Sunday 3 March

Sunday 3 March

3rd Sunday of Lent
Gospel – John 2:13-25
“Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father’s house into a market.” Temple signifies the presence of God. God who condescends to be with People whom He adopted as His own with all their defects and weaknesses. And His presence is gratuitous. This gratuitous presence is to create culture of reciprocal gratuitous love. Whereas it became a market where everything is calculated, and nothing is gratuitous. Everything is profit oriented. In the house of the Lord, who is gratuitously giving everything, the market culture took over. This is why Jesus was so furious about it. The culture of bazaar which is totally contrary to the presence of God which is a free manifestation of His love. God also is present in our heart. So, we also make it suitable for the presence of God. We must not make our heart a bazar with calculations and looking for profits. We must keep our heart as our Father’s house with gratuitous love towards others. If we had made our heart, a marketplace, let’s welcome Jesus to clean it up. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to welcome Jesus to transform our heart into Fathers’ house.

Saturday 2 March

Saturday 2 March

Saturday of the 2nd week of Lent
First Saturday: Let us entrust ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
Gospel – Luke 15:1-3,11-32
“He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him”. The parable of the prodigal son is the parable of the generous Father. This can be seen in his approach to the younger son but it is also very much evident in his approach to the elder son. The elder son seeing the welcome, which the younger son got, he became angry and refused to go in to join the happiness of the family. He does not understand his father. Then the father is coming out and he is pleading with him. God the Father comes in search of us who are not understanding His will. He came in search of us in the person of Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Holy Trinity. He not only comes out in search of the son, but also pleads with him. God the Father, through His Son pleads to us to enter into the joy of the Kingdom of God. And the words of the Father are so generous, “all I have is yours”. This is the love of God the Father. Let’s reflect: Lent is time to understand in depth the love of God the Father for us.

Friday 1 March

Friday 1 March

Friday of the 2nd week of Lent
First Friday: Let us entrust ourselves to the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Gospel – Matthew 21:33-43,45-46
“It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone”. This is the about Jesus Christ who was abandoned and crucified. Jesus Christ became the keystone of our salvation. He became the keystone of the new world which enjoys the fruits of redemption. But this parable is also applicable to us. Because the story continues. We have given this new vineyard which is the Church. We are supposed to give fruits to the keystone. But when we make of the grace for our own selfish interests without giving the right importance to the cornerstone, we are committing the same mistake of those servants in the parable. We are supposed to produce the fruits and to be handed over to Jesus Christ. All glory and honor belong to Him. Instead, if we are gathering all the glory and honor for ourselves, it is wrong. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to assure that all glory and honor is given to God and we don’t take it for ourselves.

Thursday 29 February

Thursday 29 February

Thursday of the 2nd week of Lent
Gospel – Luke 16:19-31
“But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours”. Who created this great gulf? This gulf is not a creation of God. But it’s the creation of that rich man. This rich man with his lifestyle and attitude towards Lazarus during his lifetime on earth created this gulf. He dressed in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. So, every day he expanded this gulf by making a distinct life from the poor Lazarus, who was lying there covered with sores. And this poor man only longed to fill himself with the scarps that fell from the rich man’s table. The indifference of the rich man towards the poor man who is before his own eyes created this gulf. When we are indifferent to the poor and marginalized persons in the society we do the same thing. We create a gulf between God and us. Distance from the poor is distance from God. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to get rid of our indifference towards the poor and the needy.

Wednesday 28 February

Wednesday 28 February

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.