The WORD in other words (2006) by Father Atilano Corcuera SVD – Rio Tuba, Palawan
Friday 28th Week in Ordinary Time
In one of Tom Cruise’s hit movies, an officer, played by Jack Nicholson, sharply rebukes Cruise for meddling in military affairs. At the end of his lengthy tirade, Nicholson asks sternly, “Is that clear?” Looking him straight in the eye, Cruise quietly replies, “Crystal.”
I love that word: crystal. It echoes in my heart whenever I pause and place myself in the presence of God, whether in the solitude of a quiet place or before the Blessed Sacrament. Before God, I allow myself to become crystal. I let the Lord see me through and through. Every hidden corner of my life, every locked closet I would rather keep shut, I open to the light of His countenance. Every fear, weakness, doubt, wound, and obstacle that prevents me from loving Him more fully is laid bare before Him.
Like the psalmist, I pray: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me” (Psalm 139:1). Nothing in my life escapes His gaze, and yet nothing diminishes His love. In that vulnerable moment, I find myself asking a simple but profound question: “Lord, now that You see everything, do You still love me?”
The answer is already found in Scripture. Before the Lord, all creation and all history are crystal clear. As the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “No creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must render an account” (Hebrews 4:13). Jesus Himself expresses this truth even more concretely: “There is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known” (Luke 12:2).
The Gospel today also suggests that the person who has surrendered his or her life completely to God grows fearless before the judgments of others. Jesus tells His disciples, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but after that can do no more” (Luke 12:4). Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). When we experience the love that originates in God and is returned by His children, even the fear of death begins to lose its power.
At times, I wait with a trembling heart for God’s response to my question, “Do You still love me?” Yet again and again, His answer comes, not as condemnation, but as mercy; not as rejection, but as embrace. His answer is the same one He gave through the prophet Jeremiah: “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31:3).
And the answer can be summed up in a single word: “Crystal.”
