When I was in high school, I was just an average student. A grade of 82 was my target. When my parents got my card, this was their script: “Son, your grade is 82 again. Please stop playing basketball and study hard.” But at the end, when all was said and done, they would turn my report card around and say, “Son, what’s your name in the card?”

       Then they would say, “Even if you’re just an average student, your name will never change. You are still our son.”

       What my parents were doing all those years was giving me a sense of who I was — that I was someone with the potential to succeed. And they were telling me that no matter how many times I fail, I will still have their love.

       That encouraged me to spread my wings and explore other things. After finishing college, God led me to teach Religion in high school. I then pursued Masters in Religious Studies and graduated magna cum laude.

       Now, I am a national and international lay preacher, a resource speaker for big corporations, an entrepreneur, a Christian recording artist, an author, and a school owner. Arun Gogna (gognuts@yahoo.com)

Reflection: You offer wings to your children when you allow them to learn from their failures.

Lord, may Your love and wisdom guide me all the days of my life.

St. Bruno, priest, pray for us.

Paul is horrified that some of the Galatians are abandoning their faith and returning to their old practices. He is scathing in his condemnation of such backsliding. This may as well serve as a warning against such a mistake in our own lives. Following Christ will have its struggles, but let us never allow trials to cause us to give up and go back to our old sinful ways.

6 Brothers and sisters: I am amazed that you are so quickly forsaking the one who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel 7 (not that there is another). But there are some who are disturbing you and wish to pervert the Gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than the one that we preached to you, let that one be accursed! 9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if anyone preaches to you a gospel other than the one that you received, let that one be accursed! 10 Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. 11 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

R: The Lord will remember his covenant forever.

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart in the company and assembly of the just. 2 Great are the works of the Lord, exquisite in all their delights. (R) 7 The works of his hands are faithful and just; sure are all his precepts, 8 reliable forever and ever, wrought in truth and equity. (R) 9 He has sent deliverance to his people; he has ratified his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his name.10 His praise endures forever. (R)

The demands of love increase as we allow ourselves to be grasped by it. The deeper we go, the more we will discover how selfless big love truly is. There may be minimal requirements that love demands of us but let us be large-hearted. Let us allow love to blossom in our lives and so experience the depths to which the grace of God can take us.

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

25 There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” 27 He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” 29 But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 32 Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. 33 But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. 34 He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’ 36 Which of these three, in youropinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” 37 He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

think:  Let us allow love to blossom in our lives and so experience the depths to which the grace of God can take us.

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Song of Songs 1-4

DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE

Early last year, the film version of the great musical, Les Miserables, regaled the whole country. Almost everyone who saw it was impressed, even moved to tears. Although not everyone immediately had the words to describe it, there was a dawning realization that the story really brought to the fore so many Catholic ideals, principles and modes of behavior. So many Catholic values were shown, including themes that have to do with doctrines as basic  as redemption, forgiveness, love for others, and for God Himself.

       I shed a bucket of tears, especially in the last scene, where Fantine and the Monsignor were welcoming Jean Valjean to the afterlife.

       But apparently, somebody who was an expert in the law, and who was an expert in enforcing it to the letter, was lagging behind. Inspector Javert simply could neither fathom nor appreciate fully why Jean Valjean spared his life when he had the chance to snuff it out, and how an ex-convict could be capable of so much goodness, so much love, and so much forgiveness.

       I cried for many reasons during the show, even if that was the fourth version that I have seen in a span of two decades. It was partly because I saw redemption being portrayed so realistically, as lived by individuals who, despite so much injustice and mistreatment, found it in their hearts to go on hoping, praying, forgiving, loving and caring.

       And all this was taking place without being given in too much to theory, to rhetorical questions, to discussions that were more proper in the classroom, and to hair-splitting definitions about who ought to be considered “neighbor.”

       Victor Hugo, the writer, despite his unfortunate clash with the authorities then, redeemed himself by coming up with a novel that portrayed the very same redemption that he experienced.

       The scholar of the law could very well stand in for us — at times given in to theory and rhetorics. But more important than theory is praxis. Hoc fac et vives. Do this and you will live! Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: How well do you put into practice what you know about God’s laws?

Lord, help me to be a shining example of Your love for Your people.