Newsletter Article

July 3, 2016

 

Anonymous

 

Next to sports, gardening was the second favorite extra-curricular activity during my high school days. There was so much fun and excitement because the boys and girls worked together in a common garden plot. The boys were the ones assigned to prepare or cultivate the soil using a grab hoe, while the girls removed the weeds out of the pulverized soil using the bolo.  Once the garden plot was prepared for planting, the teacher would choose the right crop to be planted for the season. When it was time for the crop to be reaped, everyone participated in it.  It requires proper team work and coordination from all individuals for the crops to be presented to their teacher.

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In today's Gospel reading, Jesus appointed seventy believers in pairs. These pairs were the ones who were strong in faith, courageous, willing, bold to preach and share the Good News, flexible-minded, wise in God's word, caring toward their respective partners, prayerful, and obedient. It was just like the days of Joshua when Almighty God sent the people to the Promised Land which they not yet seen, and God promised, " No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.... I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you (Joshua 1:1-5)

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Jesus saw the fruits of the seventy’s labor, that even Satan fell from Heaven through their obedience to Jesus’ instructions. The reward which they did not expect was given to them: no man could take nor delete their names in Heaven. As Joshua the obedient servant of God received what God had promised him, or the students who brought the harvest to their teacher received the highest grades so the disciples received their reward, too: eternal life.

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God never fails and He is the same, yesterday and today, yes and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The Lord has given us the Promised Land and now it is for us to move on what God has revealed to us. This is our greatest challenge, but be brave: He is with us.