GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 5TH JUNE 2017
MEMORIAL OF SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR
FIRST READING: Tobit 1:3; 2:1-8
PSALM: Psalm 112: 1-6
GOSPEL: Mark 12:1-12
THEME: THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
A philosopher decided to topple a priest after a sermon on the goodness of God. He said to the priest: “You claim that there is God and that he is good and all-powerful, and yet look around you – there is so much evil in the world. How can this be?” In response the priest said to him, “You are God’s answer to the problem of evil. God put you where you are so that you would quench the flames of evil with the goodness in your heart.” There is a Chinese proverb which says, “better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
The Gospel text and the First Reading for today give narrations of the evil of murder meted out to some individuals. Apart from maltreating and killing the servants, a group of evil-minded tenants, in our Gospel text, chose to lynch the beloved son of a vineyard owner. They said concerning his son, “This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours” (Mk. 12:7). After saying this, “they seized him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard” (Mk. 12:8).
In the First Reading, Tobias also brought his father (Tobit) a piece of unpleasant news as he sat down to feast: “Father, one of our nation has been murdered and thrown into the market place” (Tob. 2:3). Upon hearing this news, Tobit sprang up at once, left his meal untouched, took the man from the market place and laid him in one of his rooms, waiting until sunset to bury him (cf. Tob. 2:4). In sum, he was moved with empathy and he expressed it concretely.
The attitude of Tobit in the face of evil is worth emulating. We do not need to know somebody personally before seeking to do good to that person. Whenever and wherever evil pops its ugly head up, we must respond with goodness. Like Tobit who abandoned his own pleasure in order to carry out a work of mercy towards a victim of evil, we too must be ready to step out of our comfort zones and pour the water of goodness on the sparks of evil.
The Lord planted you wherever you are right now for a purpose. Have you seen something gone wrong? Is evil taking place around you? God has imbedded in you what it takes to do something about it. Yes, evil can be defeated when good people arise and confront it.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, lead me to conquer hatred with the power of love and to sow seeds of peace in times of strife. Amen
Andrews Obeng, svd
DIVINE WORD MISSIONARIES
BIBLICAL PASTORAL MINISTRY
(Ghana Province)
“May the darkness of sin and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word and the Spirit of grace. And may the heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all people” (St. Arnold Janssen)