Fourth Week of Lent

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Sunday, 26 March 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today is the celebration of the Fourth Sunday of Lent, or also known as Laetare Sunday, coming from the word “Laetare” in the beginning of today’s Introit, “Laetare Jerusalem” or “Rejoice, o Jerusalem”. As we celebrate the joyous aspect of Lent, as we await the true joy of Christ coming unto us, that is why the vestments and the liturgical colour used today is rose instead of the usual violet, representing the reality that while Lent is a season of penance, but it is also a season for expecting the coming of the joy of Christ.

Why do we celebrate this joyous occasion, brothers and sisters in Christ? That is because at the same time that we remember the upcoming struggles, sufferings and pains that our Lord had to endure during His Passion on the Cross, and throughout the way of suffering, we also remember that all of those had to happen so that we may receive true joy, that is the joy of our salvation and redemption from our sins.

Christ is our true Joy, for He came into this world bearing us hope, the true hope that He alone could bring, and not the false joys present in this world. And we rejoice in Him, because through Him, we have been able to see the light of God shining upon our path, guiding and leading us on our way, that we may be able to find our way and at the same time, freeing ourselves from the attachment and the association we have thus far with the darkness of this world.

Through His light, all of us who believe in Him have been purified from the darkness within us, and in our baptism, we received the lighted candle, which flame came from the Paschal candle, a representation of the light of the Lord’s Resurrection, as the light that overcame the darkness of the world, as on Easter Sunday, the world which once had not known hope, then finally is able to hope again upon the Lord and His light.

In today’s Gospel, we heard how Jesus healed the man who was born blind on the sabbath. He made him able to see once again, and the man was truly filled with joy. He was not able to see, and he could not see the light as most of us could. We always know this world as it is because we are able to see the light around us coming into our eyes. But imagine what would it be like, had we been born blind as the man whom Jesus had healed.

Imagine living in a world where we could not see at all, where no light can be seen, because our eyes were not able to see it. Imagine what kind of joy we would have if our eyes were opened and light entered into our eyes for the very first time. Only then that we can appreciate how joyful it is for the blind man to be able to see again. And he therefore believed in Christ and all that He had done for him.

Let us contrast this with the actions of the Pharisees and the actions of the teachers of the Law who were also there, and who have not just witnessed that miracle, but many other miracles that Jesus had performed among the people, also in their presence. Yet they have refused to believe in the Lord Jesus, out of all others who have believed in Him. They have seen and yet they rejected the Lord and His good works.

They had not believed because in their pride and arrogance, they have hardened their hearts against God. They were jealous against the Lord Whom they thought to be a rival to their power and influence. As a result, they were blinded by all these prejudices, by all the negativities and all the wickedness they had in their hearts, so that even though they could see with the eyes of their body, the eyes of their hearts were in reality, blind.

They could see light through the eyes of their body, the ones on their head, but they could not see the true Light of the world, which Jesus had brought into this world, Himself. They allowed darkness to enter their hearts and blind them, and thus, they did all the things in opposition to the Lord and His works because of that. As a result, they were not to be the recipients of God’s grace, love and forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is what we need to reflect on as we continue to progress through the season of Lent. Have we been open to receive God’s forgiveness in this season and time of mercy? This Lenten season is a time for mercy, and we are always urged to receive God’s mercy, which He gives to all without hesitation and with much love, and we are also urged to forgive one another, yet many of us often forget that while God wants to forgive us and love us once again, but it is we ourselves who are often the greatest obstacles to our forgiveness and therefore, our salvation.

Why is this so? We just have to look at the examples of the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. These were the elites in the society back then at the time of Jesus and His earthly ministry two millennia ago. They were those who were considered as the nobilities and leaders of their time, and they were physically fit if not very healthy compared to the others in the society, well to do in their lives and were able to provide with themselves without any difficulties.

They looked down on others because they considered themselves superior to them, by their upbringing and by what they saw that they were the guardians of the law of God, the laws of Moses, wearing their long robes and chanting their prayers daily in the marketplaces and in the open areas. They thought that they alone had the grasp over God and His truth, and that was why they oppressed the poor, the sinners like the prostitutes and the tax collectors, thinking that these were people unworthy of God, but they were wrong.

They allowed their pride and arrogance to get in their way, and they closed their hearts when the Lord came to speak the truth to them. They forgot that they too, were sinners and were in need of God and His forgiveness as well. Instead, they committed even more sins, by closing the doors of God’s mercy on those who need them the most. They condemned others as sinners and rebels, while it was their attitude who showed the most rebellious attitudes of all.

They judged others by their appearances, and they also judged themselves by their appearances. But if they can just remember the Book of the prophet Samuel, when God chose His chosen king, David, from among the sons of Jesse, our first reading passage today, they would realise that God sees not by appearances, but He looks deep inside each and every one of our hearts. He knows us all completely inside and outside, and nothing can be hidden from Him.

It is not by our appearances that God had chosen those whom He wishes to call, and we do not choose ourselves to be those whom God will choose. Rather, God chooses whoever He wants to be chosen, and He calls those whom He deems to be worthy to be called. He called David not because he is the strongest or the best among his brothers, in whatever categories that the world commonly attribute to those who are usually chosen, but because God saw in David’s heart, mind and soul, a true and genuine love for Him.

That man who was born blind, might not be able to see the light through the eyes of his body, but the eyes of his heart was truly open and were capable of seeing the light of Christ, which the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had failed to do. Now let us ask ourselves, have we been like David or the man born blind in our attitudes in this life we have? Or have we been more like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law instead?

Brothers and sisters in Christ, in this time of Lent, we are all called to the Lord’s mercy, healing and forgiveness. But we need to overcome all the things that have become obstacles on our way to achieve God’s mercy and grace. We have to overcome our human pride, our fear and our stubbornness, and open the path for God to enter into our hearts and transform us completely.

Let Him enter into ourselves, and let Him heal us just as He had healed the man who was born blind, so that while once we saw everything through the veils of darkness and sin that had engulfed us, now we may be able to pierce through those veils that blinded us, and thus capable of seeing the true light coming from the Lord our God, and now therefore we are able to find our way to the salvation in God. Let us all have that great joy in us, finally being able to see the hope of salvation through Christ.

Let us also help one another, especially those who are still lost on their way to the Lord. Let us all devote our time and effort to draw ever closer to God, and to find the way to the Lord and to be more like Him in all of our words, deeds and actions. Let this be our Lenten commitment and work, and from now on let us all be ever more devoted servants and people of God, Who has loved us all so much, and wants us all to also love Him in the same manner. May God bless us all. Amen.

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Sunday, 26 March 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)
John 9 : 1-41

At that time, as Jesus walked along, He saw a man who had been blind from birth. His disciples asked Him, “Master, was he born blind because of a sin of his, or of his parents?”

Jesus answered, “Neither was it for his own sin nor for his parents’ sin. He was born blind so that God’s power might be shown in him. While it is day we must do the work of the One Who sent Me; for the night will come when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

As Jesus said this, He made paste with spittle and clay, and rubbed it on the eyes of the blind man. Then He said, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (This word means sent.) So the blind man went and washed and came back able to see. His neighbours, and all the people who used to see him begging, wondered. They said, “Is this not the beggar who used to sit here?” Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But the man himself said, “I am he.”

Then they asked him, “How is it that your eyes were opened?” And he answered, “The Man called Jesus made a mud paste, put it on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went, and washed, and I could see.” They asked, “Where is He?” And the man answered, “I do not know.”

The people brought the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made mud paste and opened his eyes. The Pharisees asked him again, “How did you recover your sight?” And he said, “He put paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, for He works on the Sabbath”; but others wondered, “How can a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” They were divided, and they questioned the blind man again, “What do you think of this Man who opened your eyes?” And he answered, “He is a Prophet!”

After all this, the Jews refused to believe that the man had been blind and had recovered his sight; so they called his parents and asked them, “Is this your son? You say that he was born blind, but how is it that he now sees?” The parents answered, “He really is our son and he was born blind; but how it is that he now sees, we do not know, neither do we know Who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is old enough. Let him speak for himself.”

The parents said this because they feared the Jews, who had already agreed that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ was to be expelled from the synagogue. Because of that his parents said, “He is old enough, ask him.” So a second time the Pharisees called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Tell us the truth; we know that this Man is a sinner.”

He replied, “I do not know whether He is a sinner or not; I only know that I was blind and now I see.” They said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He replied, “I have told you already and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they started to insult him. “Become His disciple yourself! We are disciples of Moses. We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this Man, we do not know where He comes from.” The man replied, “It is amazing that you do not know where the Man comes from, and yet He opened my eyes! We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone honours God and does His will, Hod listens to him. Never, since the world began, has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

They answered him, “You were born a sinner and now you teach us!” And they expelled him. Jesus heard that they had expelled him. He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said, “You have seen Him and He is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and worshipped Him.

Jesus said, “I came into this world to carry out a judgment : Those who do not see shall see, and those who see shall become blind.” Some Pharisees stood by and asked Him, “So we are blind?” And Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty. But you say, ‘We see’; this is the proof of your sin.”

Alternative reading (shorter version)
John 9 : 1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

At that time, as Jesus walked along, He saw a man who had been blind from birth.

As Jesus said this, He made paste with spittle and clay, and rubbed it on the eyes of the blind man. Then He said, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (This word means sent.) So the blind man went and washed and came back able to see. His neighbours, and all the people who used to see him begging, wondered. They said, “Is this not the beggar who used to sit here?” Some said, “He is the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But the man himself said, “I am he.”

The people brought the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made mud paste and opened his eyes. The Pharisees asked him again, “How did you recover your sight?” And he said, “He put paste on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God, for He works on the Sabbath”; but others wondered, “How can a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” They were divided, and they questioned the blind man again, “What do you think of this Man who opened your eyes?” And he answered, “He is a Prophet!”

They answered him, “You were born a sinner and now you teach us!” And they expelled him. Jesus heard that they had expelled him. He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “Who is He, that I may believe in Him?” Jesus said, “You have seen Him and He is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and worshipped Him.

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Sunday, 26 March 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)
Ephesians 5 : 8-14

You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Behave as children of light; the fruits of light are kindness, justice and truth in every form. You yourselves search out what pleases the Lord, and take no part in works of darkness that are of no benefit; expose them instead.

Indeed it is a shame even to speak of what those people do in secret, but as soon as it is exposed to the light, everything becomes clear; and what is unmasked, becomes clear through light.

Therefore it is said, “Awake, you who sleep; arise from the dead that the light of Christ may shine on you.”

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Sunday, 26 March 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)
Psalm 22 : 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.

He guides me through the right paths for His Name’s sake. Although I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are beside me : Your rod and Your staff comfort me.

You spread a table before me in the presence of my foes. You anoint my head with oil; my cup is overflowing.

Goodness and kindness will follow me all the days of my life. I shall dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

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Sunday, 26 March 2017 : Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet or Rose (Laetare Sunday)
1 Samuel 16 : 1b, 6-7, 10-13a

YHVH asked Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil and be on your way to Jesse the Bethlehemite for I have chosen My king from among his sons.”

As Jesse and his sons came, Samuel looked at Eliab the older and thought, “This must be YHVH’s anointed.” But YHVH told Samuel, “Do not judge by his looks or his stature for I have rejected him. YHVH does not judge as man judges; humans see with the eyes; YHVH sees the heart.”

Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel who said, “YHVH has chosen none of them. But are all your sons here?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, tending the flock just now.” Samuel said to him, “Send for him and bring him to me; we shall not sit down to eat until he arrives.”

So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him to Samuel. He was a handsome lad with ruddy complexion and beautiful eyes. And YHVH spoke, “Go, anoint him for he is the one.” Samuel then took the horn of oil and anointed him in his brothers’ presence.

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Saturday, 12 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard today the opposition which the Pharisees, the teachers of the Law and the elders of the people presented against Jesus, as they tried to convince everyone that Jesus was not the Messiah, that He was a fraud and a heretic, and that He had blasphemed against God by His many teachings that seemingly ran contrary to what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law had uphold.

Of course it did not mean that all the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were wicked and without good. It did not mean that all the Pharisees were adamantly against Jesus, as the Gospel passage itself reminded us that Nicodemus was one of the Pharisees who believed in Jesus and accepted His teachings. And Joseph of Arimathea was another one of these Pharisees who also believed in Him.

But this opposition against Jesus came about not so much because of what Jesus had taught, as compared to what the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law perceived about Him. They saw Him as a rival and a threat to their influence, because what He taught the people seemed to be different from what they were teaching the people, and He rebuked them in various occasions for their supposed lack of true faith.

The Pharisees, the elders and the teachers of the Law were at the pinnacle of the hierarchy of the society of the people of God at the time, they were the ones who interpreted the Law for the people, and they determined how the people would come and worship, and managed the rites and the celebrations at the Temple, regulating all forms of rules in the society.

In such a privileged position and in such a position of honour, it can be easily seen how they were gathering together heaps upon heaps of praises and honour, and therefore, as what is in our human nature, we tend to gloat in such pleasures, being pleased and satisfied by those adulation, and therefore, we grew in our ego and pride, and the same thing happened to the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

And thus, they were not willing to let go of all the honour, the fame, the position of honour they have achieved in the world, to listen to the truth of Jesus speaking to them and all the people. They shut the doors of their heart tight and they refused to listen to the Lord speaking to them. To them, the Lord Jesus was someone Who came to destroy all that they have gained in the world.

And this was why the Lord was so critical on His criticism at them. These people have misused and abused their authority, and they have even misled the people of God into the wrong path. And instead of guiding the people of God to come closer to Him through a greater understanding of God’s laws and commandments, and through a greater desire to love the Lord, they have oppressed the people with numerous obligations that were really unnecessary.

It is a lesson for all of us then, as we progress through this season of Lent, for us to reexamine ourselves and our actions. Have we been truly faithful in God, and have we been walking in His path all along? This is the time for us to realise how that there is still so many things we can do to prove our faith to the Lord. We should not follow the path of the Pharisees who placed themselves first before God, and who sought to satisfy their own needs first before obeying God.

Let us all learn through fasting and abstinence, the habit to resist our own selfishness, our pride, our hubris, our greed and all the things that are pulling at us and tempting us to abandon our path towards the Lord. Let us all put the effort to become ever closer to the Lord and to be more faithful to Him. Let us follow Him with all of our heart and find our way to His grace, the life everlasting. Amen.

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Saturday, 12 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

John 7 : 40-53

At that time, many who had been listening to these words of Jesus 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.”

And they all went home.

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Saturday, 12 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Psalm 7 : 2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

O Lord, my God, in You I take shelter; deliver me and save me from all my pursuers, lest lions tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

Proclaim, o Lord, my righteousness; You see that I am blameless. Bring to an end the power of the wicked, but affirm the just, o righteous God, Searcher of mind and heart.

You cover me as a shield, o God, for You protect the upright. A righteous judge is God, His anger ever awaiting those who refuse to repent.

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Saturday, 12 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Jeremiah 11 : 18-20

YHVH made it known to me and so I know! And You let me see their scheming : “Take care, even your kinsfolk and your own family are false with you and behind your back they freely criticise you. Do not trust them when they approach you in a friendly way.”

“But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me that they were plotting, “Let us feed him with trials and remove him from the land of the living and let his name never be mentioned again.”

“YHVH, God of hosts, You Who judge with justice and know everyone’s heart and intentions, let me see Your vengeance on them, for to You I have entrusted my cause.”

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Friday, 11 March 2016 : 4th Week of Lent (Homily and Scripture Reflections)

Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we heard about the plotting of the wicked against the Righteous One, as predicted in the Book of Wisdom written before the time of Jesus, and how all of that which had been written came true in Jesus, when He came into this world bearing His truth upon the world. Jesus came revealing the truth to all mankind, and He came to save us from our own downfall in sin.

And yet, from what we have seen in the Scriptures, mankind, we ourselves are resistant to God’s attempts to rescue us, and instead of wanting to embrace God and to be forgiven from our sins, we tend to persist instead in our wicked and mistaken behaviours, disobeying God in all things, and we continued in our ways and paths of sin and darkness.

This is because we have this natural tendency to love sin and wickedness, simply because these things make use of our desires and our hearts’ corruption by our greed and by our human tendencies to sin. We like to do things that bring us pleasure, happiness and joy, even if these joy and happiness come about at the expense of others. And this is why mankind can at times be very cruel to one another. And this is sin.

And worst of all is our pride, the pride in each one of us, the ego that engulfs us and swallows us whole. It is pride that had brought Satan down from his position once as the greatest and mightiest Angel in heaven, and it is the same pride that will also destroy us and bring us to our downfall. It is the pride of the wicked that we saw in the Book of Wisdom that brought them to plot against the Righteous One.

And thus, just as it had been prophesied, the wicked represented the Pharisees, the elders and the teachers of the Law who throughout the Gospels showed great resistance against the teachings and works of Jesus in this world, plotting at every possible opportunities to thwart His work, to disturb the works of mercy and salvation, and to mock and ridicule all that He had brought into this world, His truth.

They did so because for long they had enjoyed a position of great privilege, and unable to take on the criticism and the rebuke which the Lord had blatantly showed them as He came through Jesus, they continued deeper in their disobedience, and rather than repenting and seeing the truth in Jesus and His words, they found Him as a threat to their own worldly influence and legitimacy, and thus tried hard to destroy Him.

And when they have failed to thwart Him even by condemning Him to death, as He rose into glory and ascended into the glorious Heaven, they tried to persecute His Church and made life difficult for His followers and disciples. All these were caused by their jealousy, their pride and their inability to tear themselves away from all the negativities, from all the desires, and all the corruptions of sin that had eaten away at their hearts.

Today, brothers and sisters in Christ, having heard of all these, all of us should reflect on our own lives. How many times have we disobeyed the Lord as we listen more closely to our own hearts’ desires and to our pride? How many times have we betrayed the Lord, and betrayed our own fellow men just to serve and to satisfy our own selfish needs?

Let us all use this opportunity given to us by God to reflect on our own actions, and see what we can do in order to gain salvation through God. Let us all change our ways and repent for all of our sins, that by turning over a new leaf, we may find ourselves in a new life blessed by God. May the Lord keep us and bless us, and may He bring us all into everlasting life. Amen.