Scripture Reflection and Prayer : Journeying together: March 2025

Monday, 31 March 2025

DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL AGAIN?

20250401 DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL AGAIN?

01 April 2025, Tuesday, 4th Week of Lent

First reading

Ezekiel 47:1-9,12

Wherever the water flows, it will bring life and health

The angel brought me to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate where the water flowed out on the right-hand side. The man went to the east holding his measuring line and measured off a thousand cubits; he then made me wade across the stream; the water reached my ankles. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across the stream again; the water reached my knees. He measured off another thousand and made me wade across again; the water reached my waist. He measured off another thousand; it was now a river which I could not cross; the stream had swollen and was now deep water, a river impossible to cross. He then said, ‘Do you see, son of man?’ He took me further, then brought me back to the bank of the river. When I got back, there were many trees on each bank of the river. He said, ‘This water flows east down to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the leaves medicinal.’

How to listen

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 45(46):2-3,5-6,8-9ab

The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

God is for us a refuge and strength,

a helper close at hand, in time of distress,

so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,

though the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.

The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,

the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within, it cannot be shaken;

God will help it at the dawning of the day.

The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The Lord of hosts is with us:

the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Come, consider the works of the Lord,

the redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps50:12,14

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

A pure heart create for me, O God,

and give me again the joy of your help.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Gospel

John 5:1-3,5-16

The healing at the pool of Bethesda

There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.

Now that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.

DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL AGAIN?

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZEKIEL 47:1-9,12; PS 46,2-3,5-6,8-9; JOHN 5,1-16]

We are in the second semester of the season of Lent. We see a deliberate shift of focus from the teaching on spiritual life and growth to that of faith in the person of Jesus who is the Christ, the Son of God. Yesterday, we read of Christ as the life-giver who raised the official’s son back to life. Today, we read that Jesus is the healer. Jesus has come to heal us not just physically but in soul and spirit.

Hence, the question of Jesus to us all is “do you want to be well again?” In asking this question, it means that God’s plan for us all is that we are healthy and well. This is God’s greatest desire for us. So what has brought us illness? The answer is sin. Because of sin, not only are we physically sick but emotionally and psychologically affected as well. Emotional and psychological illnesses cause us to sin even more. That is why Jesus warned the man not to go back to sin again. He was paralyzed by his sins. He carried his sins for 38 years; perhaps of anger, resentment, unable to forgive himself and others who have hurt him.

Similarly, as we approach Easter, many Catholics would be going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Yet, the truth is that many are going not because they sincerely want to change their lives but because they want temporary forgiveness and peace, or so that they can receive communion during Easter. There is no real sincerity to make any resolution not to sin again, as Jesus warned us, “Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.”

The irony is that many want to be healed but they do not understand that God desires more than to heal us of our sicknesses. He wants to restore us to the fullness of life, physically, spiritually, emotionally and psychologically. So many people are only concerned about physical healing so that they can eat, see and walk again.

Even if we are physically well but we are not happy in our mind and heart, we have no peace, but a bad conscience. What is the use of having a healthy life then? Physical healing alone cannot give us peace and joy but it is spiritual and emotional healing that truly heals us and makes us happy. That is why even those suffering physically are often in greater peace and joy than those of us who are healthy because we are always fighting with others, competing with them, and making ourselves angry, envious and unhappy.

So what is the reason for God wanting to heal us or to give us good health? Does God heal us so that, once physically well, we can sin even more, cheat people, scold others, slander them, womanize, eat all that we want, caring only for ourselves and living for ourselves? If we are healed to live such a selfish life, we will certainly be sick again in no time. We are healed not for ourselves or to become the healthiest sinner. We are healed so that we can live a life of love and service. We are healed for the service of the kingdom and for the greater glory of God. Like Peter’s mother-in-law, she was healed so that she could minister to others. If God gives us good health, it is in order that we can continue to give life to others and be at the service of the People of God.

So how can we continue to do so? First we must come to Jesus, the river of life, who gives us the Holy Spirit. He will teach us how to live a holistic life of wisdom and love. We come to the Temple, the Church to draw water from Christ who is the living and flowing river. He is the vine and we are the branches. As the psalmist says, “The waters of a river give joy to God’s city, the holy place where the Most High dwells.”

Secondly, we must enter into the water. This is what the first reading is telling us. We cannot remain standing on the bank of the river. This means that we must be baptized in Christ, be submerged in Him, dying to self and living a new life. For those of us who are already baptized, we must enter deeper and deeper into the river like the man. We must have the courage to deepen our faith in the Lord. We cannot act like Jesus unless we get to know Him more and love Him more. It would be risky to be healed by Jesus and yet not know Him, as was the case of the man who “had no idea who it was since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the Sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.”

Thirdly, we must be like Jesus, the flowing river who gives life to the trees and fishes. We must give life to others and be a light to the world. Wherever we go, we must bring joy, not pain, to others, light, not darkness, forgiveness, not revenge, encouragement, not despair. Do people welcome our presence or does our presence take away their joy and peace? Only when we give life to others, can we find life ourselves. When our whole life is like Jesus’, a healer and life-giver, we will find happiness ourselves. What we give to others, we give to ourselves two-fold. That is why it is more blessed to give than to receive. Indeed, many are waiting for Jesus to come into their lives so that they can find hope. Many are sick, paralyzed by their fears and past, many are blind to the truth and they are saying like the sick man, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.” Let us be that angel to put them into the water so that they can enter the river of life and love in Christ.

Sunday, 30 March 2025

LEAVING THE PAST IN HOPE OF THE FUTURE

20250331 LEAVING THE PAST IN HOPE OF THE FUTURE

31 March 2025, Monday, 4th Week of Lent

First reading

Isaiah 65:17-21

Be glad and rejoice for ever at what I am creating

Thus says the Lord: Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness.’ I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

How to listen

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me

and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,

restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,

give thanks to his holy name.

His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.

At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

The Lord listened and had pity.

The Lord came to my help.

For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:

O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.

I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Ps129:5,7

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

My soul is waiting for the Lord,

I count on his word,

because with the Lord there is mercy

and fullness of redemption.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Or:

cf.Amos5:14

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,

and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Gospel

John 4:43-54

Go home: your son will live

Jesus left Samaria for Galilee. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.

He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son as he was at the point of death. Jesus said, ‘So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!’ ‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come down before my child dies.’ ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household believed.

This was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.

LEAVING THE PAST IN HOPE OF THE FUTURE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 65:17-21; PS 30:2,4-6,11-13; JN 4:43-54]

We have just passed the halfway mark of Lent. The feast of the resurrection is less than three weeks away. It is therefore appropriate that the liturgy begins to focus on Christ who is the Resurrection and the life. In the last three weeks, the emphasis was on repentance, renunciation of sins and spiritual exercises. Presuming that we have taken the call to repentance seriously, we must now focus not on the past but on the future. The spiritual exercises are not ends in themselves. God does not want us to suffer. As He told us before, we do not fast till the bridegroom is taken away from us. (cf Mt 9:15)

So the purpose of the spiritual exercises is to make it possible for us to enter into a new life. The first reading speaks of this hope when the Lord said, “Now I create new heavens and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness’. I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people.” It is not about penance and mortification. Those are the means, not the end. Indeed, this is what the Lord always wanted for us, that we will always be a rejoicing people.

We are asked to leave our past behind. There is no point in always going back to the past. “The past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds.” How can we leave the past behind if not because of the future? Those who have no hope for the future will keep going back to the nostalgic past or the hurtful past. They will always either be lamenting the good old days or recalling the painful events of the past. In truth, the good old days were not all that good, and the painful events were not as bad as they remember them today. So long as we cling to the past, the future cannot be brought into the present.

Anticipating the future with hope will, however, help us to erase the past. In life, only when we think of what is possible in the future, can we then let go of the past. Like in a marriage, when we think of the future of our children and the hope of a happy family, we will be able to let go of the mistakes of our spouse. Indeed, those who live with hope of a better tomorrow will always be ready to let go of the past, no matter how painful, hurtful or disappointing it might have been. Those who give up on the future are those who live without hope.

If we are feeling thus, then we must turn to the source of our hope. The gospel tells us that Jesus is our Hope. We can be sure that the man was desperate for the life of his son. He stayed in Capernaum, 26 km away from Cana. He must have travelled all the way there to look for Jesus to heal his son. Parents would do anything to save their children. He came to Jesus believing that only He could cure his son who was at the point of death. The man said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” We too must turn to Jesus, the life giver, if we desire to live with hope for the future. Only Jesus can provide us with real hope for a better life.

But this requires faith in Him. Jesus was upset that His countrymen would not believe unless they “see signs and portents.” There are some people who are like that, always seeking for one sign after another, miracle after miracle. Those who are crazy over signs and miracles show that they lack faith. It is like those people who need to be reassured of our love all the time by our gifts. When we do not give them anything, they begin to feel insecure of our love. They are always asking for affirmation and confirmation of our love.

Today, we need to trust Jesus unconditionally. This was what the court official did. Jesus did not want to go with him to Capernaum, not because it was too far away, but because He wanted pure faith from the man. So He told the man to “Go home, your son will live.” That was all the assurance he needed. So in faith the man went home, believing in Jesus’ promise to heal His son. We read that “while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.” And he was told that “the fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” And “this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’.” We must not repeat the same mistake of the Jews in always seeking for reassurance. The evangelist noted, “on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.” Their reception of Jesus depended on His performance of the miracles.

Will we also have the courage to believe in Jesus even when things seem impossible? When we pray, do we truly believe that Jesus can heal or solve our problems? Do we believe against the odds that with Jesus, nothing is impossible and that He knows best? To have faith in Jesus is to surrender our lives to Him. To have faith in Jesus is to trust that whatever happens to us, He knows best. Faith in Jesus is to trust in His power to save, perhaps not always in the way we want. What if the court official had refused to go back and insisted that Jesus returned with him to heal the child? By the time Jesus arrived, the child might have already died. So too, we need to have confidence in the Lord.

So the question we need to ask ourselves today is whether we truly believe that Jesus is the Lord of life. The psalmist said, “I will praise you, Lord; you have rescued me and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.” If Jesus is the Lord of life, then we can entrust ourselves to Him. The healing of the court official’s son and the changing of water into wine earlier on in Cana were signs of His identity as the Lord. Just as He was the seventh jar of wine, so the boy was healed at the seventh hour. In other words, Christ is the perfection of joy and the fullness of life as well.

Today, we must imitate Mary in Cana and the Court Official who responded to the Lord in faith. Mary too did not know how Jesus would help the wedding couple when the wine ran out. She left it entirely for the Lord to figure it out for she knows that Jesus was a man of compassion and would not leave them in the lurch. “The Lord listened and had pity. The Lord came to my help. For me you have changed my mourning into dancing: O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.” Like the court official, we just trust that Jesus knows best in every situation.

Indeed, with faith in the Lord, we will never fear death as well, and even when we live, we live to the fullest. The promise of the prophet in the first reading appears to be unrealistic. “No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” Is such a long life possible? Of course, only if man does not destroy the order of creation and upset the biological, social and human ecology of life.

Most of the problems of humanity are the consequences of our not respecting creation. It is the abuse of creation and the human body, like deforestation, pollution, uncontrolled killing of animals and fishes, over eating, over working without rest and a lack of a balance lifestyle that brings destruction to creation, causing man to be sick and die early from diseases like cancer, heart diseases, sexual diseases, hypertension, etc. When we do not live a balanced life, we bring stress and division with our fellowmen wherever we go because we fail to recognize the importance of right relationship, moderation and respect for others.

But if we believe in Jesus, then we should live a simple life like Him, and use that life not to hoard things or allow our selfish pleasures to destroy our body, mind and spirit. Rather, we will use the resources well for our good and well-being and the good of others. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. We must live a life of love and service, doing what we can, making time for God, for family and loved ones, and for the service of humanity. If we walk the way of Jesus, then we will have fullness of life. Joy and gladness are for those with pure hearts. If we live without guilt and anger or greed, we will be at peace. Ambition, unlawful and unrestrained pleasures, greed and egotism rob us of our happiness in life. If we live a life of detachment, nothing can cause us to be unsettled or deprived. Simply living our lives responsibly with integrity will give us the peace and joy of life.

Saturday, 29 March 2025

RECONCILIATION AS THE WORK OF GOD AND HIS INITIATIVE

20250330 RECONCILIATION AS THE WORK OF GOD AND HIS INITIATIVE

30 March 2025, 4th Sunday of Lent (Laetare Sunday)

First reading

Joshua 5:9-12

The Israelites celebrate their first Passover in the Promised Land

The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’

The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.

How to listen

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 33(34):2-7

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times,

his praise always on my lips;

in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.

The humble shall hear and be glad.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me.

Together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord and he answered me;

from all my terrors he set me free.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant;

let your faces not be abashed.

This poor man called, the Lord heard him

and rescued him from all his distress.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Second reading

2 Corinthians 5:17-21

God reconciled himself to us through Christ

For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So 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.

Gospel Acclamation

Lk15:18

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:

‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

Gospel

Luke 15:1-3,11-32

The prodigal son

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

RECONCILIATION AS THE WORK OF GOD AND HIS INITIATIVE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [JOSHUA 5:9-12; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17-21; LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32]

We are entering the second part of Lent. In the first part, the liturgy underscored almsgiving, prayer and fasting. Yet, some of us might make the same mistake as the Pharisees and scribes in the time of Jesus when they remarked, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The Pharisees and scribes were not bad people. Rather, they tried to be good through their own efforts. They tried to be worthy before God, like the prodigal son’s brother in the Gospel who said to his father: “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

Those who think they deserve God’s grace by their own merits are putting themselves on a par with God. They become self-righteous, judgmental, and intolerant of others, making themselves the measure of what goodness and holiness is. This attitude makes us slaves, like the elder son who told his Father how he slaved for him all those years. They cannot find happiness since pride fills them and alienates them from their neighbours whom they despise, and also God who welcomes sinners and eats with them.

The theme of today’s readings is clear: Be reconciled! In the first reading, God delivered the Israelites from the slavery of the Egyptians, led them to the Promised Land, and even fed them with manna in the desert. The Israelites were nobody, but God chose them to be His people.

In the second reading, Saint Paul says, “For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation.”

Reconciliation is not man’s initiative but God’s. St Augustine said if God had not found us in the first place, we would not have found Him. Yet, God turned the whole process around, reconciling us to Himself instead. Reconciliation and salvation are solely God’s grace. We have nothing to boast except His mercy and love.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son clearly shows it is the Father who reconciles. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.” Before the son could finish his request to be treated as a paid servant, his father restored him to sonship by putting on him “the best robe, a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.” For the father, it was sufficient that his son recognised his need to return to himself.

Our Father’s love was expressed in the death of his only Son. St Paul wrote, “For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.” This is God’s utter love and mercy for us. Christ is forgiving because he knows what it means to be separated from God and others. He experienced the suffering of the sinner and is therefore all the more compassionate towards us.

For this reason, the Fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, the Sunday of rejoicing. The father said, “It is only right that we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found. So bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration.”

But how can this joy be ours? Only if we respond to His love and call for reconciliation. That is why St Paul urges us to be reconciled! What is needed for this reconciliation to take place? Only this – to see the mercy and love of God for us in Christ! This is why the liturgy in the second part of Lent focuses on Christ rather than on the spiritual exercises or our sins. From today, the weekday gospel is taken from John, a reflection on Jesus as the light and life-giver in the context of the growing hostility against him.

Our conversion happens only when we contemplate the crucified Christ. Until we understand the depth of God’s love for us, we can never change and be reconciled with him. So long as reconciliation is only on our side, we cannot be grateful since we achieved it by our own merits.

St Teresa entered the convent at an early age, living a life of self-discipline both in prayer and sacrifice. That would have made her self-righteous if not for a conversion experience she had. Entering the chapel one day, she noticed a picture of Jesus being scourged. It had been on the wall for years without her realising it. The thought of the love of Christ who was whipped for her, changed her life completely. All we need to do is be convinced of our sins and selfishness by contemplating on the love of God in Christ.

Lenten exercises help remove obstacles that prevent us from receiving God’s grace. Through almsgiving, we experience His love by serving the poor and needy. In fasting, we are conscious of the poor and of our spiritual hunger for God through our material detachment. Through prayer, we stir our hunger for His presence and love.

Of great importance is reconciliation. St Paul says the consequence of being reconciled with God is we in turn become ambassadors for Christ and become his reconcilers. “So 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.” This reconciliation must not only be with God, but with our fellow brothers and sisters. If fasting, almsgiving, and prayer do not lead us to reconciliation with our fellowmen, we have missed the point. Having reconciled with Christ, St Paul says, we are “a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here.”

We must now live by a new set of values, no longer submitting to our passions and natural instincts, but ruled by God and His Gospel. One day, the newly-converted Augustine was passing through part of town where a brothel he used to visit was located. A former mistress saw him and called, “Augustine, Augustine, it’s me!” Faced with temptation, he remembered his new status as a Christian. He took to his heels and ran away saying, “It’s not me! It’s not me!” He understood so well, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

As we continue with the Lenten spiritual exercises, we must not forget that their purpose is to help us reconcile with God and our neighbours. We have the Eucharist to help us in this journey, just as God gave the Israelites manna. Let us then be filled with joy, for our joy is not that we are able to perform the spiritual exercises, but that God loves us and has forgiven us in Christ. This is the basis of our Lenten joy.

TRUE REPENTANCE

20250329 TRUE REPENTANCE

29 March 2025, Saturday, 3rd Week of Lent

First reading

Hosea 5:15-6:6

What I want is love, not sacrifice and holocausts

The Lord says this:

They will search for me in their misery.

‘Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;

he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;

after a day or two he will bring us back to life,

on the third day he will raise us

and we shall live in his presence.

Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;

that he will come is as certain as the dawn:

his judgement will rise like the light,

he will come to us as showers come,

like spring rains watering the earth.’

What am I to do with you, Ephraim?

What am I to do with you, Judah?

This love of yours is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that quickly disappears.

This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,

why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,

since what I want is love, not sacrifice;

knowledge of God, not holocausts.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 50(51):3-4,18-21

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

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.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

For in sacrifice you take no delight,

burnt offering from me you would refuse,

my sacrifice, a contrite spirit.

A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

In your goodness, show favour to Zion:

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice,

burnt offerings wholly consumed.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps94:8

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

Harden not your hearts today,

but listen to the voice of the Lord.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

Gospel

Luke 18:9-14

The tax collector, not the Pharisee, went home justified.

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

TRUE REPENTANCE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [HOSEA 5:15 – 6:6; LUKE 18:9-14]

We have come to the end of the first half of the season of Lent. In the first three weeks of Lent, the liturgy focused on the theme of repentance. To help us to repent, the Church also recommends the various spiritual exercises, namely, prayer, fasting and almsgiving as the principal means to arrive at a repentance of heart and a conversion of life. Hence, after three weeks, the Church invites us to reflect whether the spiritual exercises we have performed so far have brought about the desired effects. Have we just performed them in a perfunctory manner, lacking the right motive in what we do?

In the first reading from the Prophet Hosea, the Lord lamented that the repentance of the Israelites was not genuine but superficial. He said, “What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly disappears.” Would this disappointment of the Lord include us as well? Have we been serious in seeking a real conversion of heart during the season of Lent, or have we just been paying lip service, doing the spiritual exercises without a real desire and sincere will to change our lives? How might this have happened?

Firstly, when we return to the Lord out of self-pity and selfish interests. The Lord said, “They will search for me in their misery: ‘Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us.'” The Israelites came back to God not because they recognized that their sins had caused others to suffer and rendered the nation too weak to defend herself from her enemies. They came back to God like little children out of fear and pain because of the punishment inflicted on them. When we repent out of self-pity and fear, such repentance will not last. The moment the punishment is removed we would go back to our old way of life. Is not this the case for those of us who ask for God’s forgiveness for the wrongs we have done, and when the crisis is over we promptly go back to our old way of life?

Secondly, the Israelites were contented with external sacrifices. They did not mind offering holocausts as sacrifices, but the rituals were not expressive of their interior spirit. This is what the Lord said, “what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.” The psalmist rightly says, “For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.” Rituals are important in any religion, culture and even for the government. They are meant to help people to remember and inculcate the values that they believe in. Rituals are not empty expressions and void of values so long as they are sincerely carried out. In the Old Testament, various rituals, such as atonement sacrifices and the commemoration of significant feasts, such as the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost were celebrated. In the Catholic Tradition, we also have numerous traditions and rituals celebrating the different feast and seasons of the liturgical year and various occasions seeking God’s blessings and divine protection. However, unless they are celebrated with our hearts and minds they are merely externals and will not change lives. Many Catholics go to Mass on Sundays, abstain from meat on Fridays, some even attend Mass daily, and say their prayers, but have these impacted the way they relate with people, to the elderly, their staff and their employees?

Thirdly, there was no real repentance because they were presumptuous of God’s mercy and love. What they said about the mercy and compassion of God is true. They said, “He has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence.” However, unless the people have genuine repentance, the Lord would not come to their aid. Indeed, this was the case for Israel. They did not repent and so instead of suffering for two or three days, the Lord allowed the kingdom to be conquered by Assyria. They were exiled and banished from Israel. We must not reduce the grace of God to cheap grace. This is what St Paul also warned us after a long treatise on justification by faith alone through grace. He said, “What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” (Rom 6:1f) We too, if we abuse the grace of God, we will eventually destroy ourselves. “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal 5:1)

At the other end of the spectrum, the Pharisee in the gospel did not feel the need for repentance at all. He thought that everyone needed repentance except himself because he was such a righteous man. Many of us fall into the sin of self-righteousness as well. We think repentance and conversion is for others, the adulterer, the cheat, the abuser, etc., except ourselves. Many of us pride ourselves as quite good Catholics, like the Pharisee in today’s gospel. He said, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” If we belong to this group of self-righteous sinners, we are even worse than the Israelites who knew their sins but lacked the will to change their lives. For those of us who are not even aware of our sinfulness, no conversion is possible.

Indeed, instead of focusing on our own conversion, those of us who are self-righteous are always looking at others, comparing ourselves with them, looking down on them and despising them. This was the reason for the parable. “Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else.” Being self-righteous and presumptuous is ultimately the sin of pride. When we are proud, we are blind to our weaknesses and our sins. We alienate ourselves from others and lack compassion and understanding for those who fail to live up to the Christian life. As a result, we will never grow in holiness, which is to become like God in love, mercy and compassion.

Those who are self-righteous have failed to understand that salvation and holiness is the grace of God and not through good works. Unfortunately, many Catholics think that by living a righteous life and following the laws perfectly they will be saved. That is why Catholics are over scrupulous when it comes to breaking the commandments. St Paul clearly taught that salvation is through grace alone, and not by our works. It is through His grace alone that makes it possible for us to do good works. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” (Eph 2:8f) Obedience is the consequence of receiving His grace and the expression of a life of gratitude for the grace we received freely.

True repentance is simply to be contrite and humble, like the Publican in today’s gospel. We read that “The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He did not say much because he knew that the Lord knew all his sins. But God read his heart and understands his sorrow for all that he had done. He was truly repentant from the heart. There was no external show, no drama to attract others, but he simply acknowledged his sins, the pain he had caused to others and to God. Hence, the Lord remarked, “This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Indeed, what the Lord is asking of us in true repentance is a contrite heart born out of love and expressed in obedience. He said, “what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.” Real repentance is the consequence of realizing that our sins are hurting God and the people that He loves. Knowing that our sins are hurting us and causing us to suffer is not yet real repentance. We must be moved by love for those whom we have hurt. That is why the Lord said that what He wants is knowledge of Him. When we know the heart of God and how much we are hurting Him, then we will stop inflicting these injuries on those whom He loves. If in sincerity we repent of our sins, then this prayer of the Israelites will be effective in our lives. “Let us set ourselves to know the Lord; that he will come is as certain as the dawn, he will come to us as showers come, like spring rains watering the earth.”