(Good Friday) Friday, 29 March 2013 : Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, Holy Week (First Reading)

Isaiah 52 : 13 – Isaiah 53 : 12

It is now when My servant will succeed; He will be exalted and highly praised. Just as many have been horrified at His disfigured appearance : “Is this a man? He does not look like one,” so will nations be astounded, kings will stand speechless, for they will see something never told, they will witness something never heard of.

Who could believe what we have heard, and to whom has YHVH revealed His feat? Like a root out of dry ground, like a sapling He grew up before us, with nothing attractive in His appearance, no beauty, no majesty.

He was despised and rejected, a Man of sorrows familiar with grief, a Man from whom people hide their face, spurned and considered of no account. Yet ours were the sorrows He bore, ours were the sufferings He endured, although we considered Him as one punished by God, stricken and brought low.

Destroyed because of our sins, He was crushed for our wickedness. Through His punishment, we are made whole; by His wounds we are healed. Like sheep we had all gone astray, each following His own way; but YHVH laid upon Him all our guilt.

He was harshly treated, but unresisting and silent, He humbly submitted. Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearer, He did not open His mouth. He was taken away to detention and judgment – what an unthinkable fate! He was cut off from the land of the living, stricken for His people’s sin.

They made His tomb with the wicked, they put Him in the graveyard of the oppressors, though He had done no violence nor spoken in deceit. Yet it was the will of YHVH to crush Him with grief. When He makes Himself an offering for sin, He will have a long life and see His descendants. Through Him the will of YHVH is done.

For the anguish He suffered, He will see the light and obtain perfect knowledge. My just Servant will justify the multitude; He will bear and take away their guilt.

Therefore I will give Him His portion among the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong. For He surrendered Himself to death and was even counted among the wicked, bearing the sins of the multitude and interceding for sinners.

Friday, 22 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

Jesus Christ, is indeed the Son of God, a third of the Holy Trinity, in perfect unity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, as one and only God. He came from the Father to save us from the certainty of death caused by our rebellions against God, and the sins that our forefathers, beginning from Adam and Eve, had done in the past. He came as the bringer of a new covenant and of salvation, through His own death and resurrection on the third day after that death.

Christ had brought a new hope for all mankind, for all creation to be brought back to be once again together in God’s great love and God’s loving embrace. He had given us Himself on the cross, that He had delivered us from the hands of Satan and his evil angels, who are determined to drag us away as far as possible from God and His love, and His grace. Christ through the cross had brought a new dawn, a new light, for all the people to see. That the people who lived in darkness, are now in the light, and became children of the light, and no longer that of the darkness.

Why did the Jews then not see the goodness of Christ, that of His mission, and His redemptive actions in this world? That is because they were blind, blinded by their blind obedience to their laws, in which they failed to see that the laws and the prophecy of the prophets of times past, all of them simply pointed out to God’s love, which He was to show through the Messiah, the Saviour, who would save God’s people, all mankind, from the destruction because of sin, evil, and death.

That is why today, we have to be careful, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we too will not fail into blindness as they were, but remain in the light, and remain aware of God and His loving presence, and His good works which are still always manifest through our Church, through His ministers, our Pope, bishops, and priests. Through them, we learn about Christ, and we know about His love through their teachings, and also through the Sacred Scripture upon which we base our faith, guided by our teachers in faith.

For all of us, we are already in the light through our baptism, and our eyes are already opened to God’s love, to Christ’s mission in saving all mankind, and our hearts are already opened to receive the new covenant Christ had brought with His death and resurrection. But, we must always cultivate the love and the fruits of the Spirit that God has planted in us, that they will remain alive and robust, and that they will not stay only within ourselves, but be shared for all others around us, especially those who still closed their hearts and their minds from God and His presence.

Teach one another and bring love to one another, that they too can learn about God, and feel God’s divine presence. Not necessarily by any miraculous experience, but even our simple loving acts will make God’s love and light manifest through us, to them, allowing them to witness God’s presence firsthand, and hopefully will bring them closer to God, and accept Him as their Saviour and their Lord.

Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, today, let us renew our resolve to love Christ, our Lord, ever more. For He is our Saviour who had brought us from death into life, through His own death and resurrection. Let us strive to share this love with one another, especially those who still yet to find out God’s love. Bring God to them through our own actions, and keep on praying for them, for all of us, and for all those who are working hard in the ministry of the Lord and His Gospels. Amen.

Friday, 22 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

John 10 : 31-42

The Jews then picked up stones to throw at Him; so Jesus 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 those who received this word of God were called gods, and the Scripture is always true. What the 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 the place.

Friday, 22 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 17 : 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

I love You, o Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer and my God.

He is the rock in whom I take refuge. He is my shield, my powerful saviour, my stronghold. I call on the Lord, who is worthy of praise : He saves me from my enemies!

A deadly flood surrounded me, devilish torrents rushed at me; caught by the cords of the grave, I was brought to the snares of death.

But I called upon the Lord in my distress, I cried to my God for help; and from His temple He heard my voice, my cry of grief reached His ears.

Friday, 22 March 2013 : 5th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Jeremiah 20 : 10-13

I hear many people whispering, “Terror is all around! Denounce him! Yes, denounce him!” All my friends watch me to see if I will slip : “Perhaps he can be deceived,” they say; “then we can get the better of him and have our revenge.”

But YHVH, a mighty warrior, is with me. My persecutors will stumble and not prevail; that failure will be their shame and their disgrace will never be forgotten. YHVH, God of hosts, you test the just and probe the heart and mind.

Let me see Your revenge on them, for to You, I have entrusted my cause. Sing to YHVH! Praise YHVH and say : He has rescued the poor from the clutches of the wicked!

Friday, 15 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Scripture Reflection)

We have to be humble, brothers and sisters in Christ, and not to be engulfed in our personal pride and arrogance, that we will be able to truly see the Lord and His good works in our world today, which He had done through the Church, with our assistance.

So how is this humility like? Is it by lowering ourselves before others physically, or by mentioning it verbally? or by acting it out so that others can see this humility in us? No, as that would not be right, in fact not true humility.

True humility is rather shown by our hearts, and our being, in how we listen to God’s will, and accept the advice made by others, which in this case, is exemplified by the prophets who told the people of Israelites of the coming of the Messiah, that is Jesus Christ.

Instead, the people of Israel hardened their hearts, filled with pride and arrogance, rejected the Lord and plotted against Him, that is because of their refusal to settle down and open their hearts. both to God, and to listen to the words of their fellow men, the prophets who had been chosen to speak the words of our God.

These people in their pride thought that they knew the Lord, and through their great faith, they had been saved. But it is exactly this pride that covered the true humility that is in the heart, and brought about veil on their eyes, that they fail to see Christ, the Chosen One of God, and failed to recognise Him and His works as the works of that Divine Messiah.

Therefore brothers and sisters in Christ, let us pray that our eyes can be opened, and the veil of pride and vanity that we have in us can be lifted from us, that we no longer focus on ourselves, but now can see clearly the graces and works of our God, and at the same time, also capable of sensing and seeing the sufferings and the troubles facing our fellow brethren in this world, and do our best to help alleviate their suffering. Physically, yes, but even more importantly, to help others in a spiritual manner.

For physical nourishment is finite and one will always be hungry again, but spiritual nourishment, through the love of God poured into them through us, will satisfy them and make them hungry no more. For spiritual hunger is more sinister and worse than that of the physical hunger, which bread can solve, but not for spiritual hunger.

May God bless us in our daily lives, that all of us will remain humble, in true humility that is of the heart and not of the shedding of externals, and true humility that humbles our souls before God instead of hypocrisy before others. May God bring our works for the good of others, make them greater, and bring them to complete fulfillment, Amen.

Friday, 15 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Gospel Reading)

John 7 : 1-2, 10, 25-30

After this Jesus went around Galilee; He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews wanted to kill Him. Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand. But after His brothers had gone to the festival, He also went up, not publicly but in secret.

Some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the Man they want to kill? And here He is speaking freely, and they don’t say a word to Him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? Yet we know where this Man comes from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where He comes from.”

So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the Temple court where He was teaching, “You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of Myself; I was sent by the One who is true, and you don’t know Him. I know Him for I come from Him and He sent Me.”

They would have arrested Him, but no one laid hands on Him because His time had not yet come.

Friday, 15 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (Psalm)

Psalm 33 : 17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

The Lord’s face is set against the wicked to destroy their memory from the earth. The Lord hears the cry of the righteous and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the distraught. Many are the troubles of the just, but the Lord delivers them from all.

He keeps all their bones intact, and none of them will be broken. But the Lord will redeem the life of His servants; none of those who trust in Him will be doomed.

Friday, 15 March 2013 : 4th Week of Lent (First Reading)

Wisdom 2 : 1a, 12-22

Led by mistaken reasons they think, “Life is short and sad, and there is no cure for death. Let us set a trap for the righteous, for He annoys us and opposes our way of life; He reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.”

“He claims knowledge of God and calls Himself, Son of the Lord. He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet Him is burdensome to us. He does not live like others and behave strangely.”

“According to Him, we have low standards, so He keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphatises the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as Father. Let us see the truth of what He says and find out what His end will be. If the righteous is a Son of God, God will defend Him and deliver Him from His adversaries.”

“Let us humble and torture Him, to prove His self-control and test His patience. When we have condemned Him to a shameful death, we may test His words.” This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. They do not know the mysteries of God, nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

Pope Francis’ Schedule in his first few days as Pope

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-to-have-busy-schedule-in-coming-days/#.UUFDoB4Y6Vk.facebook

 

Our new Pope, Pope Francis will be busy in his first day as Pope, and here is the list of his appointments for the first days of his Pontificate :

1. First Mass with the Cardinals at the Sistine Chapel, Thursday, 14 March 2013 at 5 pm Rome time (UTC+1)

2. Private visit to Papal Basilica of St. Mary Major / Santa Maria Maggiore to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary

3. Meeting with all Cardinals in the Clementine Hall / Sala Clementina, on Friday, 15 March 2013 at 11 am Rome time (UTC+1)

4. Audience for journalists and media representatives in Hall of Paul VI, on Saturday, 16 March 2013

5. First Angelus on Sunday, 17 March 2013 at 12 pm (Noon/Midday)

6. Papal Inauguration Mass at St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday, 19 March 2013 at 9.30 am Rome time (UTC+1), Feast of St. Joseph