ECHO

ECHO

 

“...and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” – Matthew 7:2

 

When she heard something unfortunate happen to one of her friends, she gossiped about it to other people. She did it with the seemingly good intention of letting others know so that they can pray for the person. One day, she received the bad news that she had cancer. She didn’t want anybody to know. She already imagined how other people would feast on talking about her because that’s exactly what she does.

I read that our knowledge of God’s character is dictated by our own character. If we see God as a vindictive God, it is because we are vindictive. We see God through the same eyes we use to see others. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can enjoy a loving relationship today with a God who’s so in love with us if only we would change the eyes of our hearts through which we see ourselves and others.

The Bible says, “As He is, so are we.” We are supposed to reflect our Father through us. The word “person” comes from two Latin words “per” and “solare” which means “to sound through.” God has intended to sound through or to echo or reflect Himself through us. Let us therefore be faithful echoes of our Heavenly Father to this world. Ronna Ledesma (ronnaledesma@email.com)

 

REFLECTION:

Can an echo ever give a different sound other than the original one?

 

Lord, let those who see me see You.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE

 

The tiny tarsiers of Bohol in central Philippines are a sight to behold. They have no eyelids and their eyeballs do not rotate in their sockets. They cannot move their eyes up or down or from left to right. They are frozen in a fixed cold stare. For them to see sideways, the whole head will have to turn around from the base of the neck. What tarsiers do not have in terms of capacity to roll their eyes, they make up for in their soft and supple necks that allow them to turn their heads more than 180 degrees at any given time.

In the hypothetical scenario of tarsiers getting stiff neck, they would, technically, be unable to see sideways and backwards, if both their eyeballs and their necks would be frozen in a cold, glaring stare. And with a stiff neck comes more than just the difficulty to see. It could very well approximate the total inability of one to see reality as it objectively is.

The Old Testament records a long history of a stiff-necked and disobedient people. The first reading speaks precisely about one such stiff-necked attitude of the leader of the Northern kingdom. Despite repeated pleas from the Lord, “they rejected his statutes, the covenant which he had made with their fathers, and the warnings which he had given them.”

Tarsiers and their habitat may very well teach us a lesson or two about obedience to the Lord and His will. Being stiff-necked and defiant just won’t do us any good. We need to bend over backwards like the lowly bamboo, and allow God to hold sway over our lives. We need to follow the tarsier and  transform our stiff-necked attitudes to soft and supple obedience to the Lord before whom we profess: “I hope in the Lord, I trust in His word” (Alleluia verse).

Such supple obedience then leads us to a non-judgmental stance, for simply put, “the measure with which [we] measure will be used to measure [us].” “Stop passing judgment… Your verdict on others will be the verdict passed on you.” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

Reflection Question:

Am I still struggling in obeying God in something that He wants me to do in my life? Let go and let God!

 

Lord God, make me obedient to Your will.

 

St. Lazarus, pray for us.