This Lenten season we may want to think of ourselves on a spiritual journey. We should travel very lightly and take no baggage at all. In this so called journey we might want to consider also how each of us has been planted with a seed. We should develop but must not miss the fact that in the parable of the sower it didn’t all grow. All developments grow in a hostile environment especially if we are engaged in spiritual warfare. Life is a battle with evil that we can see in our own selves, in the world and the principalities. The kingdom of God suffers violent assault as St. Paul puts it and uses the army of salvation (Ephesians 6:10-11). It helps to make use of these analogies. We must keep in mind that those who are not willing to battle for good in this world may not accomplish anything. Although it is also written that those who take the sword will perish by the sword but there are battles in other forms that we clearly should make a stand on. As today’s 1st reading calls us to do, we should release our brothers and sisters from the fangs and claws of our present day culture of death. The battle of pro-life against abortion to defend our helpless fellow human beings who could not fight to preserve their own lives is one. We may not be totally aware of the gravity of this act but it is slowly eating away the moral fabric of our beings. This is something that we should all face and not turn our backs on. We are called by God to cooperate in His Divine will in maintaining justice and peace among His people, young or old. The Lord is calling us to go much further from the fast that we have all been used to doing. We need to come up with concrete effects within ourselves and the people around us when we fast as specifically stated in today's 1st reading. We can not just go on fasting for the sake of obligation but we need to do better than that. We have to do things right in order to really benefit from it. When we always associate fasting with food I'd like to quote, Mother Angelica from EWTN when she said that it isn't our stomachs that's in bad shape but it's our souls. Sometimes our souls could be very calloused and desensitized to sin and error that goes on today. It's the worst kind of evil when people totally push aside the truth and doctrines of the Church. It is extremely necessary that we become sensitive to error. Our thoughts are important to God. The worries of our lives is a form of penance and always offer the sacrifice of the moment to God. It should be a daily thing and should keep on going and live it up even after Lent and not end up being good for nothing. Sometimes we get too focused on the fasting and abstinence issue during the Lenten season, we tend to overlook and fail to see the real meaning of what we are doing. We are reminded to go further in our commitment to the Lord. God challenges us to face our daily struggles in life with a brave and courageous spirit. We should be true and genuine Christians inside and out. Amen. Hallelujah!
Isaiah 58:1-9a
...“Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. 4 Yes, your fast ends in quarrelling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! 5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6 This, rather, is the fasting that I wish releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; 7 sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am! If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech;
God's mercy is greater than any of our sins. If we are to repent and turn away from our sins then we've got to do it right now and really do it fast. God sees through our hearts, our motives and intentions. The Lord said that He is not sent for the well but for the sick. We have a disease in our souls that if left uncared for can cause death. We all have a terminal disease called sin, we need a doctor to give us advice. We have been saved by God but we can lose it just as we can lose our human life for not caring for it. We go to God who is our Divine Physician to be healed. He alone can make us whole. What God wants of us is to truly acknowledge His great mercy and goodness to us that in doing so will abound a natural inclination to repent and repair all our iniquities and lead to a brand new, wholesome and clean Christian in the truest sense of the word. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalms 51:3-4, 5-6, 18-19
R: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. …For you do not desire sacrifice; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart.
God created us with a brilliant mind and a loving heart. In today's gospel Jesus was questioned by John's disciples, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not fast?" Sometimes people question us, too. May we think and feel just like Jesus and always be guided in the things we say or do. May we always find ourselves justified in Jesus name. It is not just what we see that matters but what we truly value and treasure in our hearts. Our innermost motives and intentions should always be in line and conformity to the values of Jesus. We may be doing one thing but may be intending to do another, there is no unity in our actions, words and deeds when we are just after the outward appearances and does not really mean what we are doing. Or worse we're just doing something for the sake of just doing it without really putting our hearts into it. We get carried away but what seems to us is important but fail to see what's most essential. People are not blind to all these and we can not deceive people for long or if even sometimes we can, there is a God who knows everything. We are called during this season of Lent to conversion and holiness. These are the days that we especially observe as Catholic Christians. The faithful are able to take hold of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus. It is helpful to keep this constantly before us in this sacred season. We may want to look at what’s behind the season of Lent and the particular mystery of Jesus’ life when He fasted and prayed in the desert for 40 days. Immediately after His prayer and fasting was the temptation of Jesus in which Jesus rebuffs this attack and points to Adam & Eve’s temptation and Israel’s journey in the desert for 40 years. What is represented there are 3 basic temptations. Eve was tempted to eat of the fruit because it is pleasing to the eyes. This tempts us to greed because it looks good to eat and can satisfy one’s self. The desires of the flesh tempt us also to lust. It is also said that it is desirable for the knowledge so it can give power and prods a person to pride. From the very beginning since the fall of Adam & Eve in the garden, the devil has capitalized on these 3 things, greed, lust and pride. Even before the fall these were with us already and the devil capitalized on it to trick Adam & Eve hence the fall. As we can see, the devil also used these 3 basic temptations to Jesus. After fasting for 40 days, Jesus was hungry and tempted to turn the stone to bread for satisfaction of the flesh, which is connected to lust. The devil also told Jesus to throw Himself off from the top of the temple since the angels would be there to catch Him. This is the sin to get a hold of power and pride. The devil asked Jesus to look at all the cities and offered to give Him power and glory which is the sin to greed. As we can see these are the same 3 temptations that Adam & Eve fell into but the devil is dumb to think that Jesus could be tempted with the same temptations. We may also want to look at Israel’s journey in the desert which took them 40 years trying to get to the Promised Land. This is the salvific meaning of Jesus’ 40 days in the desert. He is the new Adam, who remains faithful to fulfill the promise to Israel. He is totally obedient to the divine will and is the devil’s conqueror. He binds satan that tricked Adam & Eve in giving into and robbing us of all the graces we have before the fall. He takes back the plunder and anticipates His further victory at the passion on the cross which is the supreme act of obedience. Jesus’ temptation reveals the Son of God who is the Messiah. He is our high priest who has been tested as we are and yet did not fall into sin. This is the mystery that the Church wants to unite us with each year, Jesus in the desert who is the same Christ who vanquished the tempter for us. These solemn 40 days of Lent should make us keep this at the back of our minds and connect it to the mystery of Jesus at the desert which has a two fold character. First is by recalling our baptism or those preparing for it like the catechumens preparing to be baptized at the Easter vigil of the church on Holy Saturday. What it means to be a baptized person and what does it entail? Do we recognize that? Second is to recognize it as a time of penance. Think of what we have done to offend God. It is a time to reflect at where the state of the world is heading and the culture which we have been disposed of. It calls us to pray more diligently and be faithful to the word of God. This is also a time of preparation for Easter so that we become predisposed to a faithful reception of the graces that Christ merited on his death on the cross. We can also observe interior penance which can best be manifested in many ways which the scriptures insist on always. There are 3 forms, prayer, fasting and alms giving. These once again make connections to the mystery of Christ in the desert for 40 days. These 3 forms are what every person struggles with most of the time but can help us in many ways to fight those 3 main temptations. Prayer expresses conversion in our relationship with God. Alms giving make better our relationship with other people to overcome greed and selfishness. Fasting to one’s self which is the focus for today’s readings is to fight against lust and sensuality. It develops mastery over our instincts and attains freedom of heart. In this way, we are preparing ourselves for the fruitful celebration of Easter by recalling our baptism as the Church unites herself to Jesus on the desert. Not to forget the 3 forms of penance which help us in conversion to fight the ancient temptations of pride, greed and lust. Everything we do should always have a clear and sincere intention and motivation to put Jesus in the center of it. If we find Jesus comfortably seated, happy and very contented in the midst of our activities just like a bridegroom on the day of his wedding then we can be assured that we are on the right track. Amen. Hallelujah!
Matthew 9:14-15
14 The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
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