5th Sunday of Lent - A (March 26, 2023)

 

“That You may Believe”

John 11: 1-45

 

Lazarus had been dead for four days by the time Jesus finally arrived.

 

When Jesus first heard the news, Lazarus was ill, but was still alive.

 

Why didn’t Jesus go right away?

 

He seemed to explain the reason of his delay to the disciples, “Lazarus has died.  And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe.”

 

When we face difficulties, sufferings, and even death, do they challenge our faith in God? 

We might even want to ask God, “Why?” 

 

And it’s OK to ask. 

 

Jesus, strengthen us and our faith in those moments.

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

4th Sunday of Lent - A (March 19, 2023)

“I do not Know”
John 9: 1-41

 

Like the man in this gospel passage, we were all once blind, and remained in darkness (2nd Reading). On our own, we cannot know God.

Jesus was sent to revealed to us God and God‘s love. Without Jesus being sent, we would still remain in darkness.

When we think that we have God figured out, when we put God in a box -  the box of our preconceptions and prejudices, then we remain blind.

Only when we humbly acknowledge that we were once blind, that we still do not know, then we can be open to the knowledge of God.  Like the man, we can then request, “Who are you, God, that I may believe in you?”

(Image source: www.agnusday.org)

3rd Sunday of Lent (March 12, 2023)

 

The Gift of God

John 4: 4-52

 

In this Gospel passage, Jesus refers to himself as “the gift of God.” 

 

Jesus is the gift of God’s love.  He gives us the water of eternal life.  He speaks to us God’s words of truth and freedom.  He is the “savior of the world.” 

 

And Jesus, God’s gift of love, “died for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:8; 2^nd Reading).

 

“How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?” (Psalm 116:12)

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org 

 

2nd Sunday of Lent (March 5, 2023)

 

Keeping the Vision

Matthew 17: 1-9

 

Matthew places Jesus’ transfiguration between two of the times that Jesus told his disciples of his coming crucifixion.

 

The voice from the cloud repeats the proclamation at Jesus’ baptism, at the beginning of his public ministry.

 

He is well aware of what awaits him.  He also knows who he is, God’s beloved Son.  That will keep him focused on who he is, and his mission, of being the incarnation of God’s love and of bringing God’s salvation for the world.  

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

1st Sunday of Lent - A (February 26, 2023)

 

Lent for Children of God

Matthew 4: 1-11

 

The devil temps Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, do this.”

 

To which, Jesus responds, “No, the Son of God does not do that.  He does this!”

 

Lent gives us the opportunities to reflect on our own living the dignity of being children of God. 

 

Our Lenten practices should help each of us grow to be more and more a son or a daughter of God. 

 

May God help us grow in that identity, imitating Jesus.

 

Image source:  www.infoans.org

5th Sunday of Lent (April 3, 2022)

 

“Neither Do I Condemn You”

John 8: 1-11

 

Meeting Jesus results in both the woman and her accusers knowing their sins. 

 

The difference is in their responses to that awareness. 

 

The woman’s accusers walk away from Jesus.  Was it because they were ashamed, or because they did not accomplish their plan “to test Jesus”?

 

The woman stays.  She probably could have walked away once her accusers have left.  But she remains.  She then hears Jesus’ words of forgiveness.

 

What do I do when I become aware of my sins?

 

Image:  Andrey Mironov, Christ and the sinner, commons.wikimedia.org

4th Sunday of Lent - C (March 27, 2022)

 

God is Filled with Compassion

Luke 15: 1-3, 11-32

 

In the face of evils and suffering, we want to ask, “Why God?”  Or if God is a benevolent God, why would God allow evils and suffering?

 

This parable teaches us that it is we, like the two sons, who cause our sufferings and we cause others to suffer.  We do not see ourselves as God’s children.  We rebel.  We do not want to live in God’s house, or following God’s laws.  We treat each other as strangers. (In the parable, the younger brother only thinks of himself and his wants.  He has no consideration for his father or his brother.  The older brother complains to his father about the faults of “your son” but not “my brother.”)

 

When we cause our own sufferings, and when we cause others to suffer, God is “filled with compassion for us.”  God “comes out and pleads with” us to return to share God’s love, compassion, and joy with God and with each other.   

 

Image: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, The Return of the Prodigal Son, www.wikipedia.org

3rd Sunday of Lent - C (March 20, 2022)

 

The Lord is Kind and Merciful

Luke 13: 1-9

 

These words of the responsorial psalm consoles and encourages us.

 

Imagine if God “dealt with us as our sins merit” (Psalm 103:10).

 

Instead, as Jesus teaches us through the Gospel parable, God creates us and continually sustains God’s gift of life in us. 

 

But we do not always live the way of God.  Even then, like the gardener, in our Savior, God guides and nourishes us with God’s grace, so that we, the fig tree, might bear fruits.

 

 Image source: www.agnusday.org

2nd Sunday of Lent (March 13, 2022)

 

Prayer

Luke 9: 28b-36

 

Jesus took Peter, John, and James to the mountain to pray.  The three were “overcome by sleep.”  Later, while “fully awake,” Peter spoke to Jesus, “but he did not know what he was saying.” 

 

Can we relate to those experiences in our prayer?  Sleeping?  Saying things that we do not know what we are saying?

 

We are consoled and encouraged to know that it is Jesus who leads us when we pray.  It is Jesus, the head, who prays in us, His body.  It is also Jesus who is speaking to us the words that God invites us to listen to.

 

As God spoke to the disciples, God still speaks to us.  In addition, whether we are awake or asleep, God’s presence and glory always embrace us. 

 

Prayer really does not depend on us and our efforts.  It is God’s initiative to draw us into relationship with God. 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

1st Sunday of Lent - C (March 6, 2022)

 

Jesus – Our Way and Power

Luke 4: 1-13

 

Our Christian life is a journey. 

 

While on that journey, we need regular opportunities to recalibrate our progress and direction. 

 

The annual observance of Lent offers us the opportunity to recalibrate.  And Jesus gives us the direction.

 

The direction of Jesus’ life is oriented towards God and humanity.  As seen in the three temptations in today’s Gospel, he did not use his power to serve his needs, to control others, or to supplant God. 

 

His life culminated at the cross.  There, he gave himself as the sacrifice of love that all humanity might live.  There, he offered the sacrificed of perfect obedience to God the Father. 

 

With the power of Christ’s gift of self in the Eucharist, may this Lent help us to recalibrate our Christian life according to how he lived and sacrificed himself for us.  

 

 

5th Sunday of Lent - B (March 21, 2021)

 

The Hour

John 12: 20-33

 

The first time that “the hour” of Jesus was mentioned was at the wedding at Cana.  In that response to his mother, which can sound off-putting, Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come.”

 

Ten chapters later, Jesus now tells us, “The hour has come.”  Moreover, in today’s passage, Jesus mentions it three times.

 

“The hour” refers to the purpose of Jesus coming into the world.  “The hour” is for God’s glory.  “The hour” is when the Savior is “lifted up” on the cross to “draw everyone” to Him so that all might be saved.

 

We now begin the last full week of Lent.  May we turn our eyes to the crucified Savior who saves us in his hour.  

Image source: www.qumran2.net

 

4th Sunday of Lent - (March 14, 2021)

 

Created by the Loving God 

John 3: 14-21

“God so loved the world.”

and

“God sent his Son into the world” so “that the world might be saved through him.”

 

These words, spoken by the Son of God who “was lifted up” on the cross to save the world, must again assure us of God’s love.

 

Thanks to God’s love, the world is good. All humanity and each human person is good, having been created by God, saved by the Son of God, and continues to be made sacred by the Holy Spirit.

 

May we not allow sufferings, evils, and even death cause us to doubt God’s love and the goodness of God in ourselves, in humanity, and in all that God has created.

 

Image source: www.agnusday.org

 

3rd Sunday of Lent - B (March 7, 2021)

 

The Temple of God

John 2: 13-25

 

Jesus reveals that he is now the Temple where we encounter God.

In Jesus’ words and his Body and Blood we are united with God and God’s divine life.

 

We also encounter God in the community and each member of the Church, since we are God’s holy temples (1 Corinthians 3: 16).

 

The Season of Lent prepares us to renew and celebrate the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) that incorporate us into the Body of Christ.  One of the reflections or examinations we can ask ourselves is how am I living as a temple of God?  In other words, in the way I live, in my attitudes, words, and actions, do people encounter the loving and life-giving God?

Image source: www.agnusday.org

2nd Sunday of Lent - B (February 28, 2021)

 

“Listen to Him”

Mark 9: 2-10

 

Prior to this passage, Jesus told the disciples for the first time of his coming passion and death.  The disciples did not understand.  Nor could they accept it.  Peter was trying to talk Jesus out of it (Mark 8: 31-33) 

 

Jesus then told them that as his disciples, they would have to “deny [themselves], take up [their crosses] and follow him” (Mark 8: 34).  This is his way to eternal life.  The disciples were not ready for that either. 

 

Now, God the Father tells them, in the voice from heaven, to listen to Jesus. 

 

The vision affirms the words of Jesus – his glory that they now see is only possible with the cross.

 

Mark’s Gospel will continue to show us how the disciples were not ready to listen to Jesus. 

 

During this Lenten season, God is giving me the opportunity to ask myself, “How am I at listening to Jesus, particularly when that involves carrying my cross and following him?”  

 

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

Lent 1 - B (February 21, 2021)

 

God’s Reset

Mark 1: 12-15

 

Conspiracy theorists have been talking about a “reset.”  [1]

 

Lent is not that kind of reset of conspiracy theorists, but a grace that God gives us. 

 

Out of love for us, God gives us a chance to reset our lives in the areas where our relationships with God, with others and with ourselves are not what they should be.

 

While in the desert, Jesus “was among wild beasts and the angels ministered to him.”  By his incarnation, passion, crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus restored the original harmony that God created.  That was his “reset.” 

 

Thanks to his reset, we are now living in “the time of fulfillment.”  With Jesus, “the kingdom of God is at hand.” 

 

May this season of God’s grace reset in us what God had created.  

 

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 [1]  Disclaimer:  I don’t subscribe to that idea of “reset.”  I simply borrow the word. 

 Image source: www.agnusday.org

5th Sunday of Lent - A (March 29, 2020)

“Untie him and let him go”

John 11: 1-45

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Lazarus was ill.

His sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.”

When Jesus saw Mary and the people weeping, “he became perturbed and deeply troubled.”

“And Jesus wept.”

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

With the current health crisis that our world is facing, let us spend some time meditating on these words.  Let us live the love that Jesus has for us, which is revealed in a unique way when we suffer.

“If you believe, you will see the glory of God.”

We know the rest of the story. 

But not just the story of Lazarus.

More importantly, we know the story of Jesus, who is the Resurrection and life.  

4th Sunday of Lent - A (March 22, 2020)

Jesus Sought Us Out

John 9: 1-41

“As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.”

The man did not ask Jesus to heal him.  Nor did anybody else do so on the man’s behalf.

Jesus reached out to the man in need and healed him. 

At the end of the Gospel passage, “when Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him.”  The verb here could mean that Jesus came across the man (by chance).  It could also be translated as Jesus sought him out. 

That Jesus took the initiative to heal the man, and what Jesus would say next indicate that Jesus sought him out.  “I came so that those who do not see might see.”

In these days of anxiety and much suffering, may we be more aware and believe that Jesus knows our sufferings and our needs.  May we believe that he always reaches out and heals us.   

Image:  El Greco, Healing of the Man Born Blind, wikipedia.org

3rd Sunday of Lent - A (March 15, 2020)

Savior of the World

John 4: 5-42

Today, Jesus tells us that he is and he gives us water of life.  His words of truth free us and bring us into the family of God, as they did for the woman and the people of that Samaritan town.

The next two Sundays, He will reveal that He is “the light of the world,” “the resurrection and the life.”

He “is truly the savior of the world.”

The Samaritans in today’s Gospel believes in him.

May we have the same faith.     

Image:  Sébastien Bourdon - Christ and the Samaritan Woman, commons.wikimedia.org

2nd Sunday of Lent - A (March 8, 2020)

The Vision

Matthew 17: 1-9

Lent in some ways offers us a chance to visit the spiritual eye doctor to check or refocus our vision.

The vision is Jesus Christ, the “beloved Son, with whom God is well pleased.”  He is the model for us to live as God’s sons and daughters. 

We see this vision when we pray and we reflect on his life.  This life was given to others to the point of the cross.

We also learn about this vision when we listen to him, as God instructs us. 

Living this vision is living a holy life (2nd reading) that brings blessing to “all the communities of the earth” (1st reading).

Image source:  www.agnusday.org

1st Sunday of Lent - A (March 1, 2020)

Three Temptations, Three Lenten Practices

Matthew 4: 1-11

The three temptations that Jesus faced have one thing in common – to be in control.

First, to be in control of taking care of ourselves and our wants and needs.

Second, to be in control of God – we want God to do what we want, to provide for what we need (even in the way and at the time we want it).

Third, to be in control of others.

Which of these three is God inviting me to work on this Lent?  Probably a little of all three.

And the three Lenten practices (disciplines) the Church teaches us can be helpful accordingly.

Fasting helps us to learn through hunger, thirst, and want that we are not in control of our own destiny, and that we depend on God and others.

Prayer helps us to let God be in control.

Almsgiving helps us to focus not on ourselves but others, not on our wants but the needs of others.   

Image source:  www.agnusday.org