The holy words

They traveled great distances to study with the master, a man renowned for his great wisdom and holiness. Before agreeing to teach anyone, however, the master secured a promise from every student who came to him:

"I am going to teach you the holy words of life and death. But what I teach you, you must not tell anyone else. If you tell others the holy words of life and death, you will experience much sadness and pain. You will find yourself living in despair and darkness over what you have done. You will be rejected and despised. You will die alone and forgotten."

Only those who agreed to that condition could learn the holy words. After learning the holy words, they would go on their way filled with insight and wisdom, grateful for the gift they had received from the master.

After studying with the master, one young disciple returned home to his small village. He was both elated and troubled by his newfound wisdom. He realized his parents and brothers and sisters and neighbors and friends would be truly blessed if he shared with them what he had learned. After many sleepless nights, he knew what he had to do. He assembled the village and told them, word for word, everything the master had taught him. There was hush, and people began to repeat the holy words themselves.

Some of the master’s disciples heard what the young man had done and immediately reported to the master what had taken place.

"He has disobeyed and betrayed you, Master!" they said. "He has given away the holy words. What will happen to him? Will you punish him for his disobedience?"

"I do not have to punish him," the master replied. "Our brother knew what would happen if he shared the holy words. His life will now be filled with darkness and despair."

The old man then got up, gathered his few possessions, and picked up his walking stick.

"Where are you going, Master?" they asked.

"I am going to the young man who gave away the holy words. He gave away the holy words despite the darkness that he will now know. But of all my students, he alone learned compassion and wisdom. He is now my master." (From Connections for November 2006).

Such is the priceless story of unconditional love. Such is the story of that poor widow in today’s Gospel event, as contrasted by Christ to the lives of those self-serving scribes and Pharisees. (Mk. 12: 38-44). Most of all, such is the story of Christ himself, who keeps inviting each one of us to be his loving disciple.

The Call to Discipleship. The Cost of Discipleship. The Triumph of Discipleship.

More than a week ago, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) made us painfully aware through their survey that inspite of our growing economy, at least 2.9 million families are suffering from hunger. This long-standing social injustice is definitely condemned by the God of love and justice — as he condemned those scribes in today’s Gospel: "They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation." (v. 40).

In no uncertain terms, God orders us to change our total economic system — from a monopolistic, conscienceless capitalistic system to a more democratic-socialist system, by which a more just and equitable distribution of God’s resources may be enforced.

The present government has vowed to work harder to reduce hunger and poverty among our people. Let us keep challenging our political and economic leaders in this regard. On our part as private citizens, God’s call to love and reach out to our neighbor, rooted on social justice, is as urgent as ever.

Our church as an institution is likewise missioned by the Lord to lead the way as our role-model both on the macro and micro levels. Our church Encyclical on Social Concerns, "Sollicitudo Rei Socialis," (1987) has a very challenging message in par. 31:

"Thus, part of the teaching and most ancient practice of the church is her conviction that she is obliged by her vocation — she herself, her ministers and each of her members — to relieve the misery of the suffering, both far and near, not only out of her ‘abundance’ but also out of her ‘necessities.’ Faced by cases of need, one cannot ignore them in favor of superfluous church ornaments and costly furnishings for divine worship; on the contrary, it could be obligatory to sell these goods in order to provide food, drink, clothing and shelter for those who lack these things. As has been already noted, here we are shown a ‘hierarchy of values’ — in the framework of the right to property — between ‘having’ and ‘being,’ especially when the ‘having’ of a few can be to the detriment of the ‘being’ of many others."