Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, January 24, 2016, Year C
The Gospel says that Jesus “went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath”. That means every Sabbath, like a faithful Jew, He would go to their village synagogue to attend the Sabbath ‘Gottesdienst’ (services). Jesus must have been reading the Scriptures regularly because he was familiar with it. As the Gospel tells us, He himself unrolled the scroll and knew where to look for the passage he wanted to read: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. That text was His vision for his mission. His life was based on this text, it was the purpose of His life that regulated everything he did and said. That text was his destiny.
Do you also have a verse or lines in the Bible that you know by heart? Verses which you love to hear and read and repeat? A text you love so much that you know where to find it in the Bible, which book, which chapter and verse? A text that gives meaning and direction to your life, consoles you when you are in difficulties, makes you strong when facing challenges and gives you confidence and peace in your life?
When Jesus was tempted three times in the desert, He contradicted every temptation by a text from the Scriptures. If Jesus needed that, how much more do we need it - we, his disciples. We need the Bible, the Word of God, for our everyday life.
Do you read the Bible every day? “I am too busy”, you might say. But look how you spend your day: there is always a part of your day which you spend on something that you do habitually: watching television, checking Facebook, browsing in the internet, playing computer games, chatting on your cell phone. How often do you do this in a day? Are these the habits that make you “busy”?
Change your habits! If you want to have a better year than last year, change your habits. Good habits create good character and a good character creates a wonderful destiny. Your character is the sum total of your habits.
We are living in a world of modern technology and fast changes. TV, the internet, smartphones and all sorts of electronic gadgets have introduced new habits into our lives, and more often than not, they are not good habits. Can you turn off your TV, set aside your smartphone, so you can sit together, eat and pray together as a family? Can you postpone answering a text while you are talking with your family? Can you delay opening your computer or TV, so you can first greet your family when you arrive home and have more time to spend with them? Modern technology is designed to be our slave, but, instead, we have become enslaved to it. The media says we are consumers – but in reality, we have been consumed.
Let us develop the habit of regularly reading the Bible. Make it your daily habit this year to read a few lines of the Bible. It does not matter if it is only two or three minutes a day, as long as you do it habitually, regularly, automatically, without having to think and decide. If you are a family, make it a family habit. The children may not totally understand it, but if they see you doing it habitually, they will learn to like it. You will discover so many benefits as soon as you get into the habit of reading the Bible – more than you can think of or imagine – because good habits create good character and a good character creates a wonderful destiny. For you, it will be your eternal destiny.
Fr Jun de Ocampo
