Ezekiel 37:21-28 / John 11:45-56 (2018)
Whenever the word "prophecy" is mentioned, we are inclined to think that it is something about the future, a fore-telling of sort.
In many ways, what the prophet Ezekiel and the high priest Caiaphas said in today's readings had a bearing on the future.
Yet the more fundamental and important aspect of prophecy is the "forth-telling", meaning to say, the bearing on the present.
And precisely, the prophet Ezekiel was also doing that. He was not talking about something that will only happen in the future.
He was talking about something that was already happening during his time - that God will gather His people, and He will be their God and they will be His people.
Similarly when Caiaphas said those words "it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed (and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God).
That is one of the most profound prophesies at that time and also for the present.
During this time of Lent, we undertake fasting and penances to subdue our bodily desires and also offer up our sacrifices in union with Jesus.
All this is done not just for our own benefit but also for the Church and the world in reparation for sins committed.
Let us continue to do penance and offer up our sacrifices with love so that with Jesus we gather together in unity the scattered children of God.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
5th Week of Lent, Friday, 30-03-12
Jeremiah 20:10-13 / John 10:31-42
During the time of Jesus, the people were, by and large, a monotheistic people, i.e., they believe and worship in only one God.
That was the doctrine that was passed down since the time of Abraham and the people kept that doctrine worshiping only one God and it was even a commandment that there shall be no other gods that the people can worship.
Furthermore the belief was also that there was this unbridgeable void between divinity and humanity.
So for anyone saying that he is the Son of God (hence claiming divinity) or that he is in God and God is in him and claiming God to be his Father, that is certainly an unbearable blasphemy.
So we can understand why the people took stones to stone Jesus - He was saying something blasphemous and revolting to them.
Yet with Jesus, it was not a religious question of blasphemy. Rather it was an issue about the truth.
People like the truth to be static and maybe historic. Truth that is dynamic and realistic may be too acidic for people to accept.
That was the case with Jesus and also with the prophet Jeremiah in the 1st reading.
Yet if we say we believe in God, then God also wants to be dynamic and realistic in our lives.
God is truth. If we believe in God, then we must also accept the people who are proclaiming the truth.
Not to do so would be collaborating with evil and stoning the truth.
During the time of Jesus, the people were, by and large, a monotheistic people, i.e., they believe and worship in only one God.
That was the doctrine that was passed down since the time of Abraham and the people kept that doctrine worshiping only one God and it was even a commandment that there shall be no other gods that the people can worship.
Furthermore the belief was also that there was this unbridgeable void between divinity and humanity.
So for anyone saying that he is the Son of God (hence claiming divinity) or that he is in God and God is in him and claiming God to be his Father, that is certainly an unbearable blasphemy.
So we can understand why the people took stones to stone Jesus - He was saying something blasphemous and revolting to them.
Yet with Jesus, it was not a religious question of blasphemy. Rather it was an issue about the truth.
People like the truth to be static and maybe historic. Truth that is dynamic and realistic may be too acidic for people to accept.
That was the case with Jesus and also with the prophet Jeremiah in the 1st reading.
Yet if we say we believe in God, then God also wants to be dynamic and realistic in our lives.
God is truth. If we believe in God, then we must also accept the people who are proclaiming the truth.
Not to do so would be collaborating with evil and stoning the truth.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
5th Week of Lent, Thursday, 29-03-12
Genesis 17:3-9 / John 8:51-59 (2019)
Whenever Jesus uses the phrase "I tell you solemnly ... " it means that He is giving a serious teaching.
It means that what he is going to say must be remembered because it is going to mean a lot to us.
In the gospel, Jesus used this phrase twice.
Jesus said that whoever keeps His word will never see death.
And He also solemnly proclaimed that He is the "I AM" which is the mystical name of God.
God's Word, especially His promises, are eternal, and His Word also gives us the sure hope of eternal life.
Hence even though we heard in the 1st reading that God made the promise the Abraham, yet Abraham never saw the fulfillment of the promise.
But believing in God who made that promise to him, Abraham knew that there would be life after death because the belief at that time was that the ancestors would have eternal life as long as there are descendants.
So Abraham and the prophets are not dead, as the people said in the gospel.
Yet it is only in believing and keeping God's word that we will have life.
Jesus promised us that when we keep His word and walk in His ways, we will have life, here and hereafter.
Let us believe in Jesus because His word is spirit and life and they have the message of eternal life.
Whenever Jesus uses the phrase "I tell you solemnly ... " it means that He is giving a serious teaching.
It means that what he is going to say must be remembered because it is going to mean a lot to us.
In the gospel, Jesus used this phrase twice.
Jesus said that whoever keeps His word will never see death.
And He also solemnly proclaimed that He is the "I AM" which is the mystical name of God.
God's Word, especially His promises, are eternal, and His Word also gives us the sure hope of eternal life.
Hence even though we heard in the 1st reading that God made the promise the Abraham, yet Abraham never saw the fulfillment of the promise.
But believing in God who made that promise to him, Abraham knew that there would be life after death because the belief at that time was that the ancestors would have eternal life as long as there are descendants.
So Abraham and the prophets are not dead, as the people said in the gospel.
Yet it is only in believing and keeping God's word that we will have life.
Jesus promised us that when we keep His word and walk in His ways, we will have life, here and hereafter.
Let us believe in Jesus because His word is spirit and life and they have the message of eternal life.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
5th Week of Lent, Wednesday, 28-03-12
Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25, 28 / John 8:31-42
Most of the martyrs of the Church come from the period of the early Church, i.e. the first few centuries, when the Church was under persecution from the Roman empire.
Besides undergoing horrendous torture and a terrible death in their witnessing to Christ, there was something more critical at stake.
It was an acid test of their faith in God. We can be sure that the martyrs were not asking to be tortured to death.
We can also be sure that they were afraid and they prayed to God to be delivered from the viciousness of their enemies.
But in the face of their blood-thirsty persecutors, they had the same answer as the three young men in the 1st reading.
It is a statement that we need to reflect and think about - If our God, the One we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, He will save us. And even if He does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.
Very brave words that will mean certain death. But God did rescue the three young men.
But as for the martyrs, they freely gave up their lives.
They could do this because they understood what Jesus said about the truth in today's gospel.
Yes the truth will set them free. The same truth will also set us free.
But as Jesus said, the truth that He came to proclaim must penetrate into our hearts, and make its home in our hearts.
We will know that the truth of Jesus is in our hearts when we detest sin and we want to love God.
Only God's love will set us free from fear and from sin. Then we will truly live our lives with Jesus and in Jesus.
Most of the martyrs of the Church come from the period of the early Church, i.e. the first few centuries, when the Church was under persecution from the Roman empire.
Besides undergoing horrendous torture and a terrible death in their witnessing to Christ, there was something more critical at stake.
It was an acid test of their faith in God. We can be sure that the martyrs were not asking to be tortured to death.
We can also be sure that they were afraid and they prayed to God to be delivered from the viciousness of their enemies.
But in the face of their blood-thirsty persecutors, they had the same answer as the three young men in the 1st reading.
It is a statement that we need to reflect and think about - If our God, the One we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, He will save us. And even if He does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.
Very brave words that will mean certain death. But God did rescue the three young men.
But as for the martyrs, they freely gave up their lives.
They could do this because they understood what Jesus said about the truth in today's gospel.
Yes the truth will set them free. The same truth will also set us free.
But as Jesus said, the truth that He came to proclaim must penetrate into our hearts, and make its home in our hearts.
We will know that the truth of Jesus is in our hearts when we detest sin and we want to love God.
Only God's love will set us free from fear and from sin. Then we will truly live our lives with Jesus and in Jesus.
Monday, March 26, 2012
5th Week of Lent, Tuesday, 27-03-12
Numbers 21:4-9 / John 8:21-30
As we listen to the 1st reading, we may find it surprising that God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and to put it on a standard.
And if anyone who was bitten by a fiery serpent, he only had to look at the bronze serpent on the standard and he will live.
That would sound rather simplistic to say the best, and rather superstitious to say the worst.
But the figure of the serpent in the Middle Eastern culture has both a divine and a diabolic meaning.
We may be familiar with its diabolic meaning as we recall how Eve was tempted by the serpent in the book of Genesis.
But we may not be that familiar with its divine symbolism.
Among other things, the serpent represents wisdom and fertility, a figure of health and life and also an emblem for medicine.
Hence the interpretation of the figure of the bronze serpent has to be seen in its context.
So in the context of the 1st reading, the bronze serpent on a standard represents health and life and medicine, whereas the fiery serpents on the ground represent pain and death.
So it depends on where we are looking from and where we are looking at.
As Jesus said in the gospel, He is from above and His listeners are from below; they are of this world but He is not of this world.
Jesus want to raise us up from this world and free us from our sins.
But we must keep looking at Him and His cross which will be the means of our salvation.
Just as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, so too must we carry the cross of our lives.
Through the cross of Jesus, we will obtain forgiveness for our sins and strength to carry the cross.
As we listen to the 1st reading, we may find it surprising that God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and to put it on a standard.
And if anyone who was bitten by a fiery serpent, he only had to look at the bronze serpent on the standard and he will live.
That would sound rather simplistic to say the best, and rather superstitious to say the worst.
But the figure of the serpent in the Middle Eastern culture has both a divine and a diabolic meaning.
We may be familiar with its diabolic meaning as we recall how Eve was tempted by the serpent in the book of Genesis.
But we may not be that familiar with its divine symbolism.
Among other things, the serpent represents wisdom and fertility, a figure of health and life and also an emblem for medicine.
Hence the interpretation of the figure of the bronze serpent has to be seen in its context.
So in the context of the 1st reading, the bronze serpent on a standard represents health and life and medicine, whereas the fiery serpents on the ground represent pain and death.
So it depends on where we are looking from and where we are looking at.
As Jesus said in the gospel, He is from above and His listeners are from below; they are of this world but He is not of this world.
Jesus want to raise us up from this world and free us from our sins.
But we must keep looking at Him and His cross which will be the means of our salvation.
Just as Jesus was lifted up on the cross, so too must we carry the cross of our lives.
Through the cross of Jesus, we will obtain forgiveness for our sins and strength to carry the cross.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Annunciation of the Lord, Monday, 26-03-12
Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10 / Hebrews 10:4-10 / Luke 1:26-38
Today's feast of the Annunciation is an important event in the Church because nine months later, the Church will be celebrating the feast of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.
The feast of the Annunciation invites to enter, with Mary, into a quiet contemplation of the promise of salvation, which was first pronounced by the prophet Isaiah, and which was later accepted by Mary and fulfilled and manifested in Jesus.
But for now, we are invited to be with Mary, to hear her say "Yes" to the Lord and to the acceptance of the promise of salvation.
In other words, like Mary, we also need to let Jesus grow within us, we let Jesus become "greater" in our hearts, as we become lesser and lesser of ourselves.
The feast of the Annunciation reminds us that we are sinful and we need to be saved from the clutches of the evil one and we need Jesus to come into our hearts and to be made flesh in our lives in order to be saved.
And that is the meaning of the celebration of the feast of the Annunciation.
Like Mary, we say "Yes" to salvation and we say "Yes" to Jesus.
When we truly mean what we say, then Jesus will take control of our lives and be the center our lives.
Yes we must continue to be faithful to the "Yes" to Jesus.
One of the ways we can do this is to have a deep devotion to Mary, either with the Rosary or some other form of Marian devotion.
With Mary, we say to the Lord : I am the servant of the Lord, let what you have said be done unto me.
Today's feast of the Annunciation is an important event in the Church because nine months later, the Church will be celebrating the feast of Christmas, the birth of Jesus.
The feast of the Annunciation invites to enter, with Mary, into a quiet contemplation of the promise of salvation, which was first pronounced by the prophet Isaiah, and which was later accepted by Mary and fulfilled and manifested in Jesus.
But for now, we are invited to be with Mary, to hear her say "Yes" to the Lord and to the acceptance of the promise of salvation.
In other words, like Mary, we also need to let Jesus grow within us, we let Jesus become "greater" in our hearts, as we become lesser and lesser of ourselves.
The feast of the Annunciation reminds us that we are sinful and we need to be saved from the clutches of the evil one and we need Jesus to come into our hearts and to be made flesh in our lives in order to be saved.
And that is the meaning of the celebration of the feast of the Annunciation.
Like Mary, we say "Yes" to salvation and we say "Yes" to Jesus.
When we truly mean what we say, then Jesus will take control of our lives and be the center our lives.
Yes we must continue to be faithful to the "Yes" to Jesus.
One of the ways we can do this is to have a deep devotion to Mary, either with the Rosary or some other form of Marian devotion.
With Mary, we say to the Lord : I am the servant of the Lord, let what you have said be done unto me.
Friday, March 23, 2012
4th Week of Lent, Saturday, 24-03-12
Jeremiah 11:18-20 / John 7:40-52 (2021)
The Bible, as we know, is the Word of God, and in it is the revealed truth of God.
Furthermore, the gospels are called the Good News because it announces the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Yet if an outsider who is attending the Mass of the first time and listens to the Bible passages that we just heard, may end up wondering.
Just what kind of message is the Bible giving? In the 1st reading there was scheming, plotting, being led to the slaughter-house, destruction, as well as vengeance.
Then in the gospel there is argument and confusion and arrogance.
Of course it is not fair to just take today's Bible passages and say that there is nothing uplifting or inspiring about the Bible.
Yet the first line in the 1st reading may give us enough to think about - The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned.
Yes, the Lord reveals to us in the Bible that as much as there is evil and wickedness in the world, yet in the end He will pronounce a just sentence and He will also vindicate the good people who are faithful to Him.
The sinfulness and the wickedness of the world will certainly make us shudder and quiver.
But in this Eucharist, let us receive strength and courage from the Lord and let us take the response for the Responsorial Psalm - Lord God, I take refuge in you.
The Bible, as we know, is the Word of God, and in it is the revealed truth of God.
Furthermore, the gospels are called the Good News because it announces the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Yet if an outsider who is attending the Mass of the first time and listens to the Bible passages that we just heard, may end up wondering.
Just what kind of message is the Bible giving? In the 1st reading there was scheming, plotting, being led to the slaughter-house, destruction, as well as vengeance.
Then in the gospel there is argument and confusion and arrogance.
Of course it is not fair to just take today's Bible passages and say that there is nothing uplifting or inspiring about the Bible.
Yet the first line in the 1st reading may give us enough to think about - The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned.
Yes, the Lord reveals to us in the Bible that as much as there is evil and wickedness in the world, yet in the end He will pronounce a just sentence and He will also vindicate the good people who are faithful to Him.
The sinfulness and the wickedness of the world will certainly make us shudder and quiver.
But in this Eucharist, let us receive strength and courage from the Lord and let us take the response for the Responsorial Psalm - Lord God, I take refuge in you.
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