By Fr. Bel R. San Luis, SVD   Once a priest and a friend, a soap maker, were out taking a  walk. The soap maker said cynically, “What good is religion? Look at  all the  trouble and misery of the world after thousands of years  of teaching about goodness, truth, and peace – after all the prayers, homilies, and teachings.” * * * The  priest said nothing. They continued walking until  they noticed  children playing in a muddy canal. Then the priest  said, “Look  at those kids. You say that soap makes people  clean,  but see  the dirt on those youngsters. Of what good is soap?  With  all your soap and all the  soap  in the world, those children are still dirty. I  wonder  how soap is effective after all.” * * * The  soap maker  got peeved and protested, “But  Father,  you ought to know that soap can’t do any good unless it is used.” “Ah exactly,”  replied the priest. “So it is with Christianity and its teachings. They are ineffective unless they are applied and put into practice.” In sum, the Word of God or the Bible is useless unless it is lived in day-to-day life. * * * We are celebrating National Bible Week which begins on January 22 and ends on the 28th. The real challenge for all Christians, as the above story highlights, is to apply the Word of God in daily life, put its messages into practice, or be guided by it in our conduct and decision-making. * * * For instance, the Lord teaches us about forgiveness and reconciliation. He says we should forgive our enemies not just seven times but 70 times seven times. Some people would deem such teaching as “archaic” and  impractical in applying to daily life. * * * But the truth is: There can be no peace and reconciliation in the world, in our country or in our homes if we keep on harboring grudges and hatred, if we keep taking revenge. As the charismatic Indian leader and advocate of non-violence Mahatma Gandhi put it: “If we live by an ‘eye for an eye’ kind of justice and ‘tooth for a tooth,’ the whole world would be blind and toothless!” * * * By the way, forgiveness does not mean we should not fight for our rights or seek redress when we are seriously injured or when a huge amount of money was stolen or when we are unjustly maligned. We can claim our just rights before the lawful authority. But justice should always be tempered with compassion and love. * * * Former US President Ronald Reagan once said: “The Bible contains an answer to just about everything and every problem that confronts us, and I wonder sometimes why we don’t recognize that one book which could solve our problems for us.” * * * The story of the priest and soap maker has the answer to President Reagan’s comment: The teachings from the Bible are useless if they are not applied and put into practice. * * * QUOTES ON THE BIBLE: “If all the Christians were to dust their Bibles at the same time, we would have the greatest dust storm in our history.” — J.H. Smith. The writer is referring to Christians who have Bibles at home but they’re just gathering dust. * * * “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.”   — George Washington. * * * BIBLE — acronym for: Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. * * * St. Jude . Today join our novena to St. Jude, Saint of the Impossible, at the Divine Word Shrine, Christ the King Seminary on E. Rodriguez Boulevard, Quezon City after the 6 p.m. mass. A healing prayer and anointing of the sick will follow.