Lent
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Thursday, April 14th, 2011Thursday - April 14, 2011
Readings: Genesis 17:3-9 Psalm 105:4-9 John 8:51-59
Scripture Verse “Before Abraham was, I am” John 8:58
Reflection: When God established a relationship with Abraham, he offered him an “everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17:7). Jesus came to fulfill that covenant so that we could know the living God and be united with him both now and for all eternity. God made us to be in communion with God.
Jesus challenged the people of Israel to accept him as the human revelation of God. This claim challenged the bedrock of their understanding of God.
Jesus made a series of claims which are the very foundation of his life and mission. First, Jesus claims unique knowledge of God as the only begotten Son of the Father in heaven. Since he claims to be in direct personal communion with his Father in heaven, he knows everything about the Father. Jesus claims that the only way to full knowledge of the mind and heart of God is through himself. Jesus also claims unique obedience to God the Father. He thinks, lives and acts in the knowledge of his Father’s word. To look at Jesus’ life is to “see how God wishes us to live.” In Jesus we see what God wants us to be.
When the Jewish authorities asked Jesus who he claimed to be… he answered, “before Abraham was, I am.” Jesus claims to be timeless and there is only one in the universe who is timeless, namely God. Scripture tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Jesus was not just a man who came, lived, died, and then rose again. He is the immortal timeless Word of God, who always was and always will be. In Jesus we see the eternal God in visible human flesh…God who became human for our sake and for our salvation. His death and resurrection make it possible for us to share in his immortality. Lent invites us to renew our belief in Jesus and in his teachings and to renew our commitment to follow Jesus with all our heart, mind, and strength.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, let your word be on my lips and in my heart that I may walk in the freedom of your everlasting love, truth and goodness.”
Fifth Week of Lent
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011Tuesday - April 12,2011
Readings: Numbers 21:4-9 Psalm 102:2-3,16-21 John 8:21-30
Scripture Verse: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he” John 8: 28
Reflection: While many Jews believed in Jesus and his message, many others, including the religious leaders, opposed him and some mocked him when he warned them about their sin of unbelief.. When Jesus spoke about going away he was speaking about his return to the God he called Father—an event we celebrate on the Feast of the Ascension. His opponents could not follow him because, by their refusal to accept Jesus, they had shut themselves off from God. Jesus warned them that if they continued to reject him they would die in their sins.
Sin diverts us from God and from our true purpose in life – which is to know God and to be in the healthy and life-giving eternal relationship with God that shapes our life and is God’s will for all humanity. When humanity first chose to turn away from God and sinned, they hid themselves from God (Genesis 3:8-10). That is what sin does; it separates us from the God who is all loving, all-wise, and all-just. Jesus went on to explain that if people could not recognize him in his word, they would have the opportunity to recognize him when he is “lifted up” on the cross. Jesus pointed to his death on the cross as the source of healing and victory over the power of sin. The cross is for us the proof that God’s love for us is the strongest force in the universe…stronger than the power of sin and stronger than death. In Lent we are given the opportunity to renew our acceptance of Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Saviour and to use the present time to make more room for God in our lives.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, help us to allow you to direct, guide and govern our hearts, minds, souls and bodies, that our thoughts, words and deeds may be in alignment with the will of God..”
Fifth Week of Lent
Monday, April 11th, 2011Monday - April 11, 2011
Readings: Daniel 13:22-23 (Deutero-canonical) Psalm 23:1-6 John 8:1-11
Scripture Verse: And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” John 8:11
Reflection: Jesus came to bring freedom to those oppressed by sin and guilt. However his frequent association with “sinners” often upset the sensibilities of the religious leaders. When a woman caught in adultery was brought to them for trial, they confronted Jesus on the issue of retribution. Jewish law treated adultery seriously. Adultery broke one of God’s Ten Commandments and threatened the stability of marriage and family life. It was one of the sins punishable by death.
The incident described in the gospel tells us about Jesus’ attitude to the sinner. The scribes and Pharisees want to entrap Jesus with the religious and civil authorities and bring a woman caught in adultery before Jesus. Jesus turns the challenge towards his accusers. In effect he said: Go ahead and stone her…but let the person who is without sin be the first to cast a stone. Jesus leaves the matter to their consciences.
When the woman is left alone with Jesus, he both expresses mercy and exhorts her to not sin again. The scribes wish to condemn, Jesus wishes to forgive and to restore the sinner to health. His challenge involves a choice – either go back to the former way of sin or accept a new way of life following him. Jesus gave her pardon and a new start on life. God’s grace enables us to confront our sin for what it is – unfaithfulness to God, and to turn back to God with a repentant heart and a thankful spirit for God’s mercy and forgiveness. Lent invites us to experience the freedom that comes with repentance and forgiveness.
Prayer: “God our Father, we find it difficult to come to you, because our knowledge of you is imperfect. In our ignorance we have imagined you to be our enemy; we have wrongly thought that you take pleasure in punishing our sins; and we have foolishly conceived you to be a tyrant over human life. But since Jesus came among us, he has shown that you are loving, that you are on our side against all that stunts life, and that our resentment against you was groundless. So we come to you, asking you to forgive our past ignorance, and wanting to know more and more of you and your forgiving love, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Prayer of Saint Augustine)
Fifth Week of Lent
Monday, April 11th, 2011Wednesday - April 13, 2011
Readings: Daniel 3:14-20, 24-25,28 Psalm 18: 25-27 John 8:31-42
Scripture Verse: “The truth will make you free” John 8:32
Reflection: Jesus came to do the will of his Father in heaven. He was not spared the cross which he embraced for our sake. His obedience reversed Adam’s disobedience. His death and resurrection are proof of the love of God’s victory over sin, death, and Satan.
Jesus shows us the way to true freedom and victory – by freely aligning our heart, mind, and will with the merciful, loving God. In that we are offered and can experience God’s kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans14:17).
The happiest, freest people are those who are in a healthy and life-giving relationship with God. There is joy and peace in doing the Father’s will, in obeying God and trusting in his life-giving word,
Society presents us with a false notion of truth and freedom – “truth is relative so I choose my own criteria for what is true” and freedom means “I can do whatever I please – regardless of what God or others might think.”
This is really a mask for slavery to some fleeting, often self-serving, values proclaimed by society.
Jesus offers his disciples true freedom – freedom from slavery to pride and arrogance, disbelief and ignorance, selfishness and greed, hatred and revenge, fear and anxiety, despair and depression—things and attitudes which cripple our lives. The good news is that Jesus Christ has set us free from sin and its destructive force in our lives. Through the gift and power of the Holy Spirit in our baptism we can continue to choose to renounce sin as we accept and are affected by God’s forgiving healing reconciling love and enables us to follow Jesus’ way of life.
To be a disciple pf Jesus is to be a follower and a listener. As we follow Jesus and live as his disciples, we listen to and learn from the words of Jesus. As we listen with faith and obey with trust, Jesus himself gives us grace – the enabling power of his Holy Spirit – to live, think, and act in the truth of his word. The transforming power of the Holy Spirit will change our life and to set us free to walk in Jesus way.
Prayer: “Lord Jesus, write your words of love and truth upon my heart and make me a diligent student and a worthy disciple of your word.”
Fourth Week of Lent
Friday, April 8th, 2011Friday - April 8, 2011
Readings: Wisdom 2:1,12-22 (Deutero-canonical book) Psalm 34:17-22 John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Scripture Verse: So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. John 7:30
Reflection Jesus met opposition and the threat of death with grace and determination to accomplish his Father’s will. Jesus knew that his mission, his purpose in life, would entail sacrifice and suffering and lead to death on the cross. But that would not be the end. His “hour” would crush defeat with victory, condemnation with pardon and freedom, and death with eternal life. He willingly went to the cross to redeem us from sin and to restore our relationship with God the Father.
No one can be indifferent with Jesus for long. What he said and did– he did in the name of God. Jesus not only claimed to be the Messiah, he claimed to be in a unique relationship with God and to know him as no one else did.
To the Jewish authorities this was blasphemy and they did all they could to put a stop to Jesus. They could not accept his claims and the demands he made.
We cannot be indifferent to the claims which Jesus makes on us. We can allow him to touch our hearts and shape our lives. We can accept Jesus with faith and reverence. Or we can try to mould Jesus to our own ideas and preferences. Or we can look at him with disbelief and contempt. The choice is important, both for this life and for eternity.
Prayer: “Eternal God, who are the light of the minds that know you, the joy of the hearts that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; grant us so to know you, that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom, in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Prayer of Saint Augustine)
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