4th Sunday of Lent, Cycle A Year I

"I came into the world to divide it...to make the sightless see and the seeing blind."
In the gospel today, Jesus is calling all of us, especially those who are sightless, to see Him with the eyes of faith. For those of us who already have a mustard seed of faith, we are called to see Him more as the Truth, the Life, and the Way. We are called to have more faith in Him. There are times in our spiritual journey when we see ourselves as righteous and 'in the right'. When we do so in an attitude of pride and arrogance, we really blind ourselves to the truth that we are weak and sinful. We become so obsessed with the idols of power, money, fame and success that we become blind to the true God in Jesus. Often, we become so when we are too much involved in the affairs of the world that we forget that it is in Christ that we have our strength and our power in life. It will take only a sudden turn of events where we may experience the pain of others, a sickness in the family, or a sudden accident, or a tragedy that we realize how blind we were to the truth that God is really there for us and we refuse to believe that He is so and that we don't need Him. But when we realize that we are wrong and when we realize our sinfulness and our being also in the wrong despite our lawfulness in terms of obeying all the rules of our society, we still lack the love we should show our Lord. And this makes us blind. Accepting our sinfulness and swallowing our pride will make us see Christ as our Savior and Healer and Redeemer of all mankind. If we do not accept our sinfulness and our pride, then what we think that we know and what we assume that we see, really is not and we are really in the darkness. Only the light of Christ's grace can make us see. And we shall indeed see and always return to sight whenever we turn to God in humility and repentance and ask His mercy and forgiveness for the sins we have committed. Then we shall see as clear as the light of day and the light of the Spirit of God shall indwell in us forever. Just as the blind man in the gospel was healed from his blindness, so shall we be healed from our blindness when we turn to Christ alone, and to turn to Him in utter faith and ardent belief in His love and mercy.

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 Christians a glimpse of what they will be after death - a new life in Christ's glory. This mystery teaches that death is not the end of mortal life but an eternal state of life with God.

Our daily lives are often engrossed in the difficulties and the sufferings connected with our states of life and our relationship with others. But this is really a distraction from the eternal destiny Jesus is presenting to us through His Transfiguration. A life with Jesus in His glory awaits us. Jesus shares this truth with His apostles Peter, James and John. He also shares it with us. But before this reality that awaits us, there is the reality of the Cross - a gift and mystery Jesus calls us to share also with Him. The Cross is a great suffering, but that is not the end. As we shall see in the discipline of Lent, Christ's suffering leads to our salvation and redemption (and to His glory in the Resurrection).

Going back to the Transfiguration event, we see Peter, James and John so caught up in the glory presented before them that they wanted to build three tents and stay permanently on the mountain together with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Jesus said that they were not to remain there but to go down the mountain. Though this Transfiguration event gives us a glimpse of Jesus' resurrection and our own eternal destiny, like Peter, James and John, we need to go down the mountain of our comfort zones, and continue in the little "calvaries" and "crucifixions" of daily life and ordinary work. If we review our Christian journey to God, we will realize that it is indeed strewn with little "calvaries" and "crucifixions". The consolations and comforts we sometimes receive from God in our Christian journey, helps ease the sufferings we have to go through in the realities of our states of life. But if we deny our self for love of God, share in the Cross of His Son Jesus, and follow all His commands and counsels, we will obtain meaning in the life He has gifted us with.

Lent is a time for us to consider in more depth the life our Lord has lived for us. It is a path that all of us are called to follow. He was born in a simple stable in Bethlehem and buried in a grave of one of His followers. His parents were simple but lived a very holy and virtuous life. Jesus grew up in an obscure town of the Roman Empire. He never was schooled as most of us are schooled in big colleges an universities. He lived His life by teaching, preaching, and healing people from their malaise and illnesses. This life that Jesus lived was not without misunderstanding or rejection and suffering - even from among His own apostles and disciples. Towards the end of His life He faced a really terrible trial which He had to endure to obey His father's will.

As we continue the discipline of Lent, we can let the mystery of the Transfiguration vision challenge us to go down from the "mountain" from which God consoled us with His presence, and return to the reality of suffering which we have to go through and which we have to help others go through also. The vision of the Transfiguration should not let us be stuck with the consolations God gifts us with, but to return to reality and be sensitive to the desolations others may be experiencing at this time. Let this vision of the Transfiguration give us a lesson: teaching us to keep silence and to learn how to reflect on the suffering which Jesus had to go through so that we may also share in the life He wants to gift us with - a life that gives light to our darkness, and renews our spirit so that we too will follow His path of obeying God's will in the very ordinary things we do everyday.