20170301 SEASON OF GRACE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Joel 2:12-18 ©
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‘Now, now – it
is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with
all your heart,
fasting, weeping,
mourning.’
Let your hearts be
broken, not your garments torn,
turn to the Lord your
God again,
for he is all
tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger, rich
in graciousness,
and ready to relent.
Who knows if he will
not turn again, will not relent,
will not leave a blessing
as he passes,
oblation and libation
for the Lord your
God?
Sound the trumpet in
Zion!
Order a fast,
proclaim a solemn
assembly,
call the people
together,
summon the community,
assemble the elders,
gather the children,
even the infants at
the breast.
Let the bridegroom
leave his bedroom
and the bride her
alcove.
Between vestibule and
altar let the priests,
the ministers of the
Lord, lament.
Let them say,
‘Spare your people,
Lord!
Do not make your
heritage a thing of shame,
a byword for the
nations.
Why should it be said
among the nations,
“Where is their
God?”’
Then the Lord,
jealous on behalf of his land,
took pity on his
people.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
50(51):3-6,12-14,17 ©
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Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
Have mercy on me,
God, in your kindness.
In your
compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and
more from my guilt
and
cleanse me from my sin.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
My offences truly I
know them;
my sin is
always before me
Against you, you
alone, have I sinned;
what is
evil in your sight I have done.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
put a
steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away
from your presence,
nor
deprive me of your holy spirit.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
Give me again the joy
of your help;
with a
spirit of fervour sustain me,
O Lord, open my lips
and my
mouth shall declare your praise.
Have mercy on us,
O Lord, for we have sinned.
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Second reading
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2 Corinthians
5:20-6:2 ©
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We are ambassadors
for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that
we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the
sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. As
his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that
you have received. For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to
you; on the day of salvation I came to your help. Well, now is the
favourable time; this is the day of salvation.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps50:12,14
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
and give me again the
joy of your help.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or
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cf.Ps94:8
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Matthew
6:1-6,16-18 ©
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Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract
their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in
heaven. So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is
what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s
admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you give
alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing; your almsgiving
must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward
you.
‘And when
you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers
standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them;
I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward. But when you pray, go to your
private room and, when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in
that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will
reward you.
‘When
you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces
to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their
reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that no
one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in
secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.’
SEASON
OF GRACE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ Joel 2:12-18; Ps 50:3-6,12-14,17; 2 Cor 5:20 – 6:2;
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18 ]
Are you feeling
empty? Is there something missing in your life even when you are
successful and doing well? Do you feel that there is a vacuum in your
life that you cannot explain? Are you feeling disoriented and edgy?
Why do you get so irritated and angry with small matters? Is the source
of annoyance coming from within or without? Perhaps, you have no focus in
life. You are just drifting along, not knowing where you should expend
your energy and time. You are doing many things but nothing seems
fulfilling. The real reason is perhaps because you are not happy with
yourself. You are living a double life. You are living a sinful
life, a life of infidelity, cheating, fighting and negative towards
people. You are addicted to anger, envy, sloth and greed, besides lust.
You want to break free from the sins that hold on to you but you do not have
the strength to come clean and start all over again.
Indeed, deep in our hearts,
many of us want to return to the Lord. We want to recover our sense of
direction in life. We want to take control of our lives. We are
sick of living a life of slavery to sin and our bad habits which are destroying
not just our health but taking away our peace, joy and freedom. If you
are feeling this way, then the Church is providing you a time of grace for you
to return to the Lord and to find your peace again. St Paul wrote, “Well,
now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.” Indeed,
this is the best time to return to God and find joy again.
How can we find our peace
if not to be reconciled first with God? There can be no peace in our hearts or
with our fellowmen unless we are first at peace with God. Reconciliation with
God is the first step towards being reconciled with our fellowmen and within
ourself. St Paul urges us, “We are ambassadors for Christ; it is as
though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s
name is: be reconciled to God.”
Why should we be reconciled
with God? St Paul says, “For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so
that in him we might become the goodness of God.” It is God’s desire for us to
become like Him in grace and love. All of us as His children are called
to be the goodness of God. That is why God emptied Himself in Christ
Jesus to lead us in the way. By assuming our humanity, He comes to assure
us that He understands our struggles, our pains, our frustrations, our
anxieties and fears. By overcoming all the temptations of life,
Jesus is telling us that with God’s grace, we can live the life of God and
defeat Satan and his snares.
God desires us to know that
we are forgiven. He knows that unless we believe that we are forgiven, we will
not have the capacity to forgive others, much less ourselves. We will be living
in guilt and fear. There is no peace in us. If we cannot
forgive and accept our own limitations and weaknesses, what makes us so sure that
we can accept and tolerate the mistakes of others? For Christians,
the beginning of peace must come from God. So, the invitation is to
turn to God for forgiveness. “Turn to the Lord your God again, for he is
all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness, and ready
to relent.” Indeed, we can be sure of God’s forgiveness. He will
not abandon us or take into account our past. He readily forgives us
because He knows who we are, weak and frail sinners.
Receiving full forgiveness
presupposes that we confess our sins explicitly and acknowledge that we are
sinners. This is the first step to finding peace. We must admit
that we are at fault and not blame others for our failures. We are
equally guilty as sinners. Together with the Israelites, we must confess
our sins. With the psalmist, we say, “My offences truly I know them; my
sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is
evil in your sight I have done.” There should be no rationalization
of whatever sort. There should be no justification. Humbly admit our
ignorance and selfishness when we confess our sins.
The consequence of
contrition of heart and repentance is the reward of joy and peace. Whenever we
confess our sins, we find great liberation. This is the experience of every
penitent. That is provided we confess our sins sincerely and with
contrition. The prophet said, “Come back to me with all your heart,
fasting, weeping, mourning. Let your hearts be broken not your garments torn, turn
to the Lord your God again.” The greater the contrition and the greater
the sincerity in confessing our sins as they are, without justifying,
rationalizing or mitigating them, the greater is the healing effect and lasting
the conversion. The joy and freedom from fear and guilt in those who
confess their sins is manifested in their recovery of prayer life and the joy
of worshipping God. Before confession, they cannot praise God. But
after confession, their lips open and they begin to praise God easily.
This was the experience of the psalmist. He said, “O Lord, open my lips
and my mouth shall declare your praise.”
The great thing about the
season of Lent is that we do not walk alone. The whole community of
Christians walk with us in the journey back to God. Walking alone is
frightening and often when we walk alone, the devil will tempt us back to sin
because we are weak. This is what happened to those who are newly
baptized or just returned to the Church. Without a community to support
them, they fall back easily to their old way of life. They forget that
baptism is not just being baptized in Christ but to be baptized into the body
of Christ, the Church. Baptism is to belong to the community of
faith. We need our brothers and sisters to accompany us in our journey of
faith. Alone, we will eventually drop out because we are not living
within the ambience of grace. But with our fellow brothers and sisters
encouraging us along the way, we will be able to overcome all trials and
temptations.
For this reason, the call
to repentance is not just addressed to individuals but to the whole community.
“Order a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, call the people together,
summon the community, assemble the elders, gather the children, even the
infants at the breast.” The whole Church is on retreat and on this
faith journey. Every one of us, from the Pope to the ordinary Catholic,
is called to conversion of heart. We are called to make this pilgrimage
together as the People of God, from the land of slavery to the Promised Land.
How can we make our journey
if not to use the channels of grace made available to us? In the gospel,
Jesus provides us the ways to come back to Him. The three pillars of the
Lenten program consist of prayer, almsgiving and penance.
If we want to regain our
relationship with the Lord, we need to make time for prayer, especially our
personal time with the Lord in quiet reflection and contemplation.
“But when you pray go to your private room and, when you have shut the door,
pray to your Father who is in that secret place.” There can be no
conversion or renewal of relationship with the Lord if we do not make time for
prayer. Meditation on the Word of God and on the Passion of Christ as in
the devotion of the Stations of the Cross will help the person to encounter
God’s love and mercy for Him. This will help us find the grace and courage to
repent and come back to God.
Secondly, there is a need
for penance and mortification. This is to help us exercise
discipline over our body since we lose control of ourselves. Sin is often
our master. We must exercise self–control, beginning with the sensual
needs before we can master our mind and spirit. Fasting is always part of this
program. We are invited to do penance so that we can feel with Christ and
our fellowmen in their sufferings. In this way, we learn to curb
our tongue and our senses. Jesus said, “But when you fast, put oil on
your head and wash your face, so that no one will know you are fasting except
your Father.”
Thirdly, we are called to
the practice of almsgiving. “But when you give alms, your left hand must not
know what your right is doing; your almsgiving must be secret.” Through
almsgiving, we learn to open our hearts to the sufferings of others and in the
process, encounter the joy of mercy that God wants to give us. The poor
often reveal to us the face of God and give us the joy that money cannot
buy. Charity is the fruit of peace in our hearts and the love of
God in our lives.
Indeed, the season of Lent
is a season of grace. Let us not waste the grace of God given to us at this
time. St Paul urges us, “We beg you once again not to neglect the grace
of God that you have received.” Let us not delay and postpone further.
Let us not lose this opportunity of grace that the Church has given to us but
make full use of it. Let us also encourage each other to live a virtuous
life and not tempt each other to sin. Let us walk this journey of 40 days
together to the Promised Land.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
