Thursday 23 February
Thursday after Ash Wednesday Commemoration of Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr First reading - Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish”. This is not because God wants to do this but because we chose to perish. We choose! “‘See, today I set before you, life and prosperity, death, and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase”. We choose between life or death, prosperity, or disaster. When we are with the Lord, we choose life and prosperity. When we are away from the Lord, we choose death and disaster. In reality, our freedom is not to choose between the good and bad, but it is the state to choose the Lord in liberty. To be with God in freedom, in liberty. Let’s reflect: is our Lent, moments to be with the Lord in our freedom?
Wednesday 22 February
Ash Wednesday First reading - Joel 2:12-18 Today begins the Lent. The Lord is calling us, inviting us to be close to Him. We must go back to Him. We must be close to Him. Our presence must be in His presence. That is the real conversion. It is not about external observances and rituals. It’s about coming back to Lord repenting about all our shortcomings and weaknesses. He is ready to forgive. We must accept that forgiving love, that mercy and come back to His presence. Because He is all tenderness and compassion. He is rich in graciousness. We belong to Him and let’s belong to Him. Many times, we want to be our own. So we make our plans and our designs moving away from His presence. The Lent is a period to come back to His presence giving up our plans, repenting over the stupidity of our actions and coming back to His presence to follow His plan. He will care of us. Let’s reflect: Am I going to observe this Lent with the comeback plan or just some external observances?
Tuesday 21 February
Tuesday of week 7 in Ordinary Time Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor First reading - Ecclesiasticus 2:1-11 “Trust him and he will uphold you, follow a straight path and hope in him”. This is about our relationship with God. This trust is a relationship which we must always keep. The Word of God is telling us not to be alarmed when disaster comes. This is very contextual in these days when we hear about lots of disasters around the world. The relationship which we have with God must be something solid. “Cling to him and do not leave him”. How beautifully said. Clinging to him like a child cling to his father. Whatever happens to us, this state, this relationship must not change. The challenges are not situations to be panic but to be patient. Because in those moments God is working. “For the Lord is compassionate and merciful, he forgives sins, and saves in days of distress”. This certainty must the basis of our relationship with God. Without this certainty we will be always in an uncertain situation. Let’s reflect: How certain I am about my trust in the Lord, especially in those moments of uncertainties?
Monday 20 February
Monday of week 7 in Ordinary Time First reading: Ecclesiasticus 1:1-10 The wisdom is a creation of God. It’s different from intelligence and science. Because as the Ecclesiasticus say, “All wisdom is from the Lord”. Not only that the wisdom is from God, and it will remain to be of God for ever. “…and it is his own forever”. That is why it’s important to have that wisdom which comes from God, and which remains with God. It is a gift. “He himself has created her, looked on her and assessed her, and poured her out on all his works to be with all mankind as his gift, and he conveyed her to those who love him”. The Wisdom of God is created to be gift to those who love God. That means, Wisdom is the result of love. It is the result of your love to God. The more you love God the more wisdom of God will accompany you. Wisdom which comes from love has the logic of love, has the perspective of love, and has the motive of love. We must really desire for that wisdom by loving God. Let’s reflect: Do I really desire to have the wisdom from the Lord with my love to Him?