Faithfulness and Love

Monthly Archives: January 2015

Monday of the 4th Week of Lent

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Every now and then, some of us may have experienced a situation, event or persons which leave a bitter taste, which some may find quite difficult to forget. Some of us may begin to dwell more and more into the memory of such a situation, event or persons, so much so that the more we think of and relive what we had gone through, the angrier and bitter we become. If we are not careful, we could become consumed with disgust, hatred and hurt as we drown and suffocate more and more in such memories, to the detriment of our sanity and sanctity.

However, God is reaching out to us to let go, be humble and willing to forgive, and move on. We are not doing ourselves any good in dwelling and getting stuck in such memories. Instead, as mentioned in the 1st reading, God will create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds. God wants His people to rejoice because He wants to give joy and gladness to His people. God wants to heal us of our bitterness and resentment so that we can be a new people who will proclaim joy and gladness to all. Are we willing to be transformed into something new, and experience God’s healing grace of joy and gladness?

4th Sunday of Lent Year B

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Every now and then. we come across people who do not seem to feel good about themselves. Such people seem to think that they are not good enough, not smart enough, not handsome or pretty enough, not loving enough, not talented enough or not capable enough. When these people think and feel this way, they are suffering from low self-image and low self-esteem. They are unable to accept themselves for who they are, even though in reality they are doing just fine. Some even begin to be critical of others or constantly find fault in others, thinking that by doing so, they would be able to boost their ego and self-esteem. But such efforts would only end up in failure, because these people would become more and more alienated from others, or others may avoid or shun them.

But if we consider for a moment what today’s readings and Gospel tells us, we are actually much loved and appreciated. We are so loved and appreciated that, as the Gospel tells us: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved.” Moreover, St. Paul remind us in the second reading: “We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.” Imagine that… we have a God who loves us so much that He sent His son to save us. We are not just any other old thing or useless or hopeless, but we are God’s work of art. With such assurance from God, why do we still need to look for other forms of assurance?

Since God loves us so much and we are His works of art, then we should making every effort to stop sinning. When we sin, we are actually lacking of belief in God’s love for us. When we sin, we believe that God’s love for us is not enough and we doubt His love for us. When we sin we are actually calling God a liar, since we claim that there is something more than what God can give to us.

So let us not be so concerned about looking for acceptance from others, from our peers, from our families, friends and loved ones. No matter how much we do things for others or say nice things to others, we will never be able to please everyone, and we may end up miserable and unhappy. We also do not need to try and please God by trying to be more prayerful or by merely trying to follow the commandments, since as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading: “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith; not by anything of your own, but by a gift from God; not by anything that you have done, so that nobody can claim the credit.” Instead, we should learn “to live the good life as from the beginning he had meant us to live it.” All that we say or do should not be to win admiration or approval from others, or we hope to win admiration or approval from God, but because we know that God loves us and all that we say and do is ultimately for His greater glory.

Housekeeping – 3rd Week of Lent

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For your easy reference, the following is a list of weeks and years with their corresponding date:

8 March 2015 – 3rd Sunday of Lent Year B
9 March 2015 – Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent
10 March 2015 – Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent
11 March 2015 – Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent
12 March 2015 – Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent
13 March 2015 – Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

Friday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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Some of us seem to be great runners. Some of us run away from responsibilities; some run away from commitments; some run away from relationships for some reason or another; some run away from the hurt or pain one is experiencing and try to find alternatives to help forget or reduce the hurt or pain; some even run away from God. But how long can we really run away? Eventually, we will need to face reality and the truth, and come to terms with what we are trying to run away from. What would we do then, when we are unable to run anymore?

In today’s reading, God beckoned Israel: “Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again and offer you our words of praise…’ Let the wise man understand these words. Let the intelligent man grasp their meaning. For the ways of the Lord are straight, and virtuous men walk in them, but sinners stumble.” When Israel was running in circles and running away from God, they faced many challenges and hardship because of their stubbornness and iniquity. But God did not give up on them; God continued to call them to come back to Him, to stop running away and be happy again in His love and care. In the same way, God is calling us to come back to Him, to stop running away and be happy again in His love and care. Why are we still running away and remaining fearful and stubborn? Don’t we want to experience the true happiness that God offers us?

Thursday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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Pride can be the downfall of many. When a person becomes proud, he or she slowly begins to lose the ability to reason, to accept mistakes and correction, to change, to forgive and seek forgiveness, and even to love unconditionally. People who gradually become proud begin to think that only their ways or thoughts matter, and others are perceived as a threat or unwanted competition. Such people may begin to find ways and means to put others down, or belittle them, or in some cases even to the point of committing ‘assassination’ of character or taken to the extreme, having the other killed so as to protect one’s interest. Such is the danger of being consumed with pride, that other sins and vile acts could begin to occur.

In today’s Gospel, we come across some people who have become so proud of themselves, their ways, and their capabilities, that Jesus was seen as a threat to them. They just could not accept Jesus or His teachings and everything Jesus did was seen as bad or threatening to them. Such people even went to the extent of saying: “It is through Beelzebul, the prince of devils, that he casts out devils.” A normal, sane, and thinking person would not associate the devil casting our devils, since such utterance is illogical, absurd and makes one look and sound foolish. But herein lies the problem: when a person is proud; jealousy and anger creeps in when one believes that one’s status or ability is being challenged. In response to their silly statements, Jesus admonished these people, saying: “Every kingdom divided against itself is heading for ruin, and a household divided against itself collapses. So too with Satan: if he is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? – Since you assert that it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils. Now if it is through Beelzebul that I cast out devils, through whom do your own experts cast them out? Let them be your judges then. But if it is through the finger of God that I cast out devils, then know that the kingdom of God has overtaken you.” But were these people willing to see error in their ways? No, pride had already coloured their vision, and they preferred to remain in their comfort zone and carry on merrily in their ways instead of changing and returning to God’s ways.

We too could fall into the same trap as these people, if we allow ourselves to dwell in pride, since pride could rear its ugly head in many ways and forms. May we be watchful and learn to grow in humility, so that we could grow closer in relationship with our loving God.

Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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Do you want to live? Or would you prefer to die? Many of you may be thinking… what a silly question! Of course many of you would say that you would want to live, and some would say that they would want to live as long as possible. So what do we need to do to help us increase our lifespan? Some may think that it would be necessary to have a healthy diet. Others may think that physical exercise and regular check-ups with the doctor would help. But what sort of life are we trying to prolong here? Are we only concerned about life here on earth?

In today’s reading, Moses said to the people: “Now, Israel, take notice of the laws and customs that I teach you today, and observe them, that you may have life and may enter and take possession of the land that the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you….But take care what you do and be on your guard. Do not forget the things your eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart all the days of your life; rather, tell them to your children and to your children’s children.” At first glance, we can deduce that Moses is giving the people a pep talk, and encouraging them to be faithful and remain close in relationship with God, so that they would one day come to the promised land. But for us Christians, our promised land is not a place here on earth. Our promised land is to be with God in heaven. Are we faithfully, diligently and consistently doing our part to “take notice of the laws and customs” and even “tell them to your children and to your children’s children” so that we would reach our promised land?

Tuesday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” are the words from the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father which we pray on many occasions. We pray the Lord’s Prayer during Mass, when we pray the rosary, during a wedding, funeral or even a baptism service, and during many other liturgical services. But some of us do not seem to understand or appreciate what it really means to forgive and to receive forgiveness. Some of us say we forgive, but in our hearts we are still keeping the hurt or anger and allowing such hurt and anger to fester in us, to consume us, and lead us to even greater bitterness and hatred.

But what exactly does it mean to forgive? To forgive means we are making a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. Forgiveness is the intentional and voluntary process by which a victim undergoes a change in feelings and attitude regarding an offense, lets go of negative emotions such as vengefulness, with an increased ability to wish the offender well. If we receive forgiveness from God, we must give it to others who hurt us. When we forgive, we cannot hold grudges or seek revenge. We are to trust God for justice and forgive the person who offended us. That does not mean we must forget the offense, since sometimes that is beyond our power, but we should not linger in the memory of the offense or allow the thought about the offense to consume us and continue to hurt or destroy us. Forgiveness means releasing the other from blame, leaving the event in God’s hands, and moving on.

This is where the unforgiving servant in today’s Gospel did not get the point. He thought that he had been given a lucky break when his master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Instead of being grateful and thankful for his master’s generosity, charity and benevolence, and instead of following his master’s example towards his fellow servant, he became arrogant and nasty, refusing to forgive the other servant who owed him way much less than what he owed his master, and even had the gall to throw his fellow servant into prison till he should pay his debt. This caused his master to become furious and as the Gospel tells us: “”You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt.”

What about us? Are we still like that wicked and unforgiving servant, expecting God and others to forgive us, but refusing to forgive others? Do we treat forgiveness lightly or as a lucky break, and think that we can do as we please towards others? As the Gospel also reminds and cautions us, we will be responsible and liable to repay our debts if we refuse to forgive others: “And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.”

Monday of the 3rd Week of Lent

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Misunderstandings and ill-feelings sometimes occur when people do not communicate well or when people do not get the actual message. Sometimes the misunderstanding could be because the one who receives the message does not know or is not aware that the message is not for him or her; sometimes it could be misinterpreted due to limitations in language (as some say, “lost in translation”); sometimes it could simply be because the person who receives the message is edgy or quite easily aroused over the smallest things, possibly due to pride, fear, or even lacking of trust; sometimes it could just be a case of not listening, thinking and executing, but just hearing and doing.

When the king of Aram sent Naaman to the king of Israel, the message given to him in the form of a letter was actually meant for Elisha, but possibly due to a misunderstanding of the message, the king of Israel thought that the king of Aram was trying to pick a quarrel with him, since he tore his garments and exclaimed: “Am I a god to give death and life,’ he said ‘that he sends a man to me and asks me to cure him of his leprosy? Listen to this, and take note of it and see how he intends to pick a quarrel with me.” But Elisha admonished the king for doing such a silly thing, called Naaman to come to him, and had Naaman cured after Naaman immersed himself seven times in the Jordan. This led Naaman to realise “that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel.”

Sometimes we too do not listen carefully to what we are told. We just hear and scoot off, only to come back feeling sheepish or embarrassed for not getting the gist of the message. Just as the king of Israel was too quick to jump into conclusions, Naaman himself too was at first too quick to jump into conclusions when he felt Elisha was not willing to cure him directly or immediately. It was only after he did what Elisha told him that Naaman was completely cured.

What about us? Do we take time and effort to listen carefully to what we are told? Do we discern carefully what God is telling us? Sometimes it just takes a bit of patience, humility and perseverance to truly understand the message. Let us not so easily jump the gun or jump into conclusions, so that we will be crystal clear on what we have listened.