3rd Sunday of Lent, Cycle A, Year I

"A fountain within him, leaping up to provide eternal life"
Every one of us has experienced thirst, especially physical thirst. When we do so, the only thing that shall quench our thirst would be either a refreshment or just plain water. If we live in a hot environment, we know how much value drinking water is to us. The hot environment makes us easily perspire and so we lose a lot of water from our body. We take more occasions to drink water and we finally realize that we shall always be thirsty if the heat never lets up. The hotter the weather becomes, the more we need water.

If we make an analogy for the need for God, then when we are in an environment of sin and sinfulness and darkness and degeneration, then those of us who truly need God to live, need Him more and more every moment of our life. Are we in such an environment already? If compared to the weather that is becoming hotter and hotter and the need for water is greater, if our environment is degenerating more and more everyday, then indeed our thirst for God and His most Holy Spirit will be increased all the more.

We are not to worry and to fret and to be frightened when the time comes when the world becomes really very sinful again. If we trust in the Lord with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our entire soul and our entire strength and if we hope in Him as if He is the only Hope we really need, then we are like a tree that is planted near the waterside. This tree stretches out its roots to the stream where it gets its nourishment. This tree does not fear when the heat comes or drought arrives because its leaves stay green and it continues to bear fruit - all because its roots are stretched out to the water.

How much more we are if we stretch out our roots, as it were, to the Holy Spirit. Then the water shall become like fountains within us leaping up to provide us with eternal life.

2nd Sunday of Lent Cycle A Year I

"Do not tell anyone of the vision until the Son of Man rises from the dead"
The mystery of the Jesus' Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of what we will become after our death and enter into new life - a glorified state. This mystery teaches us that death is not the end of our mortal life but an eternal glorified state of life with God. Sometimes, when we go on with our daily lives we often become engrossed in the difficulties, the problems, the sufferings and the tests and trials of our states of life, our professional life and our relationship with others. However, we need not focus on this because the overall context of our life on earth is the life that God promises to us. And this life, Jesus shares with us by having Himself transfigured by the Father for Peter, James and John to see. So, what Jesus was actually saying to the three apostles also was that even though He may have to suffer the passion and death on the cross, that is not the end. The end and the ultimate result of all his suffering and death is the resurrection.

When Peter and the other two experienced the Transfiguration of Jesus, they were so enthralled by the event that they wanted to build three tents and stay permanently on the mountain together with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. But Jesus said that that was not to be the case. Though the Transfiguration gives us a glimpse of our resurrected and glorified state through the example of Jesus, we still have to go through our calvaries and our crucifixions - the daily sufferings and trials we experience from day to day. In fact, our Christian life is really a series of sufferings and trials to consolation and grace and then back again to suffering and trials. This daily grind will go on until we will meet our final end in death; but only a physical death - for the Transfiguration mystery teaches us that glory awaits us in heaven if we live a life of virtue on earth.

Lent is a time for us to consider the life path that Jesus our Lord has taken. It was a path that anyone of us can follow. He was born simply and without fanfare. His mother and father were simple people. He grew up in a simple town. And He never was schooled like the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. But He lived a life in God by teaching, preaching, and healing people from their illnesses. This life that Jesus lived was not without misunderstanding or rejection or suffering. Towards the end of his life he really was tested in faith because of the terrible suffering he had to endure in order to be obedient to the Lord's will.

Maybe the challenge of the message of the mystery of the Transfiguration for us is this. First, although we may be happy and elated and feel overjoyed that our ultimate is a life of glory with Christ in heaven, we still must "go down" from our mountain of Transfiguration and return to the reality of life on earth - which means doing the everyday work and ministry we do out of service and love for God. We must not get "stuck" in our high spiritual experiences or our feelings of consolation whenever we get them in prayer or in our service to others. Second, as we do our daily duties and obligations in our states of life, we must not also feel dejected or feel desperate or despondent or sad, disappointed, dejected or discouraged whenever things don't go on as we want them to go or to be. And we must not get "stuck" in sorrow or depression when we experience loss or failure. Rather, we must look to the mystery of the Transfiguration for our hope in a life of glory with God. What a great mystery this is of the Transfiguration of Jesus. It indeed is a mystery of light that gives us light in our darkness, and guides us to what we should focus our attention really on: not on spiritual highs or feelings of consolation but on doing the will of God in the everyday things.

1st Sunday of Lent - Cycle A Year I

Saying No to evil in our following of Jesus
There are three temptations given by the Evil One to Jesus:
1. to trust in Mammon rather than the word of God
2. to test God's power
3. to trust in riches and the power of this world

In all three temptations, Jesus said No to the Evil One. The Church, in imitation of Jesus and in her vocation to follow Him must also say No to these three temptations in her life. As a divine institution through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church is able to say No to the Evil One in his temptations of power and riches. However, since the Church is at the same time a human institution, there have been occasions and events in the history of the Church when the Church was unable to say No to the temptations of the Evil One. That is why recently, the Holy Father made a gesture wherein the Church asks forgiveness from God for all the mistakes she has made in her historical life.

We too as individuals are called to say No to the temptations of the Evil One in how the three temptations above may enter our life. We can be strong to resist the temptations of the Evil One if we always are one with Jesus as branches are to the vine. It is the Spirit of Jesus that can help us combat all the evils we are facing in our daily lives. Thus a regular regimen of prayer and sacramental life would be good for us in order to resist all that is unChristian in our environment. Let us therefore take this opportunity especially this Lenten season to practice not only more prayer but also to make fasts and to practice mercy to those who may need our mercy and those who have in some way offended us. If the Lord Jesus Christ was able to forgive those who martyred and killed Him, how much more we who have suffered so little compared to His. May the season of Lent bring much prayer in our lives and also in the lives of those we influence in our homes, our workplaces, our communities, our parish and in our neighborhood.

Salt of the Earth and Light of the World

Ever since Jesus was incarnated as man, He made a big difference to the society of His time. Even John the Baptist, His precursor, made a big difference - a positive difference. John the Baptist wore camel's hair and ate wild locusts and honey and preached about the coming of the Messiah. Jesus, on the other hand, was a simple man, not educated formally like the Pharisees, but has an intelligence and a wisdom that is beyond all the knowledge and wisdom of the religious leaders of His time.

When Jesus made a big difference in the world of His time, He taught His apostles to be the same - to impact the world with the Gospel message. And the apostles did so by being the salt of the earth and the light of the world. When Christ sent His apostles to positively influence the world with the values of the Gospel, He did so through the power of the Holy Spirit. And this was what the apostles received at Pentecost - the power to positively change the world for the better.

Before the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostolic community at Jerusalem, the apostles were living in a kind of semi-darkened state because of their fear of persecution from the authorities. Also, they were not seen by the community because they hid in the Cenacle - the Upper Room - where they had the last meal with Jesus. However, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them like the power of a great wind and with tongues of fire upon their head, they instantly were filled with God's Light and power was bestowed upon them to make a difference in the world by preaching the Gospel which they now truly believed with their minds and hearts.

The gospel today, invites us to truly believe in Jesus and the Gospel He has taught us. Only when we truly believe in Jesus and the Gospel shall we be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. We can make a difference right were we are: in our families, in our workplaces and in our parishes and neighborhood. Charity as they say, always begins at home. If we practice charity in all its forms, then truly Christians will all be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Even though we are not able to make others believe as we do, they know that by our belief in Christ and through our actions that flow from them, the Christian message lives and will live for all time.