Messengers of Good News
Going back to his hometown of Nazareth after a successful mission to other places, Jesus preached in the synagogue. Quoting from the prophet Isaiah, he said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord” (Luke 4:18-19).
From last Sunday’s gospel (Mark 6:1-6), we know the people’s reaction to this preaching. Many were astonished, wondering, “Where did this man get all of this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands!” But with this astonishment also came unbelief, “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us? And they took offense at him.” The gospel continues that because of the people’s lack of faith, Jesus was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying hands on them. In another version of this incident, we learn that the people in the synagogue were all filled with fury. “They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away” (Luke 4:28-29).
This Sunday’s gospel (Mark 6:7-13) is a continuation of this event. This time, he summons his twelve apostles to help him carry out his mission; they were to become messengers of good news about the kingdom of God.
Relative to this, DepEd Region 3 is already looking for pilot schools for the possibility of limited face-to-face classes.
“We already have plans, and we are conducting studies for face-to-face classes so that if given the go signal, we have already prepared the schools,” Eclar shared.
However, several factors still need to be considered including number of active COVID-19 cases.
Despite this, Eclar said they are eyeing for a surge in the number of enrollees for the school year 2021-2022.
“Based on our records, the number of our enrollees did not decline despite the pandemic. What we have seen is that there is a decrease in the number of enrollees in private schools as many have closed temporarily; but still, their students moved to public schools,” she explained.
She said that the closure of some schools is due to difficulties in adjusting with, and completing the requirements needed to operate the new mode of learning set up.
Currently, Eclar said that 60 percent of the basic education schools in the region are offering modular learning through purely printed modules; while 40 percent have adapted the blended which is a combination of modular, digital, radio-based, and television learning. (PIA 3)