MATTHEW 10:34-11:1
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
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I am still in an indescribable high especially after the Vocation Seminar I experienced yesterday. But after attending morning class today, and after being reminded once again of my responsibilities as a medical student and future physician, somehow I felt inner peace within. The prospect of having to follow God while studying to be a physician can be so exciting, but at the same arousing a sense of uncertainty. What are the experiences that await me? How do I deal with the people that God is about to send into my life in my future medical profession? If God wills it eventually, how may I be able to enter into a different profession?
Jesus said to his Apostles:
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth.
I have come to bring not peace but the sword.
For I have come to set
a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one’s enemies will be those of his household.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is righteous
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because he is a disciple–
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
When Jesus finished giving these commands to his Twelve disciples,
he went away from that place to teach and to preach in their towns.
{}{}{}{}{}{}{}
I am still in an indescribable high especially after the Vocation Seminar I experienced yesterday. But after attending morning class today, and after being reminded once again of my responsibilities as a medical student and future physician, somehow I felt inner peace within. The prospect of having to follow God while studying to be a physician can be so exciting, but at the same arousing a sense of uncertainty. What are the experiences that await me? How do I deal with the people that God is about to send into my life in my future medical profession? If God wills it eventually, how may I be able to enter into a different profession?
There are still many questions popping into my mind, but with the peace that God allows me to feel from within after attending the seminar, I am confident that God is allowing me to tread the right path. Nonetheless, I still pray for the strength to take up His Cross and follow Him, and I furthermore pray that I may follow Him specifically in His Society.
But today's Gospel reminds us that the call of God serves not as an instrument of peace; rather it is as a sword. My current circumstances may not yet present the ultimate manifestation of how I am to separate from my father (surprisingly, Jesus concretely presented the separation of son from father in the Gospel), but somehow the call operates in such a mystical way as to how it acts as a "sword" in my life.
Last night, I read the Gospel in our Ilocano Bible, and the translation beautifully presents to me the concreteness of such a comparison of God's call to a sword. In the Ilocano translation, sword translates to kampilan, which is not exactly a sword in the Western point of view. There are different kinds of kampilan but one which is quite commonly used is the kampilan bolo, which may be also used in a myriad of ways in the ricefields and vegetable gardens of the rural Northern Philippines, where we Ilocanos originated. It can be used not only to cleave things, it also is used to uproot and cut weeds, thereby breaking and fertilizing the ground for another planting season.
As my Ilocano Bible pointed out to me, God's call must not be presented to us as merely an instrument of division. It is also a way for God to uproot our inner demons, to drive out and correct our depraved passions, and to prepare our hearts as a fertile ground for His seeds to grow within us.
It must be remembered that the Gospel yesterday spoke about being fertile ground for the seeds of the Lord. All of us have been given God's call. How do we respond? Do we allow God's grace to act like swords, like kampilans, separating us from our evil and selfish ways?
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Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who offered his sword to Our Lady, pray for us.
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additional photo credit: http://www.hisfinishedwork.com/pics/sword_of_the_spirit.jpg
*I was born into an Ilocano-Tagalog family. You see, the Philippines has many ethno-linguistic groups. The group mainly occupying the nation's capital Manila is the Tagalog group. The national language is based on the language spoken by the Tagalog group. My family meanwhile, is from the north part of Luzon Island, populated by the Ilocanos. Through time I have adopted the language of my father's family, and am using it in prayer and reading scripture. I suspect it's God's will again. It must be clear that each group has its distinct language, and although each Philippine language is related, they are mutually unintelligible.
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