fact, it speaks of the farmer sleeping and rising only while the seeds grow and bear fruit. This is a wholesome reminder that the final fulfillment of God’s reign is not based on human effort but on God alone. We are simply instruments of God’s liberating work and mission.

Sometimes, there is a tendency in many of us pastors and die-hard Catholics to work hard, making one project after another, building communities, doing pastoral and evangelizing activities, involving ourselves with charitable concerns and many others. In so doing, we forget that this is not our mission, but that we are only sharers of God’s mission in the establishment of His reign. It is not about our activities, our successes and/or failures – everything belongs to God, “the giver of growth and the sole determiner of the time for harvest.”

This is also a real comfort to us, who work so hard for the establishment of the reign of justice, peace and love. We are all simply to put our trust in the Lord. Yes, we have to do and give the best we can but let us also leave the rest to the hands of God. In seeming hopeless situations, where we feel we are still in the dark tunnel, this Gospel parable is good news to us. God will never leave us or give up on us. As in the first reading from Ezekiel, He assures us with this words: “…I will make the withered tree bloom…I, the Lord, have spoken, so will I do.”

The second parable is about the mustard seed, one of the smallest seeds but when sown and grown, it can become the largest of all plants where birds of the sky can take shade on.

This parable reminds us of God’s way of lowliness and humility. Jesus came into this world but the world did not recognize Him. He was insignificant. He was nobody. He came to the world in the most ordinary of circumstances. But in such ordinariness, we see the greatness of His heart. This is the reign-kingdom of God. It is not
about power and control. It is not about grandeur and fanfare but the way of the heart.

God calls us into His Reign of love. Let us turn our hearts towards the Lord and so His reign will reign in the hearts of all. God calls us to littleness – to personal conversion and the transformation of our lives. As Jesus said himself, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless we become like children” – lowly and humble of heart. Indeed, members of God’s reign are those whose hearts are lowly like
children.

We are also invited by this Gospel to discover God in His ordinariness. Sometimes, we look for him in the most ordinary of human experiences. We desire to find something grand and magical. We want to see apparitions and we want the sun to dance, but God tells us that in the mustard seed, we can see Him. Yes, we can find the Lord in our family, in our children, in our neighbors, in the poor and the neglected. Yes, we can find the Lord in the most ordinary of human experiences.

as published on June 17, 2012 Parish Bulletin
About Fr. Greg and a few of his Reflections

God’s love is open to all, so that even the deaf may be able to hear his words and then proclaim aloud his deeds of healing and compassion.

Allow me just to dwell on the following observations on some interesting details in the Gospel-story of the healing of the deaf-mute man. From these observations, we can also bring out our reflections:

First, the healing happened in Tyre, a largely pagan territory north east of Ancient Israel, presently, a part of Lebanon. It is presumed that the deaf and mute is a non-Jew but Jesus, without commenting, opened his ears and made him speak. God’s love is open to all, so that even the deaf may be able to hear his words and then proclaim aloud his deeds of healing and compassion. We find in our second reading from James that he criticized the Christians, who discriminate against the poor who comes in their community prayers. The Gospel fittingly reminds this people that if Jesus embraces the Gentiles, then we should show no partiality for anyone but love them just the same.

Another detail is that Jesus did a lot of acts before healing the deaf and mute person. Greco-Roman stories of healing may include these elements. Jesus by doing these rituals somehow adapted himself to the culture of the people he was with: He took him off by himself away from the crowd; he put his finger into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue and looked up to heaven and groaned, and said, “Ephphatah!” (Be opened). I believe this also highlights the human touch and loving kindness of Jesus. He was very personal by taking the man off by himself. The blind man was considered special in spite of being also a pagan. He was not just one among the many who were sick but was treated with kindness. The human touch reminds us of the very act of the incarnation – God’s love made real in the person of Jesus. But, it was by the finger of God that Jesus healed the deaf and mute.

A final detail is the role of the nameless crowd, who brought the deaf and mute to Jesus. They too were pagans but they believed in the healing power of Jesus. They were courageous enough in the midst of unbelieving people to persist in their desire to help the deaf and mute to recover his hearing and speech. After the healing, they also announced the good news of Jesus’s loving kindness and healing, in spite of being warned not to do so. They even affirmed that “Jesus has done everything well”. The nameless crowd refers to the new Church who has heard loudly of God’s marvelous deeds and proclaimed with joy and fervor his healing words.

The deaf speaks about us, who do not want to listen to God’s challenging invitations and call to conversion and the mute in us, is our forgetfulness of God’s love and goodness in our midst. The deaf and mute in our Gospel must have been overwhelmed with joy. Hearing and speaking are primary senses for communication and being healed of such affliction is but happiness beyond measure. In today’s culture of an accelerated level of communication, how terrible it is to be deaf and mute.

Let us then ask God to heal us from spiritual deafness and dumbness. In most cases, we listen and speak only when it is convenient. We shut our ears out when something we hear is a truth that hurts. We close our mouth when the message we proclaim, even if it is true,will put us in danger. Let us therefore groan and pray, Ephphatah so that we may be open and free from fear that paralyzes. Let us open our hearts for all humanity and free ourselves from all kinds of discrimination and exclusion. Let us open our ears to hear and be overwhelmed by God’s superabundant love, so that like the deaf-mute and the crowd, who were astounded by God’s healing love, we may fearlessly and joyfully proclaim His word to all nations!

as posted on September 9, 2012 Parish Bulletin
About Fr. Greg and a few of his Reflections