Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 41 : 2-3 and Psalm 42 : 3-4
As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, o God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I go and see the face of God?
Send forth Your light and Your truth; let them be my guide, let them take me to Your holy mountain, to the place where You reside.
Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my gladness and delight. I will praise You with the lyre and harp, o God, my God.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
2 Kings 5 : 1-15a
Naaman was the army commander of the king of Aram. This man was highly regarded and enjoyed the king’s favour, for YHVH had helped him lead the army of the Arameans to victory. But this valiant man was sick with leprosy.
One day some Aramean soldiers raided the land of Israel and took a young girl captive who became a servant to the wife of Naaman. She said to her mistress, “If my master would only present himself to the prophet in Samaria, he would surely cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went to tell the king what the young Israelite maidservant had said. The king of Aram said to him, “Go to the prophet, and I shall also send a letter to the king of Israel.” So Naaman went and took with him ten silver talents, six thousand gold pieces and ten festal garments.
On his arrival, he delivered the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “I present my servant Naaman to you that you may heal him of his leprosy. When the king read the letter, he tore his clothes to show his indignation, “I am not God to give life or death. And the king of Aram sends me this man to be healed! You see, he is just looking for an excuse for war.”
Elisha, the man of God, came to know that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, so he sent this message to him : “Why have you torn your clothes? Let the man come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stopped before the house of Elisha. Elisha then sent a messenger to tell him, “Go to the river Jordan and wash seven times, and your flesh shall be as it was before, and you shall be cleansed.”
Naaman was angry, so he went away. He thought, “On my arrival, he should have personally come out, and then paused and called on the Name of YHVH, his God. And he should have touched with his hand the infected part, and I would have been healed. Are the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar not better than all the rivers of the land of Israel? Could I not wash there to be healed?”
His servants approached him and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had ordered you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? But how much easier when he said : ‘Take a bath and you will be cleansed.’” So Naaman went down to the Jordan where he washed himself seven times as Elisha had ordered. His skin became soft like that of a child and he was cleansed.
Then Naaman returned to the man of God with all his men.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are reminded of the great mercy which the Lord, our most loving God and Father has shown to each and every one of us, the compassion and love which He has given to us all as His beloved people. We are reminded especially during this time and season of Lent, we have been given the opportunity to turn away from our sins and wickedness, and we have been given the generous opportunity to return to our loving God and Father, embracing His compassion and kindness, in His desire to reconciled and reunited with all of us. God has been generous in His mercy, and today we are all reminded to be thankful and appreciative of what we have received from Him.
In our first reading today, taken from the Book of the prophet Daniel, we heard of the words of the prophet Daniel beseeching the Lord and asking Him to show mercy and compassion on His people, the Israelites and their descendants. They and their ancestors had rebelled and sinned against God, and therefore they had been cast out of the land that had been promised to them, the Land of Canaan, which their ancestors had dwelled in, but which by the time of Daniel, foreigners like the Assyrians and the Babylonians had conquered their kingdoms, destroyed their cities and exiled many among them to the distant lands, as Daniel himself had experienced and suffered. And in those distant lands, they had to bear the humiliation of their fate, the loss of their homeland, and the ignominy of their exile.
Daniel gathered the prayers and thoughts of the people of God, many of whom had repented from their sins in their time and period of exile from their homeland. He asked the Lord on their behalf, presenting their sorrow and repentance, their regret for all of their mistakes and sins in the past, seeking God to forgive them their sins so that they might once again be loved and blessed by Him, and be allowed to return to their homeland, after their punishment and sufferings had come to an eventual end. He showcased Israel’s regret for their many disobedience and sins, and this is showing us how our attitude should be like in how we live our lives especially during this penitential time and season of Lent. We should also seek God’s generous mercy and forgiveness, and commit ourselves to His path, from now on.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord Jesus to His disciples, telling them clearly to be merciful in their actions just as God their loving Father has shown them lots of mercy and compassion. Just like in the prayer which the Lord Jesus Himself had taught them said, that, ‘Forgive us our trespasses just as we forgive those who have trespassed against us’. And this is an important reminder for us all that just as we seek to be forgiven from our many sins and mistakes, we too should be ready to forgive others around us, be it our own family members, relatives, colleagues and even strangers who have caused hurt to us, or those who have wronged and done mistake to us.
To forgive others is something that is not easily done, but we must still strive to do it nonetheless. And the best example we can follow is none other than the Lord Himself, our most loving and generous Father, Who has loved us all and desired to forgive us our sins should we come to Him with sincere repentance and desire to be forgiven from those sins. Not only that, but He has also given us all His own only Begotten Son to save us from our fated destruction, and through this same Son, Who was punished for our sins, He forgave us all the trespasses, mistakes and sins we have committed, just as His Son forgave those who have persecuted and condemned Him to death from His Cross, praying for them to the Father not to count their sins against them. This is an example of forgiveness and mercy that all of us as Christians ought to follow.
Today, the Church also celebrates the Feast of St. Patrick, a holy bishop and great servant of God, who is well-known as the missionary who brought the Christian faith to Ireland and established the foundation of the Church there in that island. He is well-celebrated especially amongst the members of the Irish diaspora, which is now spread all around the world. St. Patrick himself was born in the then late Roman Britain, and he was born to a Romano-British family, whose father was apparently a decurion, a rather important official in the Roman government. In his youth, it was reported that he was captured by Irish pirates who brought him to Ireland and enslaved him for a whole period of six years. Eventually he was able to escape from his captors and returned home, but his experiences in Ireland was truly a premonition of what he would do there in the future.
Eventually, St. Patrick continued his studies and was ordained as a deacon and then priest, and then sent as a missionary back to Ireland, acting on a vision that he has seen and received since the day of his captivity there. He was ordained as a bishop and became the one to lead the path for other missionaries to evangelise the land of Ireland. St. Patrick laboured patiently for many years among the many pagan peoples throughout Ireland, and while he had some successes in converting some of the local kings, lords and people, but there were lots of opposition that he had to endure throughout his ministry in Ireland. But slowly, through his patient teaching and genuine Christian love, virtues and righteousness, more and more people came to believe in God through him and that was the beginning of Christian Ireland.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have discussed through our reflection on the Sacred Scripture passages and from the life and works of St. Patrick, we are reminded to be aware of our sinfulness and seek God for His forgiveness and mercy, for Him to heal us from our sins and corruptions, so that we may once again be worthy to come to His Holy Presence and embrace Him fully in His love. And we are also reminded that we have the calling and obligation to be missionary as what St. Patrick and our other holy predecessors had done in their respective lives and works. That is why all of us are called to remember today our faith in the Lord and the generous mercy that God has given and reassured us with. We should not take God’s love for granted any longer, but appreciate every opportunities that we have been given.
Let us all therefore continue to journey through this time and season of Lent with contrite heart, desiring to seek God’s forgiveness and mercy, and at the same time, showing mercy and love, compassion and kindness to those around us as well. May all of us be truly forgiven by God and be reconciled with Him through this great opportunity of this Lenten time and season. May God be with us always, and may He continue to bless us in our every efforts and endeavours, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 6 : 36-38
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not be a judge of others and you will not be judged; do not condemn and you will not be condemned; forgive and you will be forgiven; give and it will be given to you, and you will receive in your sack good measure, pressed down, full and running over. For the measure you give will be the measure you receive back.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 78 : 8, 9, 11, 13
Do not remember against us the sins of our fathers. Let Your compassion hurry to us, for we have been brought very low.
Help us, God, our Saviour, for the glory of Your Name; forgive us for the sake of Your Name.
Listen to the groans of the prisoners; by the strength of Your arm, deliver those doomed to die.
Then we, Your people, the flock of Your pasture, will thank You forever. We will recount Your praise from generation to generation.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Daniel 9 : 4b-10
Lord God, great and to be feared, You keep Your covenant and love for those who love You and observe Your commandments. We have sinned, we have not been just, we have been rebels, and have turned away from Your commandments and laws. We have not listened to Your servants, the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, leaders, fathers and to all the people of the land.
Lord, justice is Yours, but ours is a face full of shame, as it is to this day – we, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in all the lands where You have dispersed us because of the infidelity we have committed against You. Ours is the shame, o Lord for we, our kings, princes, fathers, have sinned against You.
We hope for pardon and mercy from the Lord, because we have rebelled against Him. We have not listened to the voice of YHVH, our God, or followed the laws which He has given us through His servants, the prophets.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent, all of us are reminded through the words of the Sacred Scriptures of the need for us to live our lives carefully, being ever vigilant against the many temptations present all around us which may lead us into the wrong paths in life, moving ever further away from the Lord and His salvation. We are all reminded today that while God has generously given us all the many opportunities for us to follow Him and to embrace His mercy and forgiveness, but we must not take those for granted, or else we may come to regret it when the time comes for us to account for our lives before the Lord, at the time of the Last Judgment. Will we want to end up in the wrong side of the judgment at that time, brothers and sisters?
In our first reading today, we heard from the Book of Leviticus in which God spoke to His people, the Israelites during the time of their Exodus from Egypt, detailing to all of them the Law, the commandments and all the things which He had taught and revealed to them. Through those Law and commandments, He wants all of His people to know how to carry on living their lives with true and genuine faith in Him. God reminded the Israelites to act in the manner of righteousness, justice and virtue, that they do not cause suffering to others and pervert justice, or to manipulate others for their own benefits. All of these reminders that God had told His people are still important reminders for us even up to this day, because as the disciples and followers of the Lord, we ourselves are called to live lives that are truly worthy of Him, and we should be good role models and examples for everyone to follow.
The Lord wanted the Israelites to keep faithfully the Law and commandments which He had provided to them so that they would not fall into the temptations to sin, which could lead them all into their downfall and destruction. This is therefore also an important reminder for all of us so that we ourselves do not let those temptations of the world, desires, ambition, greed, or our ego and pride from leading us astray from the path towards the Lord. We have to strive to resist the wickedness of the evil ones who are constantly trying to lead us into our downfall. We should show genuine love towards our brothers and sisters, caring for the needs of those who are around us, such that through our loving actions and examples, we may inspire others to follow the Lord as well, because they will come to know God through us and our lives.
In our Gospel passage today, we heard from the Gospel of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist in which the Lord Jesus presented to His disciples and to all those who were listening to Him about the time of the Final or the Last Judgment, which will come to happen at the end of time. The Lord told them all how everyone will have to account for their lives before God, the Judge of all, Who is none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. Essentially, He has come into this world not just to lead us all into the salvation and eternal life by His loving sacrifice on the Cross, but also to reveal to us the coming time of reckoning at the end of time, when we have to account for all of our actions in each of our lives, be it those that are good or those that are wicked, as well as any failures for us to act.
All of these things will determine whether we will be worthy of God and His glorious inheritance. God has always been generous in loving us and on showing us His mercy, and He certainly wants us all to be reconciled and reunited with Him. However, at the same time, we must always remind ourselves that God, Who is all holy, good and perfect, will not allow sin and evil to exist in His Holy Presence. If we are to come towards Him with sins and wickedness that we have not repented from and have not been forgiven from, then we will be condemned by those same sins and wickedness which we have committed, all the disobedience and other unworthy deeds which we have done, which prevents us from truly being worthy of the Lord.
We must remember well as we continue to progress through this time and season of Lent that our faith in the Lord is the source of our salvation, for God has given us His grace through our faith in Him. However, we also must not think that our faith in the Lord without action and concrete deeds to back it up will benefit us in any way. As St. James the Apostle mentioned in his Epistle, and also the Apostolic tradition of the Church stated, that faith without good works is dead. This must not be misunderstood as what some believed wrongly, that we can gain salvation through our works without faith. Instead, it means that our faith in God must always be supported and made concrete and alive through real actions, not by mere words and formalities only, or else, that faith will not avail us.
And how should we live our faith such that we are truly worthy of the Lord? It is by following what He Himself had said in the Gospel passage today about the Final Judgment. He told all of His disciples and all those who were listening to Him about the actions taken by all those who will be found worthy at the time of the Final Judgment, that is those who have shown love to the least among their brothers and sisters, caring for those who are sick and needy, showing love and attention to the marginalised and all those who are suffering from various difficulties. All those actions show true faith that is indeed lived with genuine desire and sincerity to love both God and one’s fellow men and women alike, which is exactly what all of us as Christians have been called to do.
On the other hand, if we neglect to do those good deeds and ignore the need to show love and sincere care towards our fellow brethren, no matter how we may claim to be faithful to God, but in the end, that faith will not avail us, because all of our ignorance of the opportunities and the actions that we could have done for the benefit of others, or if we only care about ourselves, causing suffering for others and ignoring the plight of the needy and those who are suffering in our midst, all those things led us into sin against God, the sin of omission, which will be judged against us, and makes us unworthy to share in the true happiness and eternal glory that God has promised to those who have been truly faithful to Him. Essentially, we cannot come towards the Lord unless we make the conscious effort to do what is right and just, as well as commit ourselves to do His will, to show love towards our brethren in our midst.
Therefore, during this time of Lent, let us all continue to deepen our relationship with God, and strengthen our faith in Him by doing whatever we should be doing in this period of renewal and rejuvenation of our faith. Let us all do them with true understanding of our faith and with genuine desire to seek to be forgiven by God from our many sins and wickedness. We must continue to journey towards the Lord, reestablishing the connection which have been weakened by sin, and resist the many temptations present around us trying to drag us away from our loving God and Father. May the Lord also help us in this journey so that we may continue to persevere and move forward in our path towards Him, and with this blessed time and opportunity of Lent, may we rediscover that love which we all ought to have for God, and grow ever more committed to Him, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Matthew 25 : 31-46
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory with all His Angels, He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be brought before Him; and, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, so will He do with them, placing the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left.”
“The King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, blessed of My Father! Take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed Me into your home. I was naked, and you clothed Me. I was sick, and you visited Me. I was in prison, and you came to see Me.’”
“Then the righteous will ask Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and give You food; thirsty, and give You something to drink; or a stranger, and welcome You; or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and go to see You?’ The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you : just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it to Me.’”
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Go, cursed people, out of My sight, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry, and you did not give Me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me into your house; I was naked, and you did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’”
“They, too, will ask, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, thirsty, naked or a stranger, sick or in prison, and did not help You?’ The King will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you : just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for Me.’ And these will go into eternal punishments; but the just, to eternal life.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 18 : 8, 9, 10, 15
The Law of YHVH is perfect : it gives life to the soul. The word of YHVH is trustworthy : it gives wisdom to the simple.
The precepts of YHVH are right : they give joy to the heart. The commandments of YHVH are clear : they enlighten the eyes.
The fear of YHVH is pure, it endures forever; the judgments of YHVH are true, all of them just and right.
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart find favour in Your sight, o YHVH – my Redeemer, my Rock!
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Leviticus 19 : 1-2, 11-18
YHVH spoke to Moses and said, “Speak to the entire assembly of the people of Israel and say to them : Be holy for I, YHVH, your God, am holy. Do not steal or lie or deceive one another. Do not swear falsely by My Name so as to profane the Name of your God; I am YHVH.”
“Do not oppress your neighbour or rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block in the way of the blind; but you shall fear your God; I am YHVH.”
“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor nor bow to the great; you are to judge your neighbour fairly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not go about as a slanderer of your people and do not seek the death of your neighbour; I am YHVH.”
“Do not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your neighbour frankly so as not to share in his guilt. Do not seek revenge or nurture a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbour as yourself; I am YHVH.”
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 