coming of the Messiah

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Saturday, 10 May 2014 : 3rd Week of Easter (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

John 6 : 60-69

After hearing this, many of Jesus’ followers said, “This language is very hard! Who can accept it?”

Jesus was aware that His disciples were murmuring about this, and so He said to them, “Does this offend you? Then how will you react when you see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? It is the spirit that gives life, not the flesh. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. But among you there are some who do not believe.”

From the beginning, Jesus knew who would betray Him. So He added, “As I have told you, no one can come to Me unless it is granted by the Father.”

After this many disciples withdrew and no longer followed Him. Jesus asked the Twelve, “Will you also go away?”

Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We now believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.

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Friday, 18 April 2014 : Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, Easter Triduum (Passion Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Red

John 18 : 1 – John 19 : 42

When Jesus had finished speaking, He went with His disciples to the other side of the Kidron Valley. There was a garden there, which Jesus entered with His disciples.

Now Judas, who betrayed Him, knew the place, since Jesus had often met there with His disciples. So Judas took soldiers and some servants from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they went to the garden with lanterns, torches and weapons.

Jesus knew all that was going to happen to Him; He stepped forward and asked, “Who are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said, “I am He.” Judas, who betrayed Him, stood there with them. When Jesus said, “I am He,” they moved back and fell to the ground.

He then asked for a second time, “Who are you looking for?” and they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus replied, “I told you that I am He. If you are looking for Me, let these others go.” So what Jesus had said came true : “I have not lost one of those You gave Me.”

Simon Peter had a sword; he drew it and struck Malchus, the High Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given Me?”

The guards and the soldiers, with their commander, seized Jesus and bound Him; and they took Him first to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the High Priest that year; and it was Caiaphas who had told the Jews, “It is better that one Man should die for the people.”

Simon Peter with another disciple followed Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the High Priest, they let him enter the courtyard of the High Priest along with Jesus, but Peter had to stay outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the High Priest, went out and spoke to the maidservant at the gate and brought Peter in.

Then this maidservant on duty at the door said to Peter, “So you are also one of His disciples?” But he answered, “I am not.”

Now the servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire and were standing and warming themselves, because it was cold. Peter was also with them warming himself.

The High Priest questioned Jesus about His disciples and His teaching. Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in places where the Jews meet together, either at the assemblies in synagogues or in the Temple. I did not teach secretly. Why then do you question Me? Ask those who heard Me, they know what I said.”

At this reply one of the guards standing there gave Jesus a blow on the face, saying, “Is that the way to answer the High Priest?” Jesus said to him, “If I have spoken wrongly, point it out; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike Me?”

Then Annas sent Him, bound, to Caiaphas, the High Priest. Now Simon Peter stood there warming himself. They said to him, “Surely you also are one of His disciples.” He denied it, and answered, “I am not.” One of the High Priest’s servants, a kinsman of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you with Him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at once the cock crowed.

Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the headquarters of the Roman governor. It was now morning. The Jews did not go inside, lest they be made unclean by entering the house of a pagan, and therefore not allowed to eat the Passover meal. So Pilate came out and asked, “What charge do you bring against this Man?”

They answered, “If He were not a criminal, we would not be handing Him over to you.” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your own law.” But they replied, “We ourselves are not allowed to put anyone to death.”

It was clear from this what kind of death Jesus was to die, according to what Jesus Himself had foretold. Pilate then entered the court again, called Jesus and asked Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus replied, “Does this word come from you, or did you hear it from others?”

Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed You over to me. What have You done?” Jesus answered, “My Kingship does not come from this world. If I were a king, like those of this world, My guards would have fought to save Me from being handed over to the Jews. But. My Kingship is not of this world.”

Pilate asked Him, “So You are a King?” And Jesus answered, “Just as you say, I am a King. For this I was born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth hears My voice.” Pilate said, “What is truth?”

Pilate then went out to the Jews again and said, “I find no crime in this Man. Now, according to custom, I must release a prisoner to you at the Passover. With your agreement I will release to you the king of the Jews.” But they insisted and cried out, “Not this Man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged. The soldiers also twisted thorns into a crown and put it on His head. They threw a cloak of royal purple around His shoulders; and they began coming up to Him and saluting Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they struck Him on the face.

Pilate went outside yet another time and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing Him out, and I want you to know that I find no crime in Him.” Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak, and Pilate pointed to Him, saying, “Here is the Man!”

On seeing Him the chief priests and the guards cried out, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” Pilate replied, “Take Him yourselves and have Him crucified, for I find no case against Him.”

The Jews then said, “We have a Law, and according to the Law this Man must die because He made Himself Son of God.” When Pilate heard this he was more afraid. And coming back into the court he asked Jesus, “Where are You from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, “You will not speak to me? Do You know that I have power to release you, just as I have power to crucify You?”

Jesus replied, “You would have no power over Me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed Me over to you is more guilty.” From that moment Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this Man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes himself a king is defying Caesar.”

When Pilate heard this, he had Jesus brought outside to the place called the Stone Floor – in Hebrew – Gabbatha – and sat down in the judgment seat. It was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King.” But they cried out, “Away! Take Him away! Crucify Him!” Pilate replied, “Shall I crucify your King?” And the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified. They took charge of Him. Bearing His own cross, Jesus went out of the city to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha. There He was crucified, and with Him two others, one on either side, and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read : Jesus the Nazorean, the King of the Jews. Many Jewish people saw this title, because the place where Jesus was crucified was very close to the city; and the title was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

The chief priests said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’; but, ‘This Man claimed to be King of the Jews.'” Pilate answered them, “What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took His clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each of them. But as the tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom, they said, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots to decide who will get it.”

This fulfilled the words of Scripture : They divided My clothing among them; they cast lots for My garment. This was what the soldiers did. Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw the mother, and the disciple whom He loved, He said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “There is your mother.” And from that moment the disciple took her to his own home.

Jesus knew all was now finished and, in order to fulfill what was written in Scripture, He said, “I am thirsty.” A jar full of bitter wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a twig of hyssop, they raised it to His lips. Jesus took the wine and said, “It is accomplished.” Then He bowed His head and gave up the Spirit.

As it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men broken, so that the bodies might be taken away.

The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man, who had been crucified with Jesus. When they came to Jesus, they saw that He was already dead, so they did not break His legs. One of the soldiers, however, pierced His side with a lance, and immediately there came out Blood and water.

The one who saw it, has testified to it, and his testimony is true; he knows he speaks the truth, so that you also might believe. All this happened to fulfill the words of Scripture : Not one of His bones shall be broken. Another text says : They shall look on Him whom they have pierced.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate, for he was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, for fear of the Jews. And he asked Pilate to let him remove the Body of Jesus. Pilate agreed, so he came and took away the Body.

Nicodemus, the man who at first had come to Jesus by night, also came and brought a jar of myrrh mixed with aloes, about a hundred pounds. They took the Body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, following the burial customs of the Jews.

There was a garden in the place where Jesus had been crucified, and, in the garden, a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. And therefore, because the sepulchre was nearby, and the Jewish day of preparation was coming to a close, they placed the Body of Jesus there.

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Tuesday, 15 April 2014 : Tuesday of Holy Week (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 49 : 1-6

Listen to Me, o islands, pay attention, peoples from distant lands. YHVH called Me from My mother’s womb; He pronounced My Name before I was born. He made My mouth like a sharpened sword. He hid Me in the shadow of His hand. He made Me into a polished arrow set apart in His quiver.

He said to Me, “You are Israel, My servant, through You I will be known.” “I have laboured in vain,” I thought, and spent My strength for nothing. Yet what is due Me was in the hand of YHVH, and My reward was with My God.

I am important in the sight of YHVH, and my God is my strength. And now YHVH has spoken, He who formed Me in the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, to gather Israel to Him.

He said : “It is not enough that You be My servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob, to bring back the remnant of Israel, I will make You the light of the nations, that My salvation will reach to the ends of the earth.”

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Monday, 14 April 2014 : Monday of Holy Week (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Isaiah 42 : 1-7

Here is My servant whom I uphold, My Chosen One in whom I delight. I have put My Spirit upon Him, and He will bring justice to the nations. He does not shout or raise His voice, proclamations are not heard in the streets.

A broken reed He will not crush, nor will He snuff out the light of the wavering wick. He will make justice appear in truth. He will not waver or be broken until He has established justice on earth; the islands are waiting for His law.

Thus says God, YHVH, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread the earth and all that comes from it, who gives life and breath to those who walk on it : I, YHVH, have called You for the sake of justice; I will hold Your hand to make You firm; I will make You as a covenant to the people, and as a light to the nations, to open eyes that do not see, to free captives from prison, to bring out to light those who sit in darkness.”

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Friday, 11 April 2014 : 5th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Stanislas, Bishop and Martyr (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 10 : 31-42

The Jews then picked up stones to throw at Jesus; so He said, “I have openly done many good works among you, which the Father gave Me to do. For which of these do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered, “We are not stoning You for doing a good work, but for insulting God; You are only a Man, and You make Yourself God.” Then Jesus replied, “Is this not written in your law : ‘I said, you are gods?’ So these who received this word of God were called gods, and the Scripture is always true. What then should be said of the One anointed, and sent into the world, by the Father? Am I insulting God when I say, ‘I am the Son of God.’?”

“If I am not doing the works of My Father, do not believe Me. But if I do them, even if you have no faith in Me, believe because of the works I do; and know that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father.”

Again they tried to arrest Him, but Jesus escaped from their hands. He went away again to the other side of the Jordan, to the place where John had baptised, and there He stayed. Many people came to Jesus and said, “John worked no miracles, but he spoke about You, and everything he said was true.” And many became believers in that place.

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Sunday, 6 April 2014 : 5th Sunday of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 11 : 1-45

There was a sick man named Lazarus who was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. This is the same Mary, who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick.

So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” On hearing this, Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather it is for God’s glory, and the Son of God will be glorified through it.”

It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; yet, after He heard of the illness of Lazarus, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Only then did He say to His disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” They replied, “Master, recently the Jews wanted to stone You. Are You going there again?”

Jesus said to them, “Are not twelve working hours needed to complete a day? Those who walk in the daytime shall not stumble, for they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, for there is no light in them.”

After that Jesus said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him.” The disciples replied, “Lord, a sick person who sleeps will recover.” But Jesus had referred to Lazarus’ death, while they thought that He had meant the repose of sleep.

So Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad I was not there, for now you may believe. But let us go there, where he is.” Then Thomas, called the Twin said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. As Bethany is near Jerusalem, about two miles away, many Jews had come to Martha and Mary, after the death of their brother, to comfort them. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house.

And she said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?

Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who is coming into the world.” After that Martha went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The Master is here and is calling for you.” As soon as Mary heard this, she rose and went to Him. Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in place where Martha had met Him.

The Jews, who were with her in the house consoling her, also came. When they saw her get up and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep. As for Mary, when she came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, who had come with her, He was moved in the depths of His Spirit and troubled. Then He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

The Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “If He could open the eyes of the blind man, could He not have kept this man from dying?” Jesus was deeply moved again, and drew near to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across it.

Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” Martha said to Him, “Lord, by now he will smell, for this is the fourth day.” Jesus replied, “Have I not told you that, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You for You have heard Me. I knew that You hear Me always; but My prayer was for the sake of these people, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

When Jesus had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did.

 

Alternative Reading (shorter version)

 

John 11 : 3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” On hearing this, Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather it is for God’s glory, and the Son of God will be glorified through it.”

It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; yet, after He heard of the illness of Lazarus, He stayed two days longer in the place where He was. Only then did He say to His disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.”

When Jesus came, He found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house.

And she said to Jesus, “If You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that whatever You ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” But Jesus said to her, “I am the Resurrection. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, shall live. Whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?

Martha then answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, He who is coming into the world.” He was moved in the depths of His Spirit and troubled. Then He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.

The Jews said, “See how He loved him!” But some of them said, “If He could open the eyes of the blind man, could He not have kept this man from dying?” Jesus was deeply moved again, and drew near to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across it.

Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” Martha said to Him, “Lord, by now he will smell, for this is the fourth day.” Jesus replied, “Have I not told you that, if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” So they removed the stone. Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You for You have heard Me. I knew that You hear Me always; but My prayer was for the sake of these people, that they may believe that You sent Me.”

When Jesus had said this, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what He did.

 

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Saturday, 5 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Vincent Ferrer, Priest (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 7 : 40-52

Many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? Does the Scripture not say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?”

The crowd was divided over Him. Some wanted to arrest Him, but no one laid hands on Him. The officers of the Temple went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why did you not bring Him?” The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this Man.”

The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in Him? Only these cursed people, who have no knowledge of the Law!”

Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, “Does our Law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.”

 

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Friday, 4 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent, Memorial of St. Isidore, Bishop and Doctor of the Church (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the people of God did not accept the Lord Himself who came down from on high to be with us. They thought of themselves as being better and greater than God, doubting Him and did not believe in Him when He came and rejecting His teachings, preferring to trust in their own beliefs.

They closed their hearts and themselves from the Lord because they allowed their fear and human emotions and desires to manipulate them, change them, and sequester them from the love of God. As a result, they see the coming of the Christ, that is Jesus, as a rival, challenge, and danger that must be removed at any cost, rather than as an opportunity to herald the coming of God’s kingdom into the world.

And this concerns in fact not just the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Jesus’s time, but also all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ. We ourselves have often placed ourselves as obstacles in the way of the Lord and His salvation, not just for ourselves but also for those around us. We have often followed our own desires, our own ego and will rather than listening to God and obeying His will.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us use this opportunity to reflect on our own life and on our own course of action. Have we been like those who plotted against the Lord just because He came to them and spoke the truth? Or have we accepted Him and listened to Him because of that truth? The truth is often not beautiful or appealing to us, simply because and plainly because we are sinners, and we have committed things that are wicked in the eyes of God and men.

We usually do not like it when things do not go our way or follow what we desired. We complain, we grumble, and we throw tantrum when this happens because we think only about ourselves, and we are only concerned about ourselves. That is why, we in our pride and our arrogance think that we are the masters of the things that we do, and we will never give in, to achieve what we want.

Today we commemorate the feast of St. Isidore, a bishop of late Roman era Hispania, modern day Spain, in Seville. As the bishop and influential leader of the people, both secular and religious, he emphasized on the spiritual renewal of the people and the casting away of the ways of the old, that is the way of wickedness. He worked hard to preach the Gospel and the Good News of the Lord with truth.

St. Isidore helped to convert the people and the kings of his land, the Visigothic kings of Spain, to the true way of the Lord, leaving their heathen and mistaken path of the Arians, who rejected the Lord and His fullness for human ideas and human glories. St. Isidore guided them towards the way of the Lord and guided them to be true followers of God’s will.

The example of St. Isidore showed us how mankind are still often trapped in their own sense of self-righteousness and glory, that they refuse to listen to and look up towards the truth, especially the truth that is in the Lord. Mankind prefer to stay on their pride and refuse to budge even against the Lord and His urging. He sent us Jesus to remind us of the truth, and to take off the veil of pride that covers our eyes.

We have to learn to listen and trust in the Lord, for He knows better than us, and He knows the way to salvation, which we cannot reach on our own, less still by our own power alone. That is why we really should cast away our pride and sharpen the edge of our humility, that we may truly become loving children and followers of the Lord in our actions and our deeds.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we all have a choice to make. We can choose to follow the path of pride, that is to give in to our emotions and fears, to be like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, or to cast away that pride and arrogance, and follow the Lord with all of our hearts, just as St. Isidore and many other great saints had done in the past.

The choice is ours, brethren, and let us therefore today pray, that the Lord may guide us all, and help us to walk together in His light, that we may dwell no longer in the darkness of our pride and stubbornness, but in the light of God’s presence. God be with us all. Amen.

 

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Thursday, 3 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in today’s reading from the Scripture, we found that our Lord and God hates sin and the spirit of disobedience. And this was what we witnessed, as the people of Israel sinned against God. They refused to obey the Lord and believe in Him fully without reservations, even after what they had witnessed in the Ten Plagues and the opening of the Red Sea which paved the way to their liberation from Egypt and their slavery there.

That was why God was angry and wrathful, not just because He despises sin in any form, which the people of Israel clearly committed in their debauchery, with the gold and riches they took from Egypt, engaging in lustful revelries and made for themselves a god out of that gold, the golden calf. God loves all of His children, but He also despises sin.

Yet, this is were we are once again reaffirmed of the love and care which our Lord and God has for us. He loves us even more than He hates our sins, and what is this proof? Moses, the servant of God would know of this love, because he saw what God is like and he knew of His will and His plans for mankind, which would involve coming down by Himself, to be the very One to save His people from eternal damnation.

Yes, that proof of God’s love and eternal commitment to us is Jesus Christ, the Son of God and One of the Holy Trinity, the very Word who came to be incarnate to the flesh, and He is the living and eternal proof of God’s love for all of us without exception. Everyone is equal in the eyes of the Lord and they are all equal in God’s favour, except for sin which keeps us apart from the fullness of His grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord gave His best to us all, and He did not even hold back His own Son from our reach. Instead, He gave us the One through whom He can directly reach out to us, and similarly, from us to reach out to Him, our loving God and Father. And in Jesus we found the perfection of mankind in love of God, which we all should aspire to.

Yes, brethren, that is in essence because Jesus came into this world not for some meaningless purposes or without any clear goal. On the contrary, Jesus came into this world and gave Himself and His own life, so that we may be freed from the bonds of sin that kept us away from God, but also so that in His examples, we may be made whole and know what God expects from us, just as Jesus Himself had done.

Jesus was the embodiment of the perfect Man, the One who followed the Lord and obeyed Him in the complete and unadulterated fullness of the Law of God, desiring only to serve the Lord and His people, unlike the people of Jesus’ time, especially the Pharisees, who outwardly were very pious, but in fact were concerned and occupied with their own worldly desires and concerns that they forgot to keep the Lord in themselves.

The key message that we ought to bring out of today’s Scripture readings is that God loves us, and He would stop at nothing to help us and to embrace us, giving us His divine mercy and compassion, through none other than Jesus His Son, that we may have hope. So, just as God has loved us with all of His heart and being, shall we not then do the same?

That is the challenge posed to all of us, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we ought to give ourselves and our own love for God, just as He had loved us first. What we usually did was in fact to spurn this love and opportunity which He had given us, and for many, it was not until too late that they realised how much God actually loved and cared for them, because they were too busy with their own human affairs and the affairs of the world.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us from now on therefore begin to change our attitude, if our attitude towards God had not been right. Let us all embrace the love God had for us and resolve to love Him back as much as possible. Let us not spurn the great offer which God has given us, in Jesus His Son. In Him only lies the salvation and hope of the world.

May Almighty God bless us, forgive us from our sinfulness, open our hearts that we may ‘see’ His love, understand it, and embrace it to be our own dedication of love, to Him who had loved us first. God be with us all. Amen.

 

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Thursday, 3 April 2014 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 5 : 31-47

If I bore witness to Myself, My testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to Me, and I know that His testimony is true when He bears witness to Me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved.

John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John – the works which the Father entrusted to Me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness : the Father has sent Me.

Thus He who bears witness to Me is the Father who sent Me. You have never heard His voice and have never seen His likeness; therefore, as long as you do not believe His messenger, His word is not in you.

You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to Me. But you refuse to come to Me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I have known that love of God is not within you, for I have come in My Father’s Name and you do not accept Me.

If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another, instead of seeking the glory which comes from the only God, how can you believe? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you.

If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?