Mar 16, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
5th Sunday of Lent
Gospel – John 12:20-33
“I tell you, most solemnly, unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest”. This Word of God explains the profound meaning of suffering. The falling of the grain on the ground and the dying of the grain under the soil are two moments of great pain – falling and dying. But these moments are necessary for the beginning of new life. These moments are necessary for the leaving behind its existence as a single grain. These moments are necessary to produce rich harvest. These moments take life to a different stage. The suffering is like this. The moments of pain we accept because we believe in the love of God which takes our pains and transform them as grace for eternal life. This is seen in the life of Jesus Christ. In the person of Jesus Christ, the human suffering is transformed into joy of resurrection. So, when we unite our suffering to Jesus in the cross, we walk the same path of the Cross of Jesus Christ. The path towards resurrection. Let’s reflect: Lent is to understand the meaning of my suffering in the meaning of the Cross of Christ.
Mar 15, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of the 4th week of Lent
Gospel – John 7:40-52
“The police replied, ‘There has never been anybody who has spoken like him.’” The police were sent by the Pharisees and chief priest to arrest Jesus. But they couldn’t because they listened to Jesus, and they had this impression. Then in the beginning of passage we read: “Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’,”. This group also listened to Jesus. Then the Pharisees and chief priests who are despising Jesus. And there is Nicodemus who has his desire to listen and to discover who is Jesus. So, the words of Jesus are provoking different reactions in these people. But none of them is moving towards believing or accepting. Some are admiring, some are despising, some are indifferent, and some are doubtful. Those who want to arrest Jesus are those who are not listening, those who do not want to listen, and those who are blind because of their pride and pretension that they know everything. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to listen to Jesus to make the choice of accepting Him as God.
Mar 14, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of the 4th week of Lent
Gospel – John 7:1-2,10,25-30
Jesus cried out in the temple. “Yes, you know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him, but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me”. Jesus was crying out this in the temple because everyone around Him was seeing only the human part of His person. Their knowledge went only as far as Nazareth. Beyond that, no one was able to see. This is because they were not looking through the eyes of faith. Only when we will be able to look through the eyes of faith, we can see beyond the obvious and the tangible. Our celebrations and our devotions, if we don’t see beyond the palpable, if we don’t go beyond the superficial, with the help of faith, Jesus will have to cry out again. “You know me, but you don’t know my Father who sent me”. You know the prayers, but you don’t know to whom you are addressing. You know the rites, but it does not mean anything to you. Let’s reflect: Lent is to go beyond the superficial with faith to see God who loves us.
Mar 13, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Thursday of the 4th week of Lent
Gospel John 5:31-47
Jesus is the fulfilment of all the promises of the Old Testament. That’s why Jesus is saying that “if you really believed him (Moses) you would believe me too, since it was I that he was writing about;”. The main accusation against Jesus is that He was proclaiming himself as God. But Jesus is explaining how He is being testified by the Father. The testimony of the Father can be seen in the completion of the paschal mystery. Not only that, the Word of God announced in the Old Testament also testifies the mission of Jesus. In both cases, Jesus is not claiming anything. He attributes everything to His Father who sent Him and to the promises made by God to the People of God. This is converging point of the identity of Jesus. Jesus is revealing the face of Father. But only if one has the love of God in himself or herself, can recognize this face of the Father. The authorities of the People of God in that time did not want a face for God because the absence of the face of the Father was their way to sell what they want. In Jesus, the face of God the Father is revealed. Let’s reflect: Lent is to discover the face of God the Father revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
Mar 12, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent
Anniversary of the Election of Pope Francis
Gospel John 5:17-30
“For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life; and, because he is the Son of Man,”. In this passage we can read about the relationship between Jesus, Son of God, and God the Father. And also, the plan of salvation for the humanity through the incarnation. The most important point is to recognize the plan of salvation is not any human plan. This is the plan of God where we can find the mystery of the Holy Trinity is being revealed. God the Father is the source of life. And through the incarnation, the Son became the source of life for the humanity because he became really man. And this life is distributed by the Holy Spirit in the act of believing in this plan of salvation. God’s plan of salvation is the plan for me. This plan is not an impersonal plan. This plan is a plan of relationship as between God the Father and God the Son. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to understand that the plan of my salvation is a plan of God’s relationship with me.
Mar 11, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of the 4th week of Lent
Gospel John 5:1-3,5-16
“‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away”. Here we can find two important aspects of faith. First of all, we find Jesus appearing before a person who has no one in his life to help him. He was sick for thirty-eight years and no one was in his life to help him. Jesus recognizes this and is appearing before him. This is very consoling for us. Jesus recognizes our helplessness and appears before us. Then there is another important message which the story of this paralyzed person is telling us. He was waiting to be put in the pool for being healed but God had a different plan. This means, we must be open to the plan of God and not to be stuck in our narrow way of thinking. Faith must open up our way of thinking and must not close us in our narrow boxes. There is always a possibility of just picking up the mat and walking way instead of being put into the pool in the first place the water is moved. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to make our faith open us up to the plans of God and not closed in our plans.
