Daily Bible Reflections - June 4, 2012

THE TEMPEST

 

“This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.” – Mark 12:7

 

Today’s Gospel reminds me of The Tempest, one of William Shakespeare’s plays. Like the parable narrated by Jesus, the play is about masters and servants and betrayal.

In the parable, the servants betray their master. In The Tempest, the master, Prospero, the Duke of Milan, is betrayed by his brother Antonio, who grabs Prospero’s dukedom. Stripped of power, Prospero escapes with his three-year-old daughter Miranda and they settle on a strange island where Miranda grows up to be a beautiful woman.

The play opens with the entourage of King Alonso of Naples, an ally of Antonio, being caught in a violent storm — a tempest — at sea. They are washed ashore on Prospero’s island. Actually, Prospero, a magician, conjured up the storm to begin his revenge against his brother. Throughout, we see Prospero as a bitter man unleashing his anger over his misfortune by making slaves of those he finds on the island. The play, however, ends with reconciliation and Prospero regaining his dukedom.

The Tempest and today’s parable may be fiction. But their message of repentance and forgiveness is as true as Jesus, our Savior. Cynthia Santiago (cusantiago@gmail.com)

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REFLECTION:

Master or slave, we can betray each other. But once we repent, we will be forgiven.

 

Lord, let me not betray You even amid the tempests of my life.

 

Sts. Charles Lwanga and Companions, martyrs, pray for us.