Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 32 : 4-5, 18-19, 20 and 22
For upright is the Lord’s word and worthy of trust is His work. The Lord loves justice and righteousness; the earth is full of His kindness.
But the Lord’s eyes are upon those who fear Him, upon those who trust in His loving kindness to deliver them from death and preserve them from famine.
In hope we wait for the Lord, for He is our help and our shield. O Lord, let Your love rest upon us, even as our hope rests in You.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Genesis 12 : 1-4a
YHVH said to Abram, “Leave your country, your family and your father’s house, for the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curse you, I will curse, and in you all peoples of the earth will be blessed.”
So Abram went as YHVH had told him, and Lot went with him.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this Sunday, the second one in the season of Lent, we are called to reflect on the meaning of obedience to God, which is something that many of us may not have done with our own lives, as we live our daily lives without realising of the obligations and duties which we have as those who believe in God and walk in His ways.
In the first reading today, we heard first of all, the story of how God called upon Abraham, His faithful servant, with whom He had created a Covenant with, to bring his son, Isaac, to the Mount Moria to be sacrificed to Him. God promised in His Covenant with Abraham that He would give him a son, as Abraham was once childless even unto his old age. His wife Sarah was unable to bear a child, and he had to resort to a slave woman to provide him a son.
But God fulfilled His promises to Abraham, proven by Sarah’s pregnancy in her old age, and the birth of Isaac, the promised son, through whom God had promised Abraham that he would have descendants as many as the stars in the heavens and the sand grains at the seashore of the world. Then it must have come as a surprise for Abraham to hear such a command from the Lord, asking him to bring his beloved son Isaac to Mount Moria to be sacrificed.
How can God say such a thing? How can He, Who is good, demand a human sacrifice, more so that of a young child? How can He be like the pagan gods of my ancestors, who demanded human sacrifices? How can He do this to me? I thought that He has promised me a son, and now that I finally have received the son I was promised, and saw him grew up all these while, only for God to ask for him to be sacrificed to Him? How can this be?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, all of these are the thoughts and concerns which must have been in Abraham’s mind the moment he heard the Lord’s strange command, and it must have continued to trouble him throughout the journey towards Mount Moria. After all, Abraham is a human being just like us, with all of its flaws and worldly concerns and thoughts. I am sure that Abraham also had doubts about what the Lord had asked him to do.
Yet, regardless of all that, Abraham remained true to his faith in God, and chose to trust God in all that He had called him to do. St. Paul in one of his Epistles mentioned about this matter, speaking about Abraham and his faith in not holding back even his beloved son, Isaac, to be given to God if He so wished, as he had complete trust that God would be able to raise Isaac his son from the dead if He wanted it. Abraham therefore placed himself in God’s hands.
In the end we saw how God was only testing the faith that Abraham had in him, and as he has devoutly fulfilled his part of the Covenant, not withholding even his own son from God, the one he loved so much, thus God saw there was no blame in Abraham, and as a result, affirmed Abraham in all that He had promised him that He would do. From Isaac, many nations would come forth, including the Israelites, the ones whom God had chosen to be His first beloved people.
Just as Abraham did not hesitate not to hold back his own son from being given up to God as an offering, then we see just how amazing our Covenant with God is, as we clearly should have remembered, just how God did not hesitate, equally, to give us His own most beloved Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord, to be our Saviour, by none other than the offering of His life on the cross. By His cross, all of us have been saved and made worthy.
In the Gospel passage today, we heard a different story, and yet, one that is incredibly similar and showed a great parallel to what we have heard in the first reading today. In that passage, we heard about how the Lord Jesus brought up His three most trusted disciples, St. Peter, St. James and St. John the Apostles, up to the Mount Tabor in Galilee. Already in this, we can see a parallel with the story of Abraham going on a journey with Isaac to the Mount Moria.
The Lord Jesus went up Mount Tabor, and He was glorified and transfigured before the eyes of His disciples, shining with His divine glory and majesty, revealing before all those who saw Him, the true nature of Jesus Christ, as both Son of Man, as well as the Son of God, the Divine Word of God incarnate into flesh. Moses and Elijah also appeared on the Mount Tabor, and spoke with the Lord Jesus.
The symbolism of the appearance of these two most prominent among the servants of God cannot be underestimated, as they together represent what the Lord Jesus came into this world for, and what He represented. Moses was one the greatest of the leaders of the people of Israel in the past, through whom God passed down to His people the Law and the commandments, which the Israelites preserved through the ages. Meanwhile, the prophet Elijah was among the greatest and most prominent among the prophets and messengers that God had sent to His people.
Therefore, they affirmed the Lord’s arrival in this world as the perfect fulfilment of all that God Himself has promised to His people through His prophets, and even Moses also prophesied about the coming of the Messiah, saying that the Lord would raise up a Leader from among His own people, that is Jesus, Who was born into the people of Israel, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, as well as the heir of David, king of Israel.
And the Lord Jesus was indeed also a Prophet, the greatest of all the Prophets, for while all the other prophets spoke on the authority granted to them by the Lord, the Lord Jesus spoke on His own authority, revealing to the people the will of God and telling them the truth and teaching them about the Law of God. He spoke with the combined authority of the prophets. And as Moses represented the Law, the Lord Himself is the Law, through which He wanted everyone to know how to love, as the essence of Law is about loving God and loving one another.
That was why God called Abraham to Mount Moria, testing him with the demand to sacrifice his own son, Isaac, whom surely Abraham loved beyond anything else. Abraham obeyed God and listened to Him, despite all the concerns, doubts and questions he might have of God’s command. This showed Abraham’s love and devotion for God, which surpassed anything else, even for his son and for any of his worldly riches and power.
And Jesus, in our Gospel passage today, showed the same obedience as what Abraham had done, as He listened to the will of His Father, that despite all the glory He experienced at Mount Tabor during His Transfiguration, He knew that the purpose of His coming into the world was for the salvation of mankind. And in order to do that, He would have to suffer and be condemned to death, the most painful death on the cross.
Thus, when St. Peter and the other Apostles told Jesus that they would build three tents for Him and for Moses and Elijah, God rebuked them by reminding them that they must listen to Him and follow the examples shown by Jesus, Who showed perfect obedience to the will of His Father even unto accepting death on the cross, for the sake of our salvation.
Why did St. Peter tell such a thing to Jesus? It is the devil that spoke through St. Peter, just as he tempted the Lord three times during His fasting of forty days in the desert, our last Sunday’s Gospel passage. Again we see how the devil might tempt us in various ways, as what I have mentioned earlier today, with all the questions and doubts that Abraham had regarding God’s orders.
St. Peter said that, ‘It is good that we are here’ which refers to the blissful moment they spent at that mountain. They wanted to stay there forever, because they feel satisfied and happy, and the pursuit of happiness and personal satisfaction is the main way through which the devil is trying to bring us down through temptation and persuasion, that we fall into sin and disobedience against God.
If they went down the mountain, they would suffer persecution and challenges from the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law, the priests and elders who hounded them and harassed them at every possible opportunity. It is our human weakness and frailty which bring about our desire to seek happiness, profit and enjoyment for ourselves. And the devil exploits these at every possible opportunity.
The Lord resisted the temptation to avoid the sufferings and difficulties which He had to face if He obeyed the Father’s will. He went down the Mount Tabor with His disciples, fully knowing that He was going down to His suffering and death on the cross, on Calvary. And the disciples obeyed Him and followed Him, and even though some faltered and they were scattered when the Lord was arrested, but they persevered on, and went on to follow Him, eventually to martyrdom as they kept their faith in God firmly.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, what is it that each and every one of us must take away from today’s Scripture passages and reflection we have just had? First of all, to be a Christian, we must be God-centric and not self-centric. God must be the priority of our respective lives, and there can be nothing else more important for us than to glorify God through our words, actions and deeds. And as Christians we must obey the Lord and follow His will in everything we do.
And it is inevitable that in our lives we will encounter difficulties and persecution, challenges and obstacles, just as the Lord and His disciples had encountered, and just as Abraham surely had encountered in his own life. The Lord Jesus Himself did not call His disciples to a life of happiness, joy, prosperity and comfort, as what we surely want to have with our lives. No, He called us to a life filled with both joy of serving the Lord, as well as the realisation of suffering, by calling us to ‘take up our crosses, and follow Him.’
In this season of Lent, we are called to rediscover our true priority in life, that is God. That is why we fast, so as to restrain ourselves, as well as abstinence, that we may look beyond all sorts of earthly goodness and sources of happiness as familiar to us, known to us since we were born. We have been inundated with the various happiness that we may gain from the world, be it prestige, wealth, fame, pleasures of the body, sexual pleasures, pleasures of the stomach, good food, and many others. But are these really true sources of happiness that will last?
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, shall we make best use of this time of Lent to rediscover our faith, and understand why is it that we need to be faithful to God and to put Him above all else, following the examples that Abraham our father in faith has shown us, and the Lord Jesus Himself showed us. After all, if God has always been faithful to His Covenant with us, not holding back His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be crucified for us, that we may live, in the manner of Abraham’s faith, why should we not show the same commitment and faith to the Covenant God had made with us?
Let us all draw ever closer to God and follow His ways. Let us seek to be ever more faithful to Him, and obey Him as far as possible in all the things that He has commanded us to do. May the Lord bless us all in our journey of faith, that we may grow in our relationship with Him, and find our way to His everlasting grace. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Mark 9 : 2-10
At that time, six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain. There, His appearance was changed before their eyes. Even His clothes shone, becoming as white as no bleach of this world could make them. Elijah and Moses appeared to them; the two were talking with Jesus.
Then Peter spoke and said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here; let us make three tents, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say; they were overcome with awe. But a cloud formed, covering them in a shadow, and from the cloud came a voice, “This is My Son, the Beloved : listen to Him!”
And suddenly, as they looked around, they no longer saw anyone except Jesus with them. As they came down the mountain, He ordered them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept this to themselves, although they discussed with one another what ‘to rise from the dead’ could mean.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Romans 8 : 31b-34
If God is with us, who shall be against us? If He did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not give us all things with Him? Who shall accuse those chosen by God : He takes away their guilt? Who will dare to condemn them?
Christ, Who died, and better still, rose, and is seated at the right hand of God, interceding for us?
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 115 : 10 and 15, 16-17, 18-19
I have kept faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” It is painful to YHVH to see the death of His faithful.
O YHVH, I am Your servant, truly Your servant, Your handmaid’s son. You have freed me from my bonds. I will offer You a thanksgiving sacrifice; I will call on the Name of YHVH.
I will carry out my vows to YHVH in the presence of His people, in the courts of the House of YHVH, in your midst, o Jerusalem.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Genesis 22 : 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18
Some time later, God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I shall point out to you.”
They came to the place to which God had directed them. Abraham then stretched out his hand to seize the knife and slay his son. But the Angel of YHVH called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.” “Do not lay your hand on the boy; do not harm him, for now I know that you fear God, and you have not held back from Me your only son.” Abraham looked around and saw behind him a ram caught by its horns in a bush. He offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
And the Angel of YHVH called from heaven a second time. “By Myself I have sworn, it is YHVH Who speaks, because you have done this and not held back your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the land of their enemies. All the nations of the earth will be blessed through your descendants because you have obeyed Me.”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this day we listened to the words of the Scripture reminding us that God is loving, and He is filled with mercy for His people, as He desires to forgive all those who have wronged Him, all who have betrayed Him and left Him behind, as what the parable of the prodigal son would have told us, that famous story on forgiveness and mercy, as told by Jesus our Lord.
Most if not all of us should be quite familiar with the story, which we have heard since our childhood, or in our catechism classes, or through reading the Scriptures. But how many of us truly understand its meaning and its significance? How many of us can relate ourselves and our own experiences with that story of the prodigal son, who was forgiven by his father?
In that parable, we heard how the prodigal son left his father after getting his share of the inheritance, and squandered off all his wealth and possessions on lavish living. In the end, he had no money left with him, and all of his friends who used to be with him left him behind. He suffered terribly in that foreign land, and no one would want to help him, even his friends. He had to endure the most difficult of conditions, and even shamed by working at the lowest possible places as a caretaker of pigs in a farm.
In the end, the prodigal son decided to go back to his father, seeking to humbly seek his forgiveness and even wanted to declare before his father that after having committed such a shameful act, and after having sinned in such a manner, he could no longer be called the son of his father. Instead, he wanted to be treated just as one of his father’s slaves.
But his father would have none of that, and ordered his servants that his younger son should be dressed up in the finest of clothes and a feast be prepared for his sake, celebrating his return from the faraway lands. He was indeed dressed up and treated with a treatment equal to that of the son and heir of a king. Then we heard about how the elder son was angry at his father after having heard of the treatment which the prodigal younger son had received.
In all of these, we can see ourselves, and how we relate ourselves with God and one another. The parable is a very good representation of our very own selves, our lives and our actions in this world. The father is a representation of God, while the prodigal son represents all those who have sinned and who have been separated from God and His love. How about the elder son? The elder son represents those who have remained true and faithful to the ways of the Lord.
First of all, the prodigal son is just like us, who have wandered off from the way of the Lord, seeking other things and other pleasures of life instead of the love of God, just as how the younger son looking to venture to a far off land. Yet, his father allowed him to do so, the loving God, Who loves each and every one of us, because He loved us. He gives us a free will and a freedom to choose our path forward.
But in our sins and in our weaknesses, in our frailties and in our easy fall into temptations, we have fallen into a miserable state just as the prodigal son did. And when we are in trouble, people who do not truly love us or care for us will leave us behind. They are like Satan and his angels, who pretended to be our friends, but when we have fallen into sin, they will laugh at our folly and marvel at our downfall and misery.
There is only One Who will remember us and continue to love us, and that is God. Even though we have wandered off, rebelled, and disobeyed Him, He will continue to love us, just as the father continued to think about the prodigal son. But we must remember what the prodigal son had done. As wrong and mistaken as he had been, he had resolved and decided to humble himself and sought his father, returning to the father who loved him.
This is where many of us mankind have faltered, because we have not been able to overcome one thing that often stands in the way of our salvation. And what is that, brethren? It is pride, our very own human pride. From our pride, came stubbornness and all the other things that have prevented us from seeking God and His forgiveness. First of all, we think that whatever we do, God will forgive us without our need to make the effort to seek for repentance, and this is the sin of presumption according to the renowned St. Cyprian of Carthage.
And presumption came from our pride, in our thought that we cannot have done any mistake, that we cannot have been wrong, even in our despicable state of sin and wickedness. This is what all of us must resist and overcome, brothers and sisters in Christ, or otherwise, we will continue to fall and end up in eternal damnation of hell. Let us seek instead to follow the path of the prodigal son, who humbly sought the forgiveness of his father.
And as we all can see, the father forgave his prodigal and wayward son, just as God is ever ready to forgive us and to welcome us back. We must not be afraid to seek God the Father for His forgiveness, for there is a second great sin, according to St. Cyprian, and that is the sin of despair, which is ultimately also born out of our human pride. We think and assume that our sins are so great that God will not forgive us, but God will forgive us if only we make the effort to overcome our sins and repent from them.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to realise that God is ever merciful and loving, especially to all of us who have sinned and fallen into sin. But God’s mercy will not have any effect on us, unless we consciously put in the effort to make that mercy useful and meaningful to us. God wants to forgive us, but do we want to be forgiven? And are we able to commit to the commitment to sin no more and lead a righteous life from now on?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, therefore, during this season of Lent, we need to spend some time to reflect on our own lives and our actions. We need to reevaluate our lives and actions, and we need to renew our lives in the same manner as the prodigal son. Are we able to overcome our pride, our stubbornness and all the obstacles that had prevented us from reaching out to God and His mercy?
Now, we also then need to take note of the action of the elder son, who became angry at the return of the younger, prodigal son. Jesus through that action was rebuking the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who have often hampered the return of sinners to God’s grace, because they thought that sinners were incapable of being forgiven by God, and because they thought that they alone deserved God’s love.
As Christians, and as those to whom God had given His grace, we cannot have this kind of attitude. First of all, we need to know that God loves everyone, all sinners alike, and we have to remember that all of us are sinners after all, in need of God’s mercy. We must always be vigilant lest we fall back into our sinful ways. And therefore, we should not think that we alone deserve God’s grace, but rather, we should help open the path to God’s mercy to those who are in need of our help.
Let us therefore guide one another, and help each other to remain faithful to God and true to His ways, by showing our faith through our words, actions and deeds, so that all of us may be saved together, and receive once again God’s love and grace. May all of us walk in the path of the prodigal son, and humbly seek forgiveness for our sins, and may all of us be able to commit to repent from our sins, and do good from now onwards. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Luke 15 : 1-3, 11-32
At that time, tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what He had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, ‘This Man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So Jesus told them this parable : “There was a man with two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them. Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land, where he squandered his wealth in loose living.”
“Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place, and was sent to work on a pig farm. So famished was he, that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.”
“Finally coming to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will get up and go back to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against God, and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind, he set off for his father’s house.”
“He was still a long way off, when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. The son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.'”
“But the father turned to his servants : ‘Quick!’ he said. ‘Bring out the finest robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! Take the fattened calf and kill it! We shall celebrate and have a feast, for this son of mine was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found!’ And the celebration began.”
“Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and approached the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. The servant answered, ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration, and killed the fattened calf.'”
“The elder son became angry, and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. The son, very indignant, said, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. Then when this son of yours returns, after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.'”
“The father said, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life; he was lost, and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.'”
Liturgical Colour : Purple/Violet
Psalm 102 : 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Bless the Lord, my soul; all my being, bless His holy Name! Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all His kindness.
He forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness; He redeems your life from destruction and crowns you with love and compassion.
He will not always scold nor will He be angry forever. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor does He punish us as we deserve.
As the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His love for those fearing Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove from us our sins.
petercanisiusmichaeldavidkang 