24 March 2015

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Tuesday, 24 March 2015 : 5th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, while yesterday we spoke of God’s mercy and justice, the forgiveness of sinners, then today we continue in the same theme, that while God is not happy and angry with our sins, but as long as we are willing to repent and change our sinful ways, then the Lord will forgive us and bring us back to His embrace and love.

And there are also strong parallels between the readings today from the Old and the New Testament each. The first reading today is about the punishment which God accorded to Israel when they disobeyed Him and grumbled excessively against Him while they were journeying through the desert. God sent fiery serpents to strike at all the unbelievers and many of them died.

And when they had repented their rebellion and begged God for forgiveness through Moses, God sent a new hope to the people in trouble and despair, by the crafting of the bronze serpent standard, which Moses then lifted up high for all the people to see. Then, as a result, all those who had been bitten and saw the bronze serpent would not die but live on.

In the same way therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ had been raised up high, for all mankind to see, including at all times whenever we see Him on the cross. And all of us who look at Him, know Him and believe in Him and in all the things that He had done for us, shall be saved and granted the eternal blessings and graces of God. He has given us all this salvation freely, and He suffered for our sake because of His love, knowing that by doing so, He had given us all a second chance.

That is why, He is so particular about our conversion, from our worldly and sinful ways into the path of the Lord towards our salvation. We cannot pretend to ignore all of these, for the time shall come in the end, when the Lord will judge all of us according to our deeds. If we are found to be filled with sin, then at that time, no amount of begging or atonement will be able to help our fate of eternal suffering.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be reminded that our Lord Jesus Christ had given His all in order to save us from our fate of death, by the sacrifice which He took upon on the cross. As we draw closer to the beginning of the Holy Week, which begins this coming Sunday, let us all understand more of the sins which we have committed, and even more importantly, how to change our ways that we may sin no more and be saved.

As mentioned earlier, God does not hate the sinner but the sins that the sinners committed. Therefore, we have to be sincere in our repentance and conversion. We cannot profess to be believers and followers of our Lord and yet we still continue to commit sins and wickedness in our daily lives. If we do so, then we are hypocrites who do not act as what we have preached and believed.

 May Almighty God help us to find our way to Him, and also by awakening in us the strong desire for repentance, for forgiveness and for the purification of our wicked and sinful selves, that after this time is over, our Lord may congratulate us for we have triumphed and are worthy to receive the gifts of eternal life and eternal joy with God in heaven. God bless us all. Amen.

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Tuesday, 24 March 2015 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 8 : 21-30

At that time, again Jesus said to the people, “I am going away, and though you look for Me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” The Jews wondered, “Why does He say that we cannot come where He is going? Will He kill Himself?”

But Jesus said, “You are from below and I am from above; you are of this world and I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins, unless you believe that I am He.”

They asked Him, “Who are You?”; and Jesus said, “Just what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to condemn; but the One who sent Me is truthful and everything I learnt from Him, I proclaim to the world.”

They did not understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father. So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and that I do nothing of Myself, but I say just what the Father taught Me. He who sent Me is with Me and has not left Me alone; because I always do what pleases Him.”

As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in Him.

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Tuesday, 24 March 2015 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 101 : 2-3, 16-18, 19-21

O Lord, hear my prayer; let my cry for help come to You. Do not hide Your face from me when I am in trouble. Turn Your ear to me; make haste to answer me when I call.

O Lord, the nations will revere Your Name, and the kings of the earth Your glory, when the Lord will rebuild Zion and appear in all His splendour. For He will answer the prayer of the needy and will not despise their plea.

Let this be written for future ages, “the Lord will be praised by a people He will form.” From His holy height in heaven, the Lord has looked on the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoners, and free those condemned to death.

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Tuesday, 24 March 2015 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Numbers 21 : 4-9

From Mount Horeb they set out by the Red Sea road to go around the land of Edom. The people were discouraged by the journey and began to complain against God and Moses, “Why have you brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is neither bread nor water here and we are disgusted with this tasteless manna.”

YHVH then sent fiery serpents against them. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, speaking against YHVH and against you. Plead with YHVH to take the serpents away.”

Moses pleaded for the people and YHVH said to him, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard; whoever has been bitten and then looks at it shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a standard. Whenever a man was bitten, he looked towards the bronze serpent and he lived.