Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the fourteenth week in ordinary time, July 14, 2025

Delivered by Elyanne from the Parish of Saint James in the Diocese of Surabaya, Indonesia. Genesis 49: 29-32; 50: 15-26a; Rs psalm 105: 1-2.3-4.6-7; Matthew 10: 24-33.TRANSPARENCY Our meditation today is entitled:Transparency. When people talk about transparency or openness, it is like lookingat an attractive girl. Today more and more people want to speak and understand whattransparency is all about. With the support of digital media, there are no morebarriers that limit personal data. Personal or group information is easilytracked through the internet. Any mode of work of exraordinary crime is easilyknown by Syber technology, so people are very careful about their digitalfootprints. Let us see this following illustration.In the past, the first human beings hid themselves after they fell into sin butthen God found them out. Then in His days, Jesus said that there is nothingclosed that will not be opened, there is nothing hidden that will not be known.These two descriptions may be considered somethings of the ancient time.Meanwhile, most of us today tend to think that hiding, being closed, or in secretis the personal business of every person. There are secret techniques andsystems that are used as if there is no human person, even God himself can knowit. That's how things are perceived, sothat people are so free to do as easily and promptly as they are in closed orhidden places. One hidden or secret act successfully done, will continue toproduce another hidden act and so on. Someone saw his fellow did evil  in hidden, but he was silent or afraid tospeak out, or even collaborated in that evil deed. Those who do not know tohide, learn from those who are experienced or experts in hiding. This is thebiggest challenge to transparency. The secret of the salvation for thefamily of Israel was kept for a long time by Joseph, who at that time becamethe chief official in Egypt and who had gathered all his family from Canaan.Towards his death, he revealed the secret that in proper time God would guidethe Israelites out of Egypt, to return to their ancestral homeland. With theseexamples, God actually wants to teach us that transparency is His divine will.The essence of God is openness. In the Trinity itself there is communication,and the most importat openness of God for His people is the incarnation, whenGod descended from His throne and became a human person. Actually, the purpose of transparencyor openness is to produce and maintain the truth. Philosophy teaches thissimple lesson: the absence of truth is a fault or untruth. We must also say thesame: no openness means closedness or concealment. So actually in the beginningthere was only truth and openness. Faults and closedness exist because there isno truth and transparency. Let's pray. In the nameof the Father ... O Lord of truth and justice, when we are unable to livehonestly, fill us with the Spirit of truth. Our Father who art in heaven ... Inthe name of the Father...