4th Week of Lent, Friday, 01-04-2022

Wisdom 2:1, 12-22 / John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30         

Once in a while, we may entertain this fantasy that we are able to read other people's minds and know their thoughts.

We may be able to guess what are their thoughts but we can't read their minds and know what they are really thinking about.

But God would surely be able to read our minds and know our thoughts.

In the 1st reading, the Word of God gives us a glimpse of what are in the minds of the godless and what are their thoughts.

In short, the intent of the godless and evil people is to harm the good people and to do bad things to them.

This should not come as a surprise as that is the nature of evil, which is to cause harm with any reason.

We have faced the effects of evil and we turn to God for protection and help.

The Responsorial Psalm tells us that the Lord is close to the broken-hearted.

Let us not be afraid, and let us not return evil with evil.

Let us be determined to do good and we will see that the Lord is very close to us.

4th Week of Lent, Thursday, 31-03-2022

Exodus 32:7-14 / John 5:31-47   

In life, it is important to have values and principles.

Values and principles are like road maps that tell a person what is the direction in life he should take.

To have good values and principles would certainly help a person to live a good life and earn the respect of others.

For Moses, he had his own ideas about life until God called him to lead His people out of slavery from the land of Egypt.

But it was a frustrating mission as the people were a stiff-necked people and they were always complaining.

But Moses kept to his mission and it can be understood that he was worn down and burdened by the complains of the people.

Then in the 1st reading, he had this "God-given" opportunity to dump the people and even to make a name for himself by being a father of a great nation.

Here is where we see the values and principles of Moses - he pleaded with God not to punish the people and to turn away His wrath from them.

May we see in Moses a man who will not betray a nation for his advantage. 

God rewarded Moses in the end. May we too stand firm in the ways of God and He will also reward us in the end.

4th Week of Lent, Wednesday, 30-03-2022

Isaiah 49:8-15 / John 5:17-30    

The human mind has quite an amazing memory bank, and we can remember experiences and events that go a long way back.

But we can also forget about some things. 

Other words that are connected with forgetfulness are absent-mindedness, carelessness, neglect, negligence, etc.

It could also mean that after a while the memory fades because we don't think about it often or that we choose not to remember.

In the 1st reading, the people of God lamented that the Lord had abandoned them, and that the Lord had forgotten them.

But the truth could be that they had forgotten what the Lord did for them and the precepts that He had laid down for them.

The Lord retorted by asking them does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb.

And even if these forgot, the Lord God will not forget His people.

In the gospel, Jesus said that His aim is not to do His own will but the will of His Father.

May we always remember that our aim in life is to always do God's will, and we will not forget who God is for us.

4th Week of Lent, Tuesday, 29-03-2022

Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12 / John 5:1-3, 5-16   

There is no doubt that we come to Church for a need.

Of course the highest need is to come to Church and give thanks to God.

We give thanks to God for blessing us and then we want to present our needs to God.

Yes, we know that God loves us and hence we dare to tell God what are our needs.

God is so great in His love that His blessings don't come in drops but in torrents.

Like in the 1st reading, God's blessings flow from the Temple and gives life in abundance.

And God's blessings also bring healing as it did for that man who was sick for thirty-eight years.

Jesus is asking us the same question that He asked the man: Do you want to be well again?

We all need blessings and we want to live well and be healed of what is wrong with us.

If we want all that, then let us go to Church to give thanks to God and offer Him our prayers.

We only need to believe and ask, and it will be given to us.

4th Week of Lent, Monday, 28-03-2022

Isaiah 65:17-21 / John 4:43-54    

Human beings communicate through languages, and it is usually in two forms - the spoken and the written.

Besides this usual means of communication, there are also other forms of communication like body language, gestures and other signs and symbols.

Although for clarity of meaning, the written and spoken form of the language is preferred, nonetheless the other forms do have a generally understood meaning.

In the gospel, Jesus told the court official, "So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents".

But the court official was desperate for the recovery of his son so he needed a sign that is clear and unmistakable.

Jesus told him to go home and that his son will live, and the court official had to believe.

It was only later when he was told that it was at the seventh hour that his son started to recover that he was able to connect the signs.

As much as we would wish that God would communicate clearly to us in ways that we can understand, yet God's communication is in the mystery of signs.

We just have to remember and reflect on what we have seen and heard and we will be able to understand what God is telling us.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year C, 27.03.2022

Joshua 5:9-12 / 2 Cor 5:17-21 / Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

One of the saddest things to see is how terribly destructive war can be. It is said that war is hell and truly it is. 

The social and economic infrastructure of a country which took months or years to build are reduced to debris and rubble in just minutes. 

In Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there are graphic pictures of devastation. Homes were destroyed and needless to say, the numerous losses of human lives add on to the tragedies of war. 

All that destruction, all that tragedy, is totally unnecessary and the fact is that nothing good can ever come out of a war. 

But the evil, destructive and tragic effects of war is only a reflection of the dark and sinful side of humanity and the human person. 

In the letter of James (4:1-2), he asked this question: Where do all these fights and quarrels among you come from? (The answer) Don't they come from your desires that are fighting within you? You desire something but cannot have it, so you quarrel and fight and even kill to get what you want. 

In the violence and hostility that we see in the world, isn't it clear that St. James have pointed out the obvious, and that this evil desire is in us. 

We all want to live good lives and be at peace, and we try hard to live virtuous and upright lives. 

But in that moment of foolishness and giving in to our sinful desires, we fall into sin and it could be just one sin after another. 

In other words, it is difficult to be good but it is so easy to turn bad quickly and end up being a wretched state. 

In the gospel parable, the youngest son asked his father for the share of his inheritance. 

He was not evil, but for whatever reason, he gave in to his desires, and then he went off to a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery. 

And then misfortune came, one after another, till he had nothing to eat. It was then that he came to his senses and he remembered how kindly his father treated the servants. 

In coming to his senses, that youngest son saw the goodness of his father and he decided to make the long journey back to his father and ask for forgiveness. 

This parable reminds us that even for those who have gone down the wrong and sinful path, there is still hope that they will come to their senses and repent. 

And we pray that in this season of Lent, we will come to our senses and see that the wrong we do is just a smaller scale of the wars and destruction in the world.

May we come to our senses and see that on the Cross, Jesus has shed His blood to save us, and that there should be no more shedding of blood, whether literally or figuratively. 

May we come to see that what we really want is peace and reconciliation, what we want is forgiveness and healing. 

We want peace in the world, we want peace for ourselves. Let peace begin with us. Let peace begin with you and me.

3rd Week of Lent, Saturday, 26-03-2022

Hosea 5:15 - 6:6 / Luke 18:9-14     

During the season of Lent, there is a renewed call to prayer.

We are reminded that prayer, fasting and almsgiving are spiritual exercises during Lent to help us repent and to turn away from sin so that we can turn back to God.

So the purpose of prayer, fasting and almsgiving is to cleanse us of sin so that we can come before the God of mercy and compassion and to be healed by His love and forgiveness.

The gospel parable reminds us that by doing the above does not mean that we can claim any credit for it.

Because if there is no love in doing those spiritual exercises, then we may think that we had done what we need to do and hence God will have to reward us.

We may think that we have done the required penance and sacrifice.

But in the 1st reading, the Lord God says this: What I want is love, not sacrifice, knowledge of God, not holocausts.

As a tree is known by its fruits, so will our prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

May we bear fruits of love, so that we can love God and love neighbour. That is the primary purpose of Lent.