NOT PUNISHMENT

“Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.” —1 Kings 21:29

Have you ever met adults who seem more like children? When they fail in their subjects, are in their third attempt at a college major, or want to get into another university, their parents offer the school a generous donation so they can receive “special consideration.”

When they wreck their car, get a girl pregnant, or can’t get a job, their parents step in with a trip to the U.S. until the pregnancy scandal blows over, or they place a phone call to a tito (uncle) so-and-so and ask him to hire their son.

Notice how these parents go overboard trying to protect their adult children from pain. The result? The “child” never learns the lesson and does not grow into a mature adult.

Yes, God loves us. That’s why He is more concerned with our growth than our comfort. And when the pains we experience are effects of the sins we’ve done, His love is strong enough to stand beside us through the pain because He believes in our capacity to grow and overcome.

He’s the One who made us after all. Aileen Santos (coachaileensantos@ gmail.com)

Reflect: God does not punish. Instead, He allows us to experience the consequences of our actions so that we may grow.

Help me, Lord, to learn the important lessons of life that mold me into the amazing human being You designed me to be.

St. Romuald, abbot, pray for us.

Today’s reading is like a bloody scene from a horror or action movie with dead bodies scattered everywhere. Ahab and Jezebel both die a violent death as a consequence of their sin. They knew that what they were doing was wrong but still continued with their evil deeds.

1 Kings 21:17-29

17 After the death of Naboth the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite: 18 “Start down to meet Ahab, king of Israel, who rules in Samaria. He will be in the vineyard of Naboth, of which he has come to take possession. 19 This is what you shall tell him, ‘The Lord says: After murdering, do you also take possession? For this, the Lord says: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs shall lick up your blood, too.’” 20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me out, my enemy?” “Yes,” he answered. “Because you have given yourself up to doing evil in the Lord’s sight, 21 I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line, whether slave or freeman, in Israel. 22 I will make your house like that of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like that of Baasha, son of Ahijah, because of how you have provoked me by leading Israel into sin.” 23 (Against Jezebel, too, the Lord declared, “The dogs shall devour Jezebel in the district of Jezreel.”) 24 “When one of Ahab’s line dies in the city, dogs will devour him; when one of them dies in the field, the birds of the sky will devour him.” 25 Indeed, no one gave himself up to the doing of evil in the sight of the Lord as did Ahab, urged on by his wife Jezebel. 26 He became completely abominable by following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord drove out before the children of Israel. 27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his garments and put on sackcloth over his bare flesh. He fasted, slept in the sackcloth, and went about subdued. 28 Then the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, 29 “Have you seen that Ahab has humbled himself before me? I will not bring the evil in his time. I will bring the evil upon his house during the reign of his son.”

P S A L M 

Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 11, 16

R: Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 3 [5] For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always. 4 [6] Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight. (R) 9 [11] Turn away your face from my sins, and blot out all my guilt. 14 [16] Free me from blood guilt, O God, my saving God; then my tongue shall revel in your justice. (R)

Let us be fair to ourselves. Loving other people is hard enough. But loving those who don’t really show love to us is even harder. It is difficult, if not humanly impossible, to love those who mean or do us harm.

There is so much love at certain times of the year. Christmas is one such occasion. Years of commercialization, endless hours of media bombardment and brainwashing have predisposed most of us to be tender, loving, and giving. Trial lawyers and people who work in civil or criminal courts tell me that so- called amicable settlements are easier to facilitate in or around Christmas.

The Lord’s teachings and everything else about Him are no less than revolutionary. Where nature itself tells us to demand compensation, God teaches us to look for no recompense. Even Newton’s third law tells us that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That is the natural law behind a not-so-simple matter as propulsion.

Love, or the semblance of it, always is propelled by something. We generally pay greater respects to people who can do good to us. We give greater honor to people who have done so much to society. We give fitting honor to heroes precisely because their deeds have propelled them to the heights of honor.

But while cannon balls are propelled by a force equal to the force expended to make the ball fly out of the cannon itself, the Lord tells us that loving others comes not from a recoil, or from some external force, but from deep within. It is not earned. It is not done with any recompense in mind. It is purely done out of energy that comes not from a natural but a supernatural one.

That source is God. That source is Love itself. That origin is superhuman. And that is what makes something impossible, possible. It is not natural to be loving to one’s enemies. We can only do it with God’s grace and God’s bidding: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48, NIV). Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

------- REFLECTION QUESTIONS -------

Do you have enemies? Do you think some people consider you as their enemy?

Today, I pray for: _____________________________________