6th March 2020

TURN OUT RIGHT IN THE END

During the period of Lent, we try to be better individuals by our observances of prayer, fasting and charity, which is a good thing to do. But could it be that, among all this, we lose sight of the more important things that we should and must do?

“If the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, …can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die.” —Ezekiel 18:24

The years 2002 and 2018 were notable for the uncovering of sexual abuse scandals involving certain Roman Catholic priests. Upon hearing the breaking stories, most people reacted like God did in the above passage. Any good deeds done by these priests were forgotten. They were generally condemned by the public because they had turned from virtue to commit evil.

Most people who have experienced their spouse leaving them for another person would have a similar reaction. Most good memories of the marriage would be forgotten because the departing spouse turned from faithfulness to break the covenant.

If we humans can react like this to the bad endings of others, then we can’t accuse God of being unfair when he uses a similar standard to judge us (Ez 18:25). God holds us, His children, to the highest standards of holiness and faithfulness (Mt 5:20). Yet God pours out unending supplies of grace so that we can repent and not only meet His standards, but flourish and grow in holiness (Eph 1:3).

If you are falling short of God’s standards, turn back to Him (Is 45:22). “Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day” (Sir 5:8). “When you have sinned, show repentance. Delay not to forsake sins, neglect it not till you are in distress” (Sir 18:20-21). “Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2) Turn and return to the Lord.

Rest our hearts in God

I’ve always struggled with this Gospel passage: “Ask and it will be given to you.” It’s easy to make a list of prayers I’ve made in my life that haven’t been answered in the way I would’ve liked.

The wonderful spiritual author Fr. Ronald Rolheiser offers two responses to this apparent disconnect in a 2009 column. First, he quotes the Scripture scholar Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, who argued that in the New Testament, “prayer of petition is linked to concrete charitable action within the community.” If we pray for someone who is sick, for instance, we should also reach out to that person. We “need to be involved in helping answer our own prayers.” Second, Rolheiser quotes Karl Rahner, SJ, who wrote that to ask something in Jesus’ name does not mean just to ask for whatever our “divided heart…happens to hanker for.” Instead, asking in Jesus’ name means “entering into him, living by him, being one with him in love and faith.” If we do this, then we will ultimately find that our heart rests in God, even if it seems like God isn’t answering. And resting in God is “perfect joy.”

5th March 2020

For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds

Today, Jesus reminds us of the need and power of prayer. We cannot understand our Christian life without being related to God, and in this relation, prayer takes a central place. While we live in this world, we Christians find ourselves on a pilgrimage road, but our prayer gets us closer to God, opens up the door of his immense love and brings forward the Heaven delights. This is why, our Christian life is a constant request and search: «Ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened» (Mt 7:7), says Jesus to his disciples.

At the same time, the prayer gradually turns a stone heart into a flesh heart: «As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!» (Mt 7:11). The best summary we can ask God can be found in Our Lord’s Prayer: «Your kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as in heaven» (cf. Mt 6:10). We, therefore, cannot ask just anything in our prayers, but something which is really for our own good. If nobody wants to hurt himself, we should not want any damage for others, either.

We, sometimes, fail to see God’s concern for us, for we find our prayers seemingly unanswered or may even feel God does not love us. In such moments, it will do us good to remember this advice from Saint Jerome: «It is certain God gives to he, who asks, that he, who seeks, finds, and that he, who knocks, will be opened: It is clearly seen that he, who has not received, who has not found, who has not been opened, is just because he did not know how to ask, how to seek nor how to knock at the door». Let us, therefore, ask God, in the first place, to give us a loving heart just like that of Jesus Christ.

Sunday, 1st March 2020, 1st Sunday of Lent.

“The Spirit led Jesus into the desert that He be put to the test by the devil”

Today, we celebrate the first Sunday of Lent, and this “strong” liturgic time is a spiritual path leading us to participate in the great mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ. John Paul II says «Each year, the Lenten Season is set before us as a good opportunity for the intensification of prayer and penance, opening hearts to the docile welcoming of the divine will. During Lent, a spiritual journey is outlined for us that prepares us to relive the Great Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ. This is done primarily by listening to the Word of God more devoutly and by practicing mortification more generously, thanks to which it is possible to render greater assistance to those in need».

Lent and today’s Gospel teach us that life is a path leading us to Heaven. But, to deserve it, we must first overcome our temptations. «Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert that He be put to the test by the devil» (Mt 4:1). By allowing him to be tempted, Jesus wanted to show us how we can fight and overcome our temptations: with our trust in God and in prayer, through grace and fortitude.

Temptations may be described as the “enemies of the soul”. In fact, they can be summarized and determined by three aspects. In the first place, “the world”: «order these stones to turn into bread» (Mt 4:3). It implies living to possess material things only.

Secondly, “the devil”: «if you kneel and worship me» (Mt 4:9). It conveys the greed for power.

And, last but not least, “the flesh”: «throw yourself down» (Mt 4:6), which means placing our confidence only in our body. St. Thomas Aquinas explains it better when saying that «the cause of temptations are the causes of concupiscence: the pleasures of the flesh, a drive for glory and the lust for power».

Saturday, 29th February, Saturday after Ash Wednesday.

Step by step guidance better than the GPS.

“The Lord will guide you always.” (Isaiah 58: 11).

Brethren, you know without doubt that the Bible is God’s precious manual for our life. Will you carelessly discard the manual of an expensive computer software or How to use booklet of a medical equipment on which your life depends? Every single day, the Church celebrates the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Perfect Sacrifice. The Church uses the same Scriptures inspired by the Holy Spirit organized in a lectionary everywhere in the world.

What I am about to reveal to you may not be a secret for many. During the holy Season of Lent, the Church pulls out the best and the most powerful Scriptures for our consumption. This is because God Himself promises that Lent is the favorable Season to bless us.

Before the era of GPS navigation, being a roaming salesman in a large city was a very challenging task. But I discovered God’s promise: “The Lord will guide you always.” (Isaiah 58: 11). Things changed for me. All I needed to activate this promise was a short prayer: “My God, I can’t find my way to the client’s place. I need this sale desperately. Please help me O God.” Again and again, the Lord has led me like the three magis to where I needed to be.

Today Jesus welcomes into the group of His close friends a man who was regarded as a public sinner. Matthew, in fact, not only handled money deemed impure because of its provenance from people foreign to the People of God, but he also collaborated with an alien and despicably greedy authority, whose tributes, moreover, could be arbitrarily determined. This is why several times the Gospels link “tax collectors and sinners” as well as “tax collectors and prostitutes”.

A first fact strikes one based on these references: Jesus does not exclude anyone from His friendship. Indeed, precisely while He is at table in the home of Matthew-Levi, in response to those who expressed shock at the fact that He associated with people who had so little to recommend, He made the important statement: “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners”.

—The good news of the Gospel consists precisely in this: offering God’s grace to the sinner! Those who seem to be the farthest from holiness can even become a model of the acceptance of God’s mercy…

28th February 2020

Your will or God’s will?

“See, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits.” (Isaiah 58: 3).

Friday 29th February after Ash Wednesday in the Season of Lent.

Of the many indictments in the first Reading from Isaiah 58: 1 – 9, the one that struck home for me is:
“See, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits.”
Put simply, this says: “You do your will and not mine.”

Do you prefer your will to the will of God? Falsehood and fake doctrine are so prevalent today that some false teachers will have you believe your will is the same as the will of God or as good as the will of God provided your intentions are good.

“Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4: 1).

Pray for the gift of discernment of spirits this Lent 2020. And embrace the narrow way of sanctity: Embrace God’s gracious and mysterious Will every moment.

27th February 2020

“If you wish to be a follower of mine, deny yourself and take up your cross each day, and follow me”

Today is the first Thursday of Lent. The ashes our Church laid yesterday on our forehead are still fresh; and are meant to remind us of a forty days journey. In the Gospel, Jesus, shows us two routes: the way of the cross he must undergo, and our own way to follow him.

His path is the Way of the Cross and that of death, but also that of His Glory: «The Son of Man must suffer many things (…), and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. » (Lk 9:22). The route we must take is, essentially, the same one Jesus took, and He shows us how to follow it: «If any man would come after Me…» (Lk 9:23).

Hugging his Cross, Jesus complied with the Will of His Father; as for us, carrying ours on our shoulders, we follow him in his Way of the Cross.

The path of Jesus is summarized in three words: suffering, dying, raising from the dead. Three aspects constitute our own footpath too (two attitudes and the essence of our Christian vocation): Self-Denial, taking up our cross every day of our life and following Jesus.

If we do not deny ourselves and do not take up our cross, we are only seeking to affirm and be ourselves; we want «to save our life», as Jesus says. Yet, by wanting to save it, we will lose it. On the other hand, those who, because of Jesus, will not strive to avoid their suffering and the cross, will save their lives. It is the resulting paradox of our following Jesus: «For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?» (Lk 9:25).

Our Lord’s words, closing today’s Gospel, tremendously shook Saint Ignatius and sparked off his conversion: «What would happen if I would do just as saint Francis and saint Dominic did?». If only, in this Lent, the same words would help us to reach our conversion, too…!

Lent 2020

Here is Lent 2020!

“Working together, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says:
In an acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.
Behold, now is a very acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 5:20; 6:2).

Today is Ash Wednesday, 26th February 2020.

Our Lenten Journey begins today. The Destination is Easter.
What you need for the Journey:

1 Prayer

2 Fasting

3 Almsgiving

We struggle against evil day and night. Jesus Christ overcame evil on the Cross. The Cross therefore is the means to the End we all desire: Victory, Freedom, Peace, Prosperity, etc. Our Cross during the next 40 days is: To embrace God’s gracious and mysterious will every moment in Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving. Rejection of the Cross is rejection of Jesus Christ, Savior and Redeemer.

If we are faithful during this Journey of Faith, the reward will be huge and unbelievable. Among other things, we will grow in perseverance and come to exclaim: The Lord is truly my Good Shepherd. Now I lack nothing.

“To every time its purpose:
There is a season for everything, a time for every occupation under heaven:
A time for tears,
a time for laughter;
a time for mourning,
a time for dancing.” (Cf Ecclesiastes 3:1-22).

Happy Lent!