The WORD in other words (2006) by Frater Aris Martin SVD – Divine Word Seminary, Tagaytay City
Wednesday 15th Week in Ordinary Time
“Are you the son of Mang Joe?” an excited stranger asked me in a bus station.
“Yes,” I replied. But curiously I asked him, “How did you know it?”
“Ahh, you look exactly like your father!” then he started talking about my father like a biographer of a great man.
Impressed by his familiarity, I asked, “How are you related to my father?”
He smiled and said: “I worked with your father for about 30 years and he has been a good friend since!”
Being grateful, I smiled back but deep within I was led to reflect that a person who is not supposed to be related knows my father more than me. Is this not usual among us that those persons we are supposed to relate with like our families are the same persons we often neglect?
In today’s Gospel, Jesus talks about relationship. A relationship with his Father that is built on TRUST and nourished by childlike attitude. Speaking about Father-Son relationship, Jesus is not just revealing his relationship with his Father. More than that, He puts emphasis on the necessity of a personal intimacy and trusting relationship in our approach to God who, through Jesus, has also become our Father.
In saying, “I give praise to you Father…for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike” (v. 26), Jesus wants us to relate with God in full dependence and trust and not simply to connect ourselves when we need Him.
To connect ourselves with the Father in prayer during difficult moments is our usual tendency. But to relate to Him with full trust in the midst of crisis and problems is something we need to struggle with constantly. For our relationship must be spelled in bold letters: T-R-U-S-T, in spite of the difficulty.
A relationship that is constantly struggling against fears and anxieties will never experience the beauty of life, a life that means no less than relationship. Let us remain related to the Father and not simply satisfied being connected to Him.
Back to the bus station, I promised myself to invest time in relating to my father more than anybody else. And with the Gospel, I promise to re-connect myself before God only to intensify my personal and intimate longings to Him.
