Saturday 25 March
The Annunciation of the Lord First reading - Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 This solemnity is very important as it’s the day of incarnation. It is the profound act of love of God. It’s the act of mercy of God by which God saves the humanity. It’s the act by which God became “God with us”. For that God chose Mary. Mary collaborated with the plan of God. In Mary, heaven and earth unites by her “yes” to cooperate with God. In Mary, the love of God incarnated to be with us. God is not anymore far away, but He is with us. God is not an unseen reality, but He is the person of Jesus Christ. That is why the feast of Annunciation is so important. It is the feast where God assumed our nature. He became part of me. He became part of you. This reality of incarnation began in Mary and continues with Mary along our side together with Jesus. This mystery is bigger that us. God became man so that we can be sons and daughters of God. We are not any more creatures but sons and daughters as the only Son assumed our human nature. Let’s reflect: how much can I wonder about the mystery of Incarnation?
Friday 24 March
Friday of the 4th week of Lent
First reading - Wisdom 2:1,12-22
The book of wisdom says, “The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning”. It’s interesting to analyze these words. The godless are those who take the place of God. Don’t care so much about anything else other than themselves - their interests and their world. In fact, there is nobody else in their life. That’s why they are talking to themselves. And how are they talking, they are talking with misguided reasoning. They are misguided by their ego and pride. They are misguided by their selfish interests. They are misguided by their blindness caused by their malice. Because malice is the only way to save your ego always. Because they don’t see anything else than themselves. There are moments in our life when we tend to become like these. Those moments in which we fail to see the importance of holiness over our own interests. Those moments we fail to embrace the rewards of holiness by choosing the rewards of selfishness. Those moments in which we drop our selflessness to achieve something with greed. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to examine how much our ego misguides our reasoning.
Thursday 23 March
Thursday of the 4th week of Lent Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo, Bishop “But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God” for the people who did a great sin. This is something we have to learn very much in our life. To plead with the Lord our God for others, especially for the mistakes of others. This is very good for our relationship with God. This shows our openness to God. This shows our trust in the Lord. This shows our freedom with the Lord. Not only that, but it is also the best way to deal with the sins and mistakes of others. Instead of getting irritated, or instead of getting angry, we must learn from Moses to plead with the Lord for others who are in mistakes. There is something more important in the prayer of Moses. That is his self-sacrifice. We read that the Lord wanted to destroy the people who sinned and make a great nation out of Moses. That was a big opportunity to Moses to become the father of a great nation and take the place of Abraham. Moses did not accept this offer to make himself something bigger. He chose to plead mercy for the people. That is why the pleading of Moses is special because he pleaded in his sacrifice, he pleaded in his self-denial. We must learn to plead for others before the Lord with our sacrifices and self-denial. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to learn to plead for others with our self-sacrifices.
Wednesday 22 March
Wednesday of the 4th week of Lent First reading - Isaiah 49:8-15 “I will never forget you”. How consoling is this Word of God! God will never forget me. And He describes that His relationship to me is better than the relationship of a mother to her child. So how much personal and intimate is the relationship of God to us! This is the reality that should be the driving force of our life. His love is very concrete as we can see in the words of the prophet. He will answer when we call. He will help me when I am in need. I will be freed from the prison of my darkness. I will never be hungry or thirsty. Wind or sun will never plague us. And He leads us to the springs of water. And He will prepare the way for my journey. Look, how concrete is the love of God. This concrete love must be responded by us with our gratitude. This concrete love, we must acknowledge in our life. In this intimate love, we must find consolation and joy. Let’s reflect: Lent is the time to acknowledge more and more the intimate and concrete love of God.