20150330
OUR LOVE FOR JESUS WILL DETERMINE OUR FIDELITY
TO HIM
Readings at Mass
This
gospel is read at the procession with palms before Mass:
EITHER:
|
Gospel
|
Mark 11:1-10 ©
|
|
Blessings on him
who comes in the name of the Lord.
|
When they were
approaching Jerusalem, in sight of Bethphage and Bethany, close by the Mount of
Olives, he sent two of his disciples and said to them, ‘Go off to the village
facing you, and as soon as you enter it you will find a tethered colt that no
one has yet ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, “What
are you doing?” say, “The Master needs it and will send it back here
directly”.’ They went off and found a colt tethered near a door in the open
street. As they untied it, some men standing there said, ‘What are you doing,
untying that colt?’ They gave the answer Jesus had told them, and the men let
them go. Then they took the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on its back,
and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, others greenery
which they had cut in the fields. And those who went in front and those who
followed were all shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessings on him who comes in the name of
the Lord! Blessings on the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the
highest heavens!’
OR:
|
Alternative
Gospel
|
John 12:12-16 ©
|
|
Blessings on him
who comes in the name of the Lord.
|
The crowds who had
come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They
took branches of palm and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessings
on the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord.’ Jesus found a young
donkey and mounted it – as scripture says: Do not be afraid, daughter
of Zion; see, your king is coming, mounted on the colt of a donkey. At the
time his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been
glorified, they remembered that this had been written about him and that this
was in fact how they had received him.
The
following are the readings at the Mass itself:
|
First reading
|
Isaiah 50:4-7 ©
|
The Lord has given me
a disciple’s tongue.
So that I may know
how to reply to the wearied
he provides me with
speech.
Each morning he wakes
me to hear,
to listen like a
disciple.
The Lord has opened
my ear.
For my part, I made
no resistance,
neither did I turn
away.
I offered my back to
those who struck me,
my cheeks to those
who tore at my beard;
I did not cover my
face
against insult and
spittle.
The Lord comes to my
help,
so that I am
untouched by the insults.
So, too, I set my
face like flint;
I know I shall not be
shamed.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
21:8-9,17-20,23-24
|
|
Second reading
|
|
Philippians
2:6-11 ©
|
His state was divine,
yet Christ Jesus did
not cling
to his equality with
God
but emptied himself
to assume the
condition of a slave
and became as men
are;
and being as all men
are,
he was humbler yet,
even to accepting
death,
death on a cross.
But God raised him
high
and gave him the name
which is above all
other names
so that all beings
in the heavens, on
earth and in the underworld,
should bend the knee
at the name of Jesus
and that every tongue
should acclaim
Jesus Christ as Lord,
to the glory of God
the Father.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Phil2:8-9
|
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Christ was humbler
yet,
even to accepting
death, death on a cross.
But God raised him
high
and gave him the name
which is above all names.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
EITHER:
It was two days
before the Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread, and the chief priests
and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by some trick and have
him put to death. For they said, ‘It must not be during the festivities, or
there will be a disturbance among the people.’
Jesus was
at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper; he was at dinner when a woman came
in with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, pure nard. She broke the jar
and poured the ointment on his head. Some who were there said to one another
indignantly, ‘Why this waste of ointment? Ointment like this could have been
sold for over three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor’; and they
were angry with her. But Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. Why are you upsetting
her? What she has done for me is one of the good works. You have the poor with
you always, and you can be kind to them whenever you wish, but you will not
always have me. She has done what was in her power to do: she has anointed my
body beforehand for its burial. I tell you solemnly, wherever throughout all
the world the Good News is proclaimed, what she has done will be told also, in
remembrance of her.’
Judas
Iscariot, one of the Twelve, approached the chief priests with an offer to hand
Jesus over to them. They were delighted to hear it, and promised to give him
money; and he looked for a way of betraying him when the opportunity should
occur.
On the
first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his
disciples said to him, ‘Where do you want us to go and make the preparations
for you to eat the passover?’ So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them,
‘Go into the city and you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow
him, and say to the owner of the house which he enters, “The Master says: Where
is my dining room in which I can eat the passover with my disciples?” He will
show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make the
preparations for us there,’ The disciples set out and went to the city and
found everything as he had told them, and prepared the Passover.
When
evening came he arrived with the Twelve. And while they were at table eating,
Jesus said, ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me, one of you
eating with me.’ They were distressed and asked him, one after another, ‘Not I,
surely?’ He said to them, ‘It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping into the
same dish with me. Yes, the Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures
say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better
for that man if he had never been born!’
And as
they were eating he took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke
it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a
cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank from it,
and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to
be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any more wine
until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’
After
psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them,
‘You will all lose faith, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd
and the sheep will be scattered, however after my resurrection I shall go
before you to Galilee.’ Peter said, ‘Even if all lose faith, I will not.’ And
Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you solemnly, this day, this very night, before the
cock crows twice, you will have disowned me three times.’ But he repeated still
more earnestly, ‘If I have to die with you, I will never disown you.’ And they
all said the same.
They came
to a small estate called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Stay
here while I pray.’ Then he took Peter and James and John with him. And a
sudden fear came over him, and great distress. And he said to them, ‘My soul is
sorrowful to the point of death. Wait here, and keep awake.’ And going on a
little further he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were
possible, this hour might pass him by. ‘Abba (Father)!’ he said ‘Everything is
possible for you. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I,
would have it.’ He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter,
‘Simon, are you asleep? Had you not the strength to keep awake one hour? You
should be awake, and praying not to be put to the test. The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.’ Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
And once more he came back and found them sleeping, their eyes were so heavy;
and they could find no answer for him. He came back a third time and said to
them, ‘You can sleep on now and take your rest. It is all over. The hour has
come. Now the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up!
Let us go! My betrayer is close at hand already.’
Even
while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, came up with a number of
men armed with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests and the scribes and
the elders. Now the traitor had arranged a signal with them. ‘The one I kiss,’
he had said ‘he is the man. Take him in charge, and see he is well guarded when
you lead him away.’ So when the traitor came, he went straight up to Jesus and
said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. The others seized him and took him in charge.
Then one of the bystanders drew his sword and struck out at the high priest’s
servant, and cut off his ear.
Then
Jesus spoke. ‘Am I a brigand’ he said ‘that you had to set out to capture me
with swords and clubs? I was among you teaching in the Temple day after day and
you never laid hands on me. But this is to fulfil the scriptures.’ And they all
deserted him and ran away. A young man who followed him had nothing on but a
linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the cloth in their hands and
ran away naked.
They led
Jesus off to the high priest; and all the chief priests and the elders and the
scribes assembled there. Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the
high priest’s palace, and was sitting with the attendants warming himself at
the fire.
The chief
priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus on
which they might pass the death sentence. But they could not find any. Several,
indeed, brought false evidence against him, but their evidence was conflicting.
Some stood up and submitted this false evidence against him, ‘We heard him say,
“I am going to destroy this Temple made by human hands, and in three days build
another, not made by human hands.”’ But even on this point their evidence was
conflicting. The high priest then stood up before the whole assembly and put
this question to Jesus, ‘Have you no answer to that? What is this evidence
these men are bringing against you?’ But he was silent and made no answer at
all. The high priest put a second question to him, ‘Are you the Christ,’ he
said, ‘the Son of the Blessed One?’ ‘I am,’ said Jesus ‘and you will see the
Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of
heaven.’ The high priest tore his robes, ‘What need of witnesses have we now?’
he said. ‘You heard the blasphemy. What is your finding?’ And they all gave
their verdict: he deserved to die.
Some of
them started spitting at him and, blindfolding him, began hitting him with
their fists and shouting, ‘Play the prophet!’ And the attendants rained blows
on him.
While Peter
was down below in the courtyard, one of the high priest’s servant-girls came
up. She saw Peter warming himself there, stared at him and said, ‘You too were
with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’ But he denied it. ‘I do not know, I do not
understand, what you are talking about’ he said. And he went out into the
forecourt. The servant-girl saw him and again started telling the bystanders,
‘This fellow is one of them.’ But again he denied it. A little later the
bystanders themselves said to Peter, ‘You are one of them for sure! Why, you
are a Galilean.’ But he started calling down curses on himself and swearing, ‘I
do not know the man you speak of.’ At that moment the cock crew for the second
time, and Peter recalled how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows
twice, you will have disowned me three times.’ And he burst into tears.
First
thing in the morning, the chief priests together with the elders and scribes,
in short the whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and
took him away and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate
questioned him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘It is you who say it’ he
answered. And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate
questioned him again, ‘Have you no reply at all? See how many accusations they
are bringing against you!’ But, to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further
reply.
At
festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, anyone they asked
for. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison with the rioters who had
committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask
Pilate the customary favour, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release
for you the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of jealousy that the
chief priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited
the crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then
Pilate spoke again. ‘But in that case,’ he said to them ‘what am I to do with
the man you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why?’
Pilate asked them ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder,
‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for
them and, having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The
soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium,
and called the whole cohort together. They dressed him up in purple, twisted
some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail,
king of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and they
went down on their knees to do him homage. And when they had finished making
fun of him, they took off the purple and dressed him in his own clothes.
They
enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus, who was
coming in from the country, to carry his cross. They brought Jesus to the place
called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.
They
offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they crucified him,
and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It
was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge
against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’ And they crucified two robbers with
him, one on his right and one on his left.
The
passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said, ‘Aha! So you would
destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself: come down
from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves
in the same way. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. Let the
Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and
believe.’ Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.
When the
sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When
some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on
Elijah.’ Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed,
gave it him to drink saying; ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him
down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the
Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in
front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a
son of God.’
There
were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary
who was the mother of James the younger and Joset, and Salome. These used to
follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And there were many other
women there who had come up to Jerusalem with him.
It was
now evening, and since it was Preparation Day (that is, the vigil of the
sabbath), there came Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent member of the Council,
who himself lived in the hope of seeing the kingdom of God, and he boldly went
to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate, astonished that he should
have died so soon, summoned the centurion and enquired if he was already dead.
Having been assured of this by the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph
who bought a shroud, took Jesus down from the cross, wrapped him in the shroud
and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a
stone against the entrance to the tomb. Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of
Joset were watching and took note of where he was laid.
OR:
|
Alternative
Gospel
|
Mark 15:1-39 ©
|
First thing in the
morning, the chief priests together with the elders and scribes, in short the
whole Sanhedrin, had their plan ready. They had Jesus bound and took him away
and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate
questioned him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ‘It is you who say it’ he
answered. And the chief priests brought many accusations against him. Pilate
questioned him again, ‘Have you no reply at all? See how many accusations they
are bringing against you!’ But, to Pilate’s amazement, Jesus made no further
reply.
At
festival time Pilate used to release a prisoner for them, anyone they asked
for. Now a man called Barabbas was then in prison with the rioters who had
committed murder during the uprising. When the crowd went up and began to ask Pilate
the customary favour, Pilate answered them, ‘Do you want me to release for you
the king of the Jews?’ For he realised it was out of jealousy that the chief
priests had handed Jesus over. The chief priests, however, had incited the
crowd to demand that he should release Barabbas for them instead. Then Pilate
spoke again. ‘But in that case,’ he said to them ‘what am I to do with the man
you call king of the Jews?’ They shouted back, ‘Crucify him!’ ‘Why?’ Pilate
asked them ‘What harm has he done?’ But they shouted all the louder, ‘Crucify
him!’ So Pilate, anxious to placate the crowd, released Barabbas for them and,
having ordered Jesus to be scourged, handed him over to be crucified.
The
soldiers led him away to the inner part of the palace, that is, the Praetorium,
and called the whole cohort together. They dressed him up in purple, twisted
some thorns into a crown and put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail,
king of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed and spat on him; and they
went down on their knees to do him homage. And when they had finished making
fun of him, they took off the purple and dressed him in his own clothes.
They led
him out to crucify him. They enlisted a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander
and Rufus, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross. They brought
Jesus to the place called Golgotha, which means the place of the skull.
They
offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he refused it. Then they crucified him,
and shared out his clothing, casting lots to decide what each should get. It
was the third hour when they crucified him. The inscription giving the charge
against him read: ‘The King of the Jews.’ And they crucified two robbers with
him, one on his right and one on his left.
The
passers-by jeered at him; they shook their heads and said, ‘Aha! So you would
destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days! Then save yourself: come down
from the cross!’ The chief priests and the scribes mocked him among themselves
in the same way. ‘He saved others,’ they said ‘he cannot save himself. Let the
Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross now, for us to see it and
believe.’ Even those who were crucified with him taunted him.
When
the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth
hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama
sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When
some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on
Elijah.’ Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed,
gave it him to drink saying; ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him
down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the
Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in
front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a
son of God.’
OUR
LOVE FOR JESUS WILL DETERMINE OUR FIDELITY TO HIM?
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISA 42:1-7; JN 12:1-11
On Palm
Sunday yesterday, we celebrated Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem to
accomplish His mission of establishing the Kingdom of God. There, He laid down
the final challenge to His people to accept the message of the Kingdom.
By doing so, He came into direct confrontation with the leaders of
Jerusalem. What is important is that Jesus did the will of His Father to
the very end. The challenge posed to us therefore, is whether we
too will be faithful to Jesus to the very end, even when we have to carry
the cross and face the prospect of death. Will we be like the crowd who
rejected Jesus when Jesus did not satisfy their expectations, or like the
cowardly disciples and apostles of Jesus who abandoned Him when their fortunes
changed?
We
might give up on Jesus because we are not ready to share the cross with
Him. We find that we are unable to give ourselves completely to
Him. Wanting to carry the cross with Jesus for the love of Him,
our loved ones and His people is one thing, but to be able to do it is another
thing altogether. We all know that we must follow Jesus in being
committed to our vocations, in our professional lives or marriage for the good
of the people of God. We know that we must give our lives to those under
our care so that they can become the best that they can be. But how many
of us are truly faithful to our vocation to love and serve, especially when we
are struggling in our marriage, or in our work? The tendency is to give
up when trials set in.
In the
final analysis, our fidelity to Jesus and to our vocation will depend on our
love for Him and our experience of His love for us. Indeed, this is the
basis for Jesus’ ministry. Firstly, He was certain of His call
to be the Anointed One of God. He knew what the Father wanted Him to
do. Jesus would have certainly applied the words of Isaiah to Himself
when the prophet wrote, “I, the Lord, have called you to serve the cause of
right; I have taken you by the hand and formed you; I have appointed you as
covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the blind,
to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the
dungeon.” If Jesus was so convicted of His calling to be the Suffering
Servant, it was because of His intimate relationship with His Father.
Unless we are in touch with the Father in prayer, we cannot share the
conviction of what the Father wants of us. The reason why many of us are
now living lives of regret is because we have chosen a particular state of life
or a profession that we are not called to by the Lord. Instead of asking
what the Lord wants of us, we do what we will. As a consequence, we find
ourselves a misfit and unhappy in our current state of life. If it were a
case of a permanent commitment, then we are now paying the price for the wrong
decision we have earlier made, a life of incomplete happiness.
Secondly,
it was His love for the Father that motivated Him to go to the very end of
dying for the Kingdom of His Father. Of course, this love originates
from the Father’s love for Him. The First Suffering Servant
Song of Isaiah speaks of Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Historically,
the servant here refers to Cyrus, the Persian King who allowed the exiled
Israelites to return to Israel; or it could refer to Israel collectively as the
Servant of God. At any rate, the Suffering Servant theme has been applied
to Jesus. As the first reading tells us, “Here is my servant whom I
uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights.” These words remind us of
the baptism of Jesus and His Transfiguration when the Father affirmed His
choice of Jesus and His love for Him. More than just His love, the Father
has also “given him his spirit … that he may bring true justice to the
nations.” Conscious of His Father’s love and election, Jesus was
able to give Himself totally to the cause of His Father. In response, Jesus was
faithful to His Father’s love. As Isaiah prophesied, “Faithfully he
brings true justice; he will neither waver nor be crushed until true justice is
established on earth, for the islands are awaiting his law.” Furthermore, we
are told in the responsorial psalm that the Lord was His help and light, the
stronghold of His life so that His heart might not fear.
So much
was He one with the Father’s love that His approach to the world was
also that of non-violence and compassion. Indeed, “He does not cry out or
shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the
crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame.” Jesus was full of
compassion for good and bad alike. When Mary was accused of wastage, He
defended her action. When Judas had ulterior motives, Jesus patiently
hoped for his repentance and conversion. Throughout His ministry, Jesus
employed love, compassion and forgiveness to bring sinners back to God.
Like His Father, Jesus demonstrated compassion for all of humanity. His
love for us all was symbolized in Mary’s extravagant love for Him, for she
anointed the body of Jesus with expensive ointment. Love in truth does
not count the cost and is not measured in monetary terms. In fact, all
values do not have a monetary tag to it. Can we ever repay the sacrifices
of love that our parents made for us all these years? Can we ever repay
the sacrifices of love that our loved ones suffered for us?
What
about us? Do we have the extravagant love of Mary or the calculative love of
Judas with respect to Jesus? What kind of love did Mary give to Jesus?
We are told that her love for Jesus was without limits. She “brought in a
pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of
Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the
ointment.” So focused was her love for Jesus, that she was oblivious to
the people around her. She was only concerned for Jesus’ needs and was
not worried about whether she would make a fool of herself in public. She
expressed her love for Jesus unreservedly according to what she felt in her
heart. At the same time, she did it with respect for the mystery and the
person of Jesus.
Judas’
love for Jesus however, was calculative and insincere. His motives
for loving Jesus were dubious. It appeared that he loved Jesus. But
the truth is that he was making use of Jesus for his own self-interests.
He loved himself more than he loved Jesus. Hence, when Mary showed honour
to Jesus, he was not happy with Jesus. Of course, he had his
psychological defence to justify his disappointment. He rationalized his
lack of love for Jesus by giving the logical reason that the ointment could be
“sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” Ironically,
he was oblivious to the needs of Jesus and claimed to be attentive to the needs
of the poor.
Consequently,
today, we are invited to examine our love for Jesus. Do we have a
love for Jesus like Mary? Because if we do, then it will be manifested in
our commitment to growth in our spiritual life, in cultivating virtues,
especially in living out the evangelical counsels, being committed to formation
and most of all, a greater generosity in service and ministry.
Conversely, if we find ourselves making excuses and rationalizing like Judas
for not taking our spiritual and prayer lives seriously or that we are lacking
generosity in the ministry and in our vocation, then we know that our love for
Jesus is shallow. More likely than not, we could be making use of the
ministry like Judas to benefit ourselves.
Yes, we
are invited to deepen our love for Jesus who is the Beloved of the Father and
ours during this last week of Lent. We are called to be like the Prodigal
Father, to be extravagant in love for Jesus. Our love for Jesus is
prior to the ministry. Indeed, Jesus told Judas, “Leave her alone; she
had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you
always, you will not always have me.”
The
truth is that unless we love Jesus, we cannot give to the poor, less
still to love them or even give ourselves selflessly to our loved ones,
especially when they are demanding, unreasonable and ungrateful. Only
having loved Jesus, can we then share the love of Jesus with the poor and
His people. But once we love Him, then like the suffering servant, we
too are called “to serve the cause of right.” We too are appointed to be
the “covenant of the people and light of the nations, to open the eyes of the
blind, to free captives from prison, and those who live in darkness from the
dungeon.” When we give ourselves selflessly to others in love and
service, then we know that we love Jesus.
Let us
therefore take heed of Jesus’ warning. We will have the poor with
us always, but if we do not have Jesus with us, we cannot serve the poor.
We must avoid being calculative when it comes to spending time with Him in
prayer or in service. By being generous with our time for Jesus, we can
become generous and truly concerned for the needs of His people, especially
those who are materially, emotionally and spiritually poor.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
