Feb 27, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Wednesday of the 2nd week of Lent
Saint Oswald
Gospel – Matthew 20:17-28
“…anyone who wants to be great among you must be your servant, and anyone who wants to be first among you must be your slave, just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”. Jesus was going towards Jerusalem and He clearly stated to His disciples what is going to happen there: His condemnation, His death on the cross and His resurrection. The disciples but got carried away by another thought. It came from the mother of Zebedee about having privileged positions for her sons. And all the apostles followed that. Jesus made use of this situation to teach a fundamental principle of the new order which is going to be established with His mission in Jerusalem. The privilege in the Kingdom of God is to be a servant. The greatest privilege is to give up your own life for the other. Jesus Christ is setting forth this new paradigm of world order to save the humanity. He is giving His life to save the humanity. He is God and He is dying on the cross for us. If we want to belong to Him, we must give our life for others. Let’s reflect: Lent reminds us to conform ourselves to the Son of Man who came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for us and for many.
Feb 26, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Tuesday of the 2nd week of Lent
Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot, and Doctor of the Church
Gospel – Matthew 23:1-12
“Everything they do is done to attract attention”. Jesus today speaks of a challenge inherent in our spiritual life. All our spiritual activities can be motivated by this danger. Jesus is pointing out this danger. There were so many customs and traditions developed among the People of God in order to follow the precepts of the law which is the sign of the relationship between to God. All these precepts and subsequent traditions and customs were born from the commandments of the Lord which is the sign of covenant between God and His people. So, everything was directed to this relationship. But slowly the attention shifted from the covenant to the oneself. The attention shifted from the relationship with God to oneself. So, every prayer and customs became an instrument to call the attention to oneself. This is dangerous for our spiritual life. Because in that kind of spiritual life we do every prayers, every Holy Mass, every Rosary, to get the attention to ourselves and not to grow in our relationship to God. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to make sure that our spiritual activities are not to attract attention of others to ourselves.
Feb 25, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Monday of the 2nd week of Lent
St Alexander of Alexandria
Gospel – Luke 6:36-38
“Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you:”. These words of Jesus show exactly how is the relationship of God the Father with us. God the Father is compassionate. And we must be compassionate as He is because we are His sons and daughters. We are His sons and daughters in the life of Jesus Christ, but we actualize that life of Christ in us by being compassionate like the Father. And also, this is necessary for the actualizing the grace we received. If we are not forgiving others, we will not be forgiven even though we receive the grace through Jesus Christ. Likewise, if we are judging others, we will be judged too. If we are condemning others, we will be condemned too. So, even though God the Father is compassionate, unless we become compassionate, we will not be able to enjoy the taste of His compassion. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to examine whether we are compassionate as our heavenly Father is.
Feb 24, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
2nd Sunday of Lent
Gospel – Mark 9:2-10
“This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.” Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity. The heavenly Father is confirming that in the Mount of Tabor. In this statement of the Father, there is a declaration and an obligation. Declaration about the identity of His only Son, the beloved. Obligation is upon us to listen to His only Son. Because it’s through the Son the plan of God for the salvation of humanity is unfolding. This can be seen in the whole setting. Jesus going up to the mountains with a group of chosen Apostles to be alone by themselves. This being alone up in the mountains is show that God’s plan is a unique one. Then the appearance of Moses and Elijah shows that the plan of God is the fulfilment of law and prophets. Moses represent the covenant and law God made with the people of Israel and Elijah the prophet through which God continued to intervene in the life of the people of Israel. God the Father made His definite intervention in our history with the incarnation of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have the obligation to listen to Him. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to verify how much we listen to Jesus Christ, beloved Son of Our Father in heaven.
Feb 23, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Saturday of the 1st week of Lent
Gospel – Matthew 5:43-48
The love towards the neighbour goes to new dimension with the Christian love. It’s not any more a love to those who love you. It goes to everyone especially who persecute you. Jesus, in order to follow him, is asking us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He also explains why we must do that. We must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us to become sons of our heavenly Father. God the Father causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. He does not make any distinction between the good persons and bad persons in giving His love. So, we cannot make a distinction between those who love us or hate us. We must love each and every one especially those who hate us. We become disciples of Christ by doing this. This is our identity: the capacity to love our enemies and pray for our persecutors. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to grow in our love towards our enemies and towards those who hate us.
Feb 23, 2024 | DAILY BREAD
Friday of the 1st week of Lent
Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr
Gospel – Matthew 5:20-26
“So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering”. This is one of the most demanding requirements which Jesus Christ put before us to be part of His sacrifice. His sacrifice is the absolute sacrifice of forgiveness. Man rebelled against God. God became man to forgive man. He forgave us by dying on the Cross. He forgave everyone with the death on the cross. If we want to participate in that sacrifice, we must forgive everyone and make sure that we are in communion with the other. Jesus died for each one of us. Each one of us is important for Him. That is why we must treat each person with respect and love. The Word of God even does not permit us to be angry to anyone. The other person is important. He is in the image and likeness of God. This divine aspect in each person we must respect. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to grow in the forgiveness and in the understanding of the other.
