GOD’S WORD FOR THE DAY (based on Catholic Liturgical Readings)
DATE: 24TH FEBRUARY 2017
FRIDAY OF THE SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
FIRST READING: Sirach 6:5-17
PSALM: Psalm 119:12, 16,18, 27,34-35
GOSPEL: Mark 10:1-12
THEME: FAITHFUL FRIEND
Social media has made friendship look so easy. It is as easy as opening a Facebook account and hanging around for some time. Soon the friend requests pop in or you could also request for friends. Then the excitement begins. You may start with 10 friends. Gradually, the number increases to about 50. In a year, some hit as many as 5,000 friends. Marriage proposals are even made electronically. Yes, welcome to the digital world!
Strangely, in spite of the high number of accumulated friends, a gnawing feeling of loneliness and emptiness characterise the personal worlds of many people. The truth is that true friends are not like stones you pick by the roadside; they are diamonds. Though not easy to find one, it is worth the search.
The Book of Sirach offers a free counsel on friendship. It reads, “Let your acquaintances be many, but for advisers choose one out of a thousand. If you want to make a friend, take him on trial, and do not be in a hurry to trust him; for one kind of friend is so only when it suits him but will not stand by you in your day of trouble. Another kind of friend will fall out with you and to your dismay make your quarrel public, and a third kind of friend will share your table, but not stand by you in your day of trouble: when you are doing well he will be your second self, ordering your servants about; but, if disaster befalls you, he will recoil from you and keep out of your way…A loyal friend is a powerful defence: whoever finds one has indeed found a treasure. A loyal friend is something beyond price, there is no measuring his worth. A loyal friend is the elixir of life, and those who fear the Lord will find one” (Sir. 6:6-16).
Though it is not easy to find faithful friends, you could start by making yourself one. Be true to yourself and make yourself reliable.
Perhaps, if faithful friends marry, the heartbreaks and divorce rate may go down. By faithful friends, we mean persons who choose to stand by each other in sickness and health, in riches and poverty, for better for worse — persons who are willing to leave everything and cleave to their partners forever.
Asked by the Pharisees whether it was lawful for a man to divorce his wife, Jesus gave an answer that many Christians, including some pastors, would not be happy to hear, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery” (Mk. 10:11-12).
Let those who have ears, hear the word of the Lord.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, you gave the true definition of faithfulness when you went all the way to the cross to die for us. You could have avoided the cross and yet you embraced it so that we can embrace eternal life. In your footsteps, make me a faithful servant of yours and strengthen me to be true to my vocation on earth. 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).