We often hear people say that past is past and there's nothing more we can
do about it. It's time to move on and think of what needs to be done at the
present time and this is the truth. We must admit that we get disappointed and
annoyed when we hear people narrate of guilt feelings of what they did in the
past or happened a long time ago already which they keep on saying repeatedly
and reminding themselves. A speaker in a convention once said that what took
place 2 hours ago is irreversible and can not be undone but we're still gifted
with the present time wherein we are still able to do and achieve whatever we
set our minds on. Today's 1st reading reminds us that we have to be grateful to
God for the present. This could also be the reason why we call a gift the
present. God sends us daily assurances and confirmations that we can get from
the scriptures, mass readings and from the very people we meet and get in
contact with. The Lord is inviting us to step forward and enter into greater
heights of faith. We might have been accustomed to our old ways we thought that
we are just doing fine with what we are presently doing for the Lord. Our God
is great and infinite. We must open ourselves to new things from the Lord. For
as long as we have life, we should not stop and grow weary. Each day presents
to us an opportunity to see and experience the desert or dry land that we are
encountering in our lives. Let us be aware of the water that springs forth from
it. We need to keep on going and be
better Christians each day and eventually become the person that God has meant
us to be, the best we could ever be. Amen. Hallelujah!
Isaiah 43:16-21
...Remember not the events of the past, the things of long ago consider not; 19 See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, rivers. 20 Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, 21 the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.
Somebody from our bible study group asked Fr. H (Hyacinth)
this question, "How come God chose Israel (Jewish) to be the chosen people
when they are so stubborn and stiff necked." The answer that Fr. H gave
him was so satisfactory and centered on the unsurpassed and infinite love and
mercy of God and so much like what I read and chanced upon in the Book of
Romans 11:33-36 as I read the 1st reading, " Oh, the depth of the riches
and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how
unsearchable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has
been his counselor?" "Or who has given him anything that he may be
repaid?" For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him
be glory forever. Amen." We tend to take for granted or worst we become
ungrateful in a way when we fail to realize the things that God has done for
us. It is undeniable that if we will just look very closely at our lives we'll
see and find out that the Lord has indeed done marvels for us. There are times
when we really have to strengthen our faith and hope for something we do not
see and wait with endurance. We may be experiencing right now, so many
unforeseen events but we should always wait and hope that the Lord will be
gracious and reveal His glory. There is some truth to the famous saying, “Easy
come, easy go.” If there are some things that we've been praying for and it
seems like nothing is happening we should never give up. Every good work should
be carefully planned and carried out to completion. Though the process may be
long and hard we can always count on God to stick with us through and through
and make it happen. If we are always manifesting in our lives the values of the
passion and death of Jesus then we are assured of the resurrection. For this
reason it is good to share this prayer of Mother Angelica in times of
temptation and whenever we are on the verge of giving up when undergoing trials
and tribulations. The prayer suggests that we focus on the 12th
station of the cross which is when Jesus dies on the cross while reciting the
following: Eternal Father, I offer you the 6 hours of agony, the death and the
piercing of Your Son’s Sacred Heart for… (mention the need or petition). This
is effective in the sense that the Lord looks down upon His Son, His agony,
death and the piercing of His sacred heart for our sake. Only to God can we
look with so much hope and confidence that the desert we are presently
encountering at the moment will be turned into a refreshing spring of water. We
may be suffering long enough under the heat of this life's difficulties but we
must not forget that God is able to turn everything into green pastures. It is
undeniable that if we will just look very closely at our lives we'll see and
find out that the Lord has indeed done great things for us. Amen. Hallelujah!
Psalm 126:1-2. 2-3. 4-5. 6 (3)
R: The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with
joy.
1 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion
If we can truly find ourselves in total surrender to God's
will first and foremost and focus on Christ then we will definitely find
ourselves on top of everything else. The prize of God's call encompasses all
other things and that we have to fully realize if not now then soon enough before
it's too late. According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, a distinguishing mark
of Christians is the fact that they have a future it is not that they know the
details of what awaits them, but they know in general that their life will not
end in emptiness. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it
become possible to live the present as well. The Pope reminds us that this
perspective does not mean that we live only for the future. A people of hope builds
up a kingdom on earth but is also on a pilgrimage to that eternal kingdom God
has in store for those who follow Him. Poet Robert Browning said, “our reach
must be beyond our grasp or what’s a heaven for.” Hope is a future oriented
virtue. It acknowledges that there is a future awaiting us that there is much
better than the present. The virtue of hope and its orientation in the future
enables us to handle present distresses and struggles in a positive way. Amen.
Hallelujah!
Philippians 3:8-14
...For his sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him,...forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.
It is not surprising to know that we often place our trust
and confidence in the closest, most dependable and dearest people that we have
in our life. Only to them can we open up and reveal everything about us without
the fear of being let down and rejected. Although there are times too when we
get disappointed by the fact that people are not perfect and could eventually
let us down. It is a consolation to know that there is one whom we can be
totally confident of not being let down or rejected no matter how mess up we
are. Everybody might have turned our backs on us but God remains faithful,
loving and accepting to us at all times. The gospel for today speaks of a life
spared and this Lenten season speaks of the sparing of all of us. Believe it or
not but we have all become like this woman in the gospel. We may not have
committed the same sin but we have all been spared and forgiven from all our
countless offenses and sins. Aren't we happy about this? To be happy is an
understatement once we fully realize the great price that Jesus has to pay for
our sake. Although women in the olden times are of less worth than men and have
no rights and privileges that women enjoy in this present day, their good example
in scriptures compel us to really take part and be involved in God's saving
power. This truth has to sink in deeply into our beings so as not to neglect it
and treasure and value this great privilege of being forgiven and saved. We did
not contribute a single effort on this the only thing we need to do is clearly
and specifically stated in today's gospel. We can be made innocent again and
not be condemned as we sin no more. Every sin of all of us is laid on the whole
body of Jesus on Good Friday. What does the prophet Ezekiel said, “Do I indeed
derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked? says the Lord GOD. Do I not
rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way that he may live?” God is about
mercy and reconciling ourselves to Him. It doesn’t matter how far, long it’s
been and ugly our sins, God is calling us back, to rise up from the darkness,
shame and guilt of our sins because Jesus our Savior is coming for us. Jesus
died for all the sins of the world. Every pain, scourge of His passion, nail of
crucifixion, He would have endured even if it’s just only one of us who have
sinned. Our souls should be aware of what’s to unfold in Holy Week, the week
that saved the world. It’s wonderful, all of us who have sinned and denied God
one way or another are being embraced by this truth. Jesus forgave this woman
caught in adultery but the scribes and the Pharisees wanted to test him. If
Jesus said no when asked, should we stone this woman? It would mean that He
doesn’t follow the law of Moses and approves of adultery. But if He said yes
then He can no longer be identified as friend of sinners. Everything that is
written in the Old Testament and before the time of Jesus is partial
revelation, a line has to be drawn in the sand. In today’s gospel, Jesus bent
down and wrote with His finger on the sand. Jesus revealed the mercy of God. On
our part we need to repent which means being sorry for our sins, turn around
and embrace what is right but not to diminish the seriousness of sins. It
doesn’t mean that Jesus is more tolerant of adultery than the God who spoke to
Moses. He is the same God. The advancement of revelation in the Christian era
does not diminish the sin but enhances the magnificence of the mercy of God.
God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, the trap and test for Jesus
does not work. He stoops down writing in the sand like keeping a record of
something, of the sins. He knows that we know the difference from right or
wrong but we have to look at that in the light that we all have sins. We must
recognize that we all have to turn to the Lord. The name of the woman in the
gospel is not mentioned. The passage does not say anything about her, the
people don’t care about the person and just making her an object to test Jesus.
Every day this gospel passage is taking place again and again, Nowadays we see
a culture that sees the doing away of a life of a person as the solution to a
problem. We need to bear a clear witness to Jesus in whom we believe tells us,
“Neither do I condemn you.” We need to build a society that rejects death
penalty and abortion. We have to constantly hear these words of Jesus in order
to find this path leading to peace. We have to know the Lord in prayer,
sacraments and in virtue to find ourselves in the embrace of God’s mercy. Amen. Hallelujah!
John 8:1-11
...“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of
committing adultery. 5 Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, so that they could have some
charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground
with his finger. 7 But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and
said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a
stone at her.” 8 Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 And in response,
they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with
the woman before him. 10 Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman,
where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She replied, “No one, sir.” Then
Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any
more.”
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