Holy Thursday:[2012], the Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Nourished and Nourishing

Holy Thursday:[2012], the Mass of the Lord’s Supper: Nourished and Nourishing

This beautiful liturgy presents us with three readings that emphasize the essential elements of our living celebrations of the Last Supper, the Mass. The readings begin with the presentation of the first Passover meal.   The significance for us is deeper than the fact that the Last Supper took place during a Passover celebration.  The significance is that God protects his people from death while they are sharing the meal of the sacrificed lamb. God protects us from death, eternal death, while we are nourished by the Sacrificed Lamb, Jesus Christ.

In the second reading, from 1 Corinthians 11, St. Paul presents some of the customs of the early Church.  He begins with a few minor issues, such as how people are to dress, but then Paul raises a major problem. The Corinthians were allowing divisions to be evidenced among them.  The early celebrations of the Supper of the Lord used to begin with a meal.  But instead of some sort of ancient parish pot luck, the Corinthians were divided at the table.  They only shared their food with those with whom they associated. The rich brought sumptuous food, but only for their rich friends. The poor often went hungry.  These people were not celebrating the Eucharist as Christ intended it to be celebrated when He gave His Body and Blood at the Last Supper. Instead they were using the Eucharist as an opportunity to demonstrate their arrogance.  Perhaps that is why Paul reminds them of what is taking place when they meet for the Breaking of the Bread.  Paul recites the formulas similar to those found in the Synoptic Gospels and prayed in our Masses: This is my body which is given up for you.  This is the new covenant of my blood.  Paul wants the Corinthians to remember What is taking place and Whom they are celebrating.  He tells them that this action proclaims the death of the Lord until He comes.  This is a time for unity in the Christian community.  Division in the community is antithesis to the Eucharist. That’s the reason why our modern celebration of the Eucharist, the Mass, places a sign of peace before the reception of the communion.  In the person we offer peace to we see anyone with whom we need to be reconciled.  The Eucharist must express unity in Christ, the Body of Christ united to its Head.

This leads us to the main reading for today, the Gospel Proclamation. The Eucharist cannot be understood apart from the action depicted in the Gospel, the washing of feet. This is not just a side incident, an introduction to the main point of the dinner.  This is one way of stating what the gift of bread and wine, Body and Blood proclaim: Jesus Christ offers Himself up completely for us, and then calls us to offer ourselves up completely for others.  The washing of feet is a prophetic action, an action demanding our humble acceptance of the Lord and an action mandating that we do to others what is done for us–serve them without limits, with sacrificial love. The reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord is also a prophetic action, an action that demands our humble acceptance of the Lord, and an action that mandates our doing for others what has been done for us.

When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples he performed a prophetic action.  Even a slave could not be made to wash the feet of his or her master.  It was degrading, disgusting.  But not to the Lord.  He would empty Himself in service to His people.  He would give Himself completely to them.  He would give them His Body and Blood.  He would die on the cross for them.  He would demonstrate to them that the Love of God had no limits.  Nothing was too demanding.  Love was all that matters.  The meal of love, the Last Supper, began with a prophetic act demonstrating the love they and we all experience pouring down on us from the cross.

But this action of the Lord demands our humbly accepting Him in our lives.  We need our Savior.  We cannot conquer the evils of the world alone.  We have to let Him save us.  At first, Peter tried to prevent the Lord from humbling Himself.  “Would you wash my feet, Lord?”  “I don’t think so?” we would add in our jargon.  Jesus tells Him and us that if we do not allow Him to give Himself to us, if we are so proud to think that we do not need Him, then He will have no part of us.  This prideful way of life is witnessed in the times that many Catholics and perhaps in the past even some here, have withdrawn from the Eucharist.  The statement that some will say, “I don’t go to Mass but I pray in my own way,” might sound pietistic and nice, but is itself saying, “I don’t need the Eucharist.”  Why?  Why would anyone who has been admitted to communion ever think that he or she does not need communion?  Could it be that we can become so proud that we might think that we do not need to come before God and accept His humbling himself for us. This evening we are reminded that the Meal of Love begins with our humble recognition that we need Christ to empty Himself for us.

But this is far from sufficient.  Jesus would not allow His disciples to turn their focus into themselves.  He would not allow them or us to be satisfied with what He does for us.  Instead we hear, “You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do."  The washing of the feet is a prophetic sign of the gift of the Body and Blood of the Lord at the Last Supper and on the Cross.  We are called to prophesy in the same way.  We are called to do what Jesus did.  We are called to offer our Bodies and our Blood for others.  We are not just called to be nourished.  We are called to nourish others.  An essential element of the Eucharist is found in the mandate: Do unto others, what I have done for you.

Nourished and nourishing.  Both must take place. If we are not nourished by Christ, then our actions for others would be mere acts of humanitarianism. If we do receive communion but do not empty ourselves for others, then our reception of the Eucharist is devoid of the very reason why Christ emptied Himself: Jesus Christ emptied Himself for us so that we can also empty ourselves for others.  Being a Christian is not for the faint of heart, it is for those who have hearts full of love.

In a few moments we will perform the symbolic action of washing the feet of others.  We celebrate the action of Christ in His Gift of Body and Blood.  We process with the Blessed Sacrament throughout the Church and into the Hall where we wait and watch with Him in our recreation of the Garden of Olives.  And the entire time, in all the actions tonight and throughout our lives, we pray for the humility to be nourished by Him and the determination to nourish others.           May we be a Eucharistic People!

Palm Sunday: [2015] :Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

Palm Sunday: [2015] :Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

Introduction: This week we walk with Christ into the mystery of saving by suffering. Our Blessed Lord knows suffering. All who suffer now have Him with them. He suffers with us, we suffer with Him.

Exegesis: Today's Proclamation of the Passion was from the Gospel of Mark. This is the Gospel that often presents crowds of people pressing on Jesus to be healed. Jesus heals many people in this Gospel, but he then he directs them, "Tell no one about this? Jesus silences devils who call out from the possessed that they know who He is. Why the secrecy? Why does Mark present what scripture scholars would call, the Messianic Secret? The message behind the secret is that no one can understand the healings or the Messiah until they understand the cross. Jesus accepts the cross in obedience to the Father, opposite of Adam's disobedience. He accepts the cross to defeat the power of hatred and death through sacrificial love. When the centurion looked up and saw the love flowing from the man whose crucifixion he had supervised, he was the first to proclaim, "Truly, this is the Son of God.? It is only from the perspective of the cross, of sacrificial love, that we can understand the wonders of the Lord.

Joke:  A priest was preaching in an unfamiliar church on Palm Sunday. The temporary arrangements were done outside the church. As he stood in the pulpit to begin the service, he tapped the microphone to make sure that it was on. He heard nothing, even though the microphone was working fine. So he leaned closer to the microphone and said to himself; "There is something wrong with this thing." The congregation, being well trained church people immediately responded, "And also with you.”

Practical Applications: 1) Does Jesus weep over my sinful soul as he wept over Jerusalem at the beginning of his Palm Sunday procession? 2) Will Jesus have to cleanse my heart with his whip?  Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of his Holy Spirit in me by my addiction to uncharitable, irreverence, unjust and impure thoughts words and deeds; neither does he approve of my calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God.  4) Am I ready to surrender my life to him sincerely? Or Are we like “hosanna” today and “Crucify him” tomorrow.

Introduction: Palm Sunday

Message: Jesus, humbling himself out of love for us, did not shield his face from buffets and spitting, but offered his life on the cross.  He relied on his Father’s love.

Palm Sunday:[B]:[2012]:Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

Palm Sunday:[B]:[2012]:Is 50:4-7; Phil.2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15,47/15:1-39

A bishop reports that logos for McDonald's, Shell Oil, and the Olympics are better recognized throughout the world than the cross. The Olympic symbol of five linked rings was recognized by 92% of people asked. McDonald's and Shell Oil logos were recognized by 88%. But the cross was recognized by only 54%. The conclusion is that the Olympics, McDonald's, and Shell Oil are better missionaries than we.

The seventeenth century Dutch genius Rembrandt painted a crucifixion. His Christ is bathed in his signature white colors. At the foot of His cross are the usual suspects. However, off in a corner of the masterpiece is the face of an interloper. It is Rembrandt. He was reminding himself that he too because of his sins was responsible for the painful death of his Savior.

From the Gospels, we know only about the activities of 100 days from the 12,045 days of the life of Jesus. Yet, we know almost everything He did every hour of His last seven days.  He spent the night preceding Palm Sunday at Bethany, an affluent bedroom community outside Jerusalem. He rose early. One hopes He had the farmer's breakfast. He would need it. The last chapter of His earthly life was to be a showstopper. It would end not with a whimper but with a bang. He had the unenviable task of taking his many enemies on alone.

Every detail of the Palm Sunday procession had been worked out by Him weeks before. It was not just a question of kidnapping a donkey and hopping on for the ride. The Master had long ago contacted the donkey's owners and arranged for the animal. The owners were disciples unknown even to the apostles. Even a password had been worked out between the Christ and the secret disciples: "The Master has need of it." When the owners were told the password by the unsuspecting apostles, they released the ass. There is a nice touch here. Jesus promised the owners the ass would be returned to them after the parade. He knew they would need it for work next day. So, even as His murder nears, He was thinking not of Himself but of others.

Joke:  A priest was preaching in an unfamiliar church on Palm Sunday. The temporary arrangements were done outside the church. As he stood in the pulpit to begin the service, he tapped the microphone to make sure that it was on. He heard nothing, even though the microphone was working fine. So he leaned closer to the microphone and said to himself; "There is something wrong with this thing." The congregation, being well trained church people immediately responded, "And also with you.”

The parade begins. This would be the only demonstration where Jesus would positively encourage people to salute Him as King. All other times He would not hear of it. He would flee into the mountains alone at the sight of the first monarchists. The hapless apostles would be left behind to placate the royalists.
This entrance into Jerusalem was an act of superb bravado.  He was coming onto center stage.

We should borrow a brush from Rembrandt. Then dipping it into his lush palette, we should paint our faces into the passion picture. We had much more to do with it than we care to admit.

The cross, the savant (a learned person) tells us, reveals people's hatred for God and God's love for people. Also he says that believing Christ died is history and believing He died for me is salvation.  Finally it reminds us, the savant says, that while many people may be worthy of admiration, only Jesus is worthy of adoration.

A man with leprosy comes before Jesus and is healed.  Jesus tells him "See that you say nothing to anyone about this."

A deaf man comes to the Lord.  Jesus says "Ephphathat, Be Opened" and the man hears.  Then Jesus tells him to say nothing to anyone.

A blind man has his sight returned, and, similarly, Jesus says to him, "Keep this quiet--don't even enter the villages."

Jesus dies on the Cross, a pagan, a Roman centurion now makes the announcement: "Surely this is the Son of God."

To understand who Jesus is, we have to stand under the Cross.  To recognize how much God loves us, we have to realize the extent of his suffering for us.  To realize that we are his followers, we have to join Him on the Cross.

Love gives joy, but this joy can result in pain. Love means giving, but this gift can result in suffering as we say no to our own desires for the sake of the one whom we love. Love gives life. The Lord loves us so much that we receive his life.  As we begin this Holy Week we pray that we might have the courage to follow Christ in embracing our own crosses.  May we make real the cross of Christ in the world by giving ourselves to others in love.

V Sunday of Lent:[2015]:Jere 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33

V Sunday of Lent:[2015]:Jere 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33

Introduction: Learn to live this Lenten period “burning out,” spending our time and talents for others around us by self-giving service.  “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can” (John Wesley). 

Scripture Lessions: St. Paul in our second reading tells the Hebrews that it is by his suffering and death, in obedience to his Father’s will, that Jesus established the New Covenant. Using metaphors of the “sown wheat grain” and the “spent life” in today’s gospel, Jesus teaches the same lessons. The gospel hints at Jesus’ inner struggle in accepting the cup of suffering to inaugurate the new and everlasting covenant. However, Jesus accepts the cross as his “hour,” meaning the stepping stone to his passion, death, resurrection and exaltation.

The days are coming when I will write my law deep within their hearts. All of them, from the least to the greatest will know that I am their God. In the first reading, the Prophet Jeremiah spoke about a time when God's people would be so united to God that they would know within themselves how to serve Him. That time is now. God's law is written deep within each of our hearts. We don't need anyone to tell us what we should do. Deep within ourselves we know if we are true to God or not.

Exegesis: Good and bad do not go hand in hand.  They will argue that all the bad things that high school, college and basically people of all ages get into are really normal behavior. We know that is a lie. Everything within us, deep within us, tells us that this is a lie. We know that we cannot behave immorally and face our God. So much of what the world tells us to do conflicts with the deep life within us. We have to recognize that what some call normal behavior is for us Christians, abnormal behavior. This is our time. This is our hour. We have the choice to stand for Christ and live in peace with God and with ourselves, or to turn towards that which is popular and sinful and live in turmoil.

Those who love their lives, they will lose it. This is because they choose to preoccupy their worldly minds with wealth, the flesh, desires, addictions, fames, etc... They are without any living hope. They have no eternal life awaiting them in the Kingdom of God because their lives are void of spirituality. They do not have the free gift of righteousness that comes from Christ, the gift that is necessary to be admitted into the Heavenly Kingdom of God.

Dying in Christ is to rise with him. The grain of wheat is symbolic of the Sacrament of Baptism. When a person is baptized, his old sinful nature dies and is to be buried with Christ. [Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12] And, just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, through baptism, a new creation is raised from death to walk the new life that has been received through Christ. [Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12]  The new creation is everything! [Gal. 6:15] By being baptized in the Name of Christ, we become a new creation. Everything has become new. The old heart and spirit that were stained by the original sin have passed away. They are dead! [2 Cor. 5:17]

Joke: Before a pastor began to preach one Sunday morning he thought he should explain why he had a Band-Aid on his chin.  "As I was shaving this morning I was thinking about today's message when I lost my concentration and accidentally cut my chin with the razor."  He then went on to preach the longest message of his life.  After the service one of the teens greeted the pastor and said, "Pastor, next week why don't you think about your shaving and cut the sermon."

Practical Application : Life spent for others will be glorified here in this world and in heaven. To receive new life and eternal life we need to die to ourselves through suffering and service.  Salt gives its taste by dissolving in water.  A candle gives light by having its wax melted and its wick consumed.  The oyster produces a priceless pearl by transforming a grain of sand in a long and painful process.  Loving parents sacrifice themselves so that their children can enjoy a better life than they themselves had.  Let us pray for the gift of this self-sacrificial spirit, especially during Lent. 

Introduction : Fifth Sunday of Lent

Message: The grain of wheat must die to produce fruit.  Such dying must be cultivated by obedience and by our covenant with God, rooted in love and forgiveness.

Saints and events in this week:   23 – Twenty Third – Monday – Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, Bishop; 25 – Twenty fifth – Wednesday - Annunciation of the Lord: 29 – Twenty Ninth – Palm Sunday.

V Sunday of Lent:[2012]:Jere 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33

V Sunday of Lent:[2012]:Jere 31:31-34; Heb 5:7-9; Jn 12:20-33

Introduction: Today’s readings focus on the upcoming death of Jesus, which Paul considers as a priestly sacrifice and John considers as the moment of Jesus’ "exaltation" and "glorification." They offer us a challenge.  Just as Jesus became the “Promised Messiah of Glory” and the “Conquering Son of Man” by offering his life for others, we, too, can only possess heaven by dying to self and by spending our lives in self-giving, sacrificial service.

Scripture Lessions: The first reading from the book of the prophet Jeremiah explains how God   replaced the Old Covenant of Judgment with a New Covenant of Forgiveness of Sins. This new, or renewed, covenant prophesied by Jeremiah was fulfilled, at least in part, through Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  In the second reading, St. Paul tells the Hebrews that it is by his suffering and death, in obedience to his Father’s will, that Jesus established the New Covenant. Using metaphors of the “sown wheat grain” and the “spent life” in today’s gospel, Jesus teaches the same lessons as St. Paul does. The gospel hints at Jesus’ inner struggle in accepting the cup of suffering to inaugurate the new and everlasting covenant. However, Jesus accepts the cross as his “hour,” meaning the stepping stone to his passion, death, resurrection and exaltation.

Story : There is a story about a little bird that was trying to fly to warmer climate in order to escape the winter cold. On the way the bird encountered a snow storm. It grew so cold that the bird fell to the ground in a farm. The bird was about to freeze to death when a cow passed by and dropped cow manure on him. The cow manure was warm on the bird and prevented the bird from freezing to death. Soon the bird felt so comfortable in the warm manure that he began to sing. The farm cat heard the bird singing in the manure, dug the little bird out of the manure and ate him. The moral of the story is: Not everyone who drops manure on you is your enemy, and not everyone who digs you out of the manure is your friend.

Exegesis : Suffering can bring salvation to the sufferer as well as to others. Today's 2nd reading from Hebrews tells us that "although he was a Son, Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Hebrews 5:8-9). In other words, Jesus' suffering was beneficial both to him personally (he learned obedience) and to others (he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him). Suffering and privations, when accepted as Jesus did, can become one of the best things that can happen in the lives of believers.

Among the books of the New Testament it is Hebrews which best develops the doctrine of Jesus Christ as the eternal high priest who stands for humanity in our dealings with God. He gives two main reasons why Jesus and Jesus alone fulfils the conditions for this priesthood. 1)One is that it was God Himself who chose him for the office. "For no one can become a high priest simply because he wants such an honour. He has to be called by God for this work, just as Aaron was" (Hebrews 5:4). Jesus was specifically chosen for the office when at his baptism a voice was heard from heaven which said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17).

2)The second qualification that Jesus has for the priestly office is that he has experienced the bitter realities of the human condition, including suffering and death. Hebrews alludes to Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsemane where the man Jesus "offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission" (Hebrews 5:7). To understand what Hebrews says here regarding the reverent submission of Jesus and that he was heard by the Father, we need to look again at Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Jesus' prayer in the Garden was made up of two petitions. One of the petitions is conditional: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me;" the other is absolute and without conditions: "yet not what I want but what you want" (Matthew 26:39). The second petition overrides the first. One can, therefore, say that in Gethsemane Jesus made only one prayer, a prayer of total submission to the will of God. This is his one prayer that was heard: God's will was done in his suffering and death. Ultimately even his prayer to be saved from death was heard when God raised him from the dead to live and reign with Him in glory for ever.

Joke: A Frenchman, an Englishman and a New Yorker are exploring the jungle and are captured by a fierce tribe.

The chief tells them, "The bad news is that we've caught you, we're going to kill you, and then use your skins to build a canoe. The good news is that you get to choose how you die."

The Frenchman says, "I take ze poison." The chief gives him some poison; the Frenchman says, "Vive la France!" and drinks it down.

The Englishman says, "A pistol for me, please." The chief gives him a pistol; the Brit points it at his head, says, "God save the Queen!" and blows his brains out.

The New Yorker says, "Gimme a fork." The chief is puzzled, but he shrugs and gives him a fork. The New Yorker takes the fork and jabs himself all over -- the stomach, the sides, the chest, everywhere. Blood gushes from every hole.

The chief screams, "What are you doing?"

The New Yorker looks at the chief and says, "So many holes for your canoe!"

Conclusion : Jesus suffers, dies and saves people, while this New Yorker, anyhow, dies and not ready to do any good for the people.  Only a life spent for others will be glorified here in this world and in heaven.  Today’s gospel teaches us that to receive new life and eternal life we need to die to ourselves through suffering and service.  Salt gives its taste by dissolving in water.  A candle gives light by having its wax melted and its wick consumed.  The oyster produces a priceless pearl by transforming a grain of sand in a long and painful process.  Loving parents sacrifice themselves so that their children can enjoy a better life than they themselves had.  As we step into Holy Week, may our prayer to God be "Your will be done in our lives," just as Jesus prayed in Gethsemane.

Introduction : V Sunday of Lent

Message: The grain of wheat must die to produce fruit.  Such dying must be cultivated by obedience and by our covenant with God, rooted in love and forgiveness.

Special events in this week:   26^th Monday : Annunciation of the Lord

IV Sunday in Lent:[2015]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

IV Sunday in Lent:[2015]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

Introduction: In the first reading from the Second Book of Chronicles, we learn the compassion and patience of God.  God allowed Cyrus the Great, a pagan conqueror, to become the instrument of His mercy and salvation to His chosen people who were in exile in Babylon.  In the second reading, Paul tells us that God is so rich in mercy that He has granted us eternal salvation and eternal life as a free gift through Christ Jesus.  Today’s gospel has a parallel theme but on a much higher level.  Jesus, the Son of God, became the agent of God's salvation, not just for one sinful nation but for the sinfulness of the whole world.  Through John 3:16, the gospel teaches us that God expressed His love, mercy and compassion for us by giving His only Son for our salvation.

Exegesis: “God so loved the world…” (Jn 3:16). The core of Christianity is the experience of the love of God in the person of Jesus.  This is the experience of our salvation.  This is the meaning of being born from above – being born of water and the Spirit. Water is the symbol of the experience (as from Jn 4) and Spirit is God himself who offers that experience!  In the person of Jesus we are able to experience the truth that God loves us.  “God so loved the world that he gave his only son not to condemn the world but so that through him all might be saved.”  Belief in Jesus then is not an intellectual assent.  It is not a set of dogmas that we profess in the creed.  On the other hand, it is simply being open to the possibility that we can experience God in the person of Jesus.

This is the purpose of the Word of God; it is the function of this Sunday liturgy; it is the role of the church: to mediate the experience of the love of God in the person of Jesus.  This experience makes us realize that we are in the image of God.  This experience makes us realize we are the children of God.  This experience brings inner peace and lasting happiness. It provides the grounding for our purpose of life. This is salvation.  This truth, which is not an intellectual knowledge, but an inner experience, sheds light in our darkness.  And thus, the last sentence of today’s gospel becomes meaningful: “the person who lives by the truth comes out into the light” (Jn 3:21).  Nicodemus came to meet Jesus by night – in his darkness of doubt and thirst.  He goes back after the encounter, living in the light, because he has experienced the love of God made visible in Jesus.

Joke: The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching."

Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples.

Practical Applications: Try to make an encounter with Jesus. Jesus is present in the holy Eucharist amidst us. We need to make attention to the co-living situation of Jesus among us. We come to the church for worldly things or activities like helping others and all that. Do we care about the presence of Jesus here in the church?

Introduction : Fourth Sunday in Lent

Message: God pardons and raises up those who have been unfaithful, those who have loved the darkness rather than the light.  For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to deliver the world from exile.

Saints and Events in this Week: 17 – Seventeenth – Tuesday – Saint Patrick, Bishop; 18 – Eighteenth – Wednesday – Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor of the Church; 19 – Ninteenth – Thursday – Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary;

IV Sunday in Lent:[2012]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

IV Sunday in Lent:[2012]: 2Chro 36:14-17, 19-23; Eph 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

Introduction: In the first reading from the Second Book of Chronicles, we learn the compassion and patience of God.  God allowed Cyrus the Great, a pagan conqueror, to become the instrument of His mercy and salvation to His chosen people who were in exile in Babylon.  In the second reading, Paul tells us that God is so rich in mercy that He has granted us eternal salvation and eternal life as a free gift through Christ Jesus.  Today’s gospel has a parallel theme but on a much higher level.  Jesus, the Son of God, became the agent of God's salvation, not just for one sinful nation but for the sinfulness of the whole world.  Through John 3:16, the gospel teaches us that God expressed His love, mercy and compassion for us by giving His only Son for our salvation. Nicodemus, the wealthy Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, meets Jesus by night and begins a long religious discussion. Jesus explains to him that he must believe Jesus’ words because he is the Son of God.  He further explains to Nicodemus God’s plan of salvation by referring to the story of Moses and the brazen serpent.  Just as God saved the victims of serpent bite through the brazen serpent, He is going to save mankind from its sins by permitting the crucifixion and death of His Son Jesus because the love of God for mankind is that great.   

Event : "Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourned for her" (Entrance Antiphon -- Isaiah 66:10-11). Why does the church invite us in the middle of the penitential season of Lent to rejoice? The story of a little incident that took place in Mainz in 1456 when Gutenberg was printing the first printed Bible can help us with the answer.

The printer had a little daughter, Alice, who came into the printing press and picked up a discarded sheet with only one line of print. That line of print read: "God loved the world so much that he gave..." Now, those were times when popular religion was a matter of living in fear and trembling before the awesome wrath of God. So Alice put the paper in her pocket and kept on thinking on the fact of God being so loving, and her face radiated with joy. Her mother noticed her changed behaviour and asked Alice what was making her so happy and Alice showed her mother the sheet of paper with the printed line. Her mother looked at it for some time and said, "So, what did God give?" "I don't know," said Alice, "but if God loved us well enough to give us something, then we need not be so afraid of Him."

Love: What is love? What does it mean to say God loves us? To understand what the Bible means by God's love we must bear in mind that whereas the Greek language has three different words for three different types of love English has only one. In Greek we have (1) eros meaning romantic love (like the love between a man and a woman that leads to marriage), (2) philia meaning fellowship love (like the love for football which brings people together to form a fan club), and there is (3) agap or sacrificial love (like the love that makes a mother risk her own life for her yet unborn child). In romantic love we long to receive, in fellowship love we long to give and take, in sacrificial love we long to give. Now, with what kind of love does God love us? God loves us with agap or sacrificial love. "God loved the world so much that He gave." That is one big difference between God and us: God gives and forgives, we get and forget. Giving is a sign of agap. This is the kind of love God has for us. This is the kind of love we should have for one another. This is the kind of love that is lived in heaven. And where this kind of love is absent, what you get is hell.

Anecdote: A certain saint asked God to show her the difference between heaven and hell. So God sent an angel to take her, first to hell. There she saw men and women seated around a large table with all kinds of delicious food. But none of them was eating. They were all sad and yawning. The saint asked one of them, "Why are you not eating?" And he showed her his hand. A long fork about 4ft long was strapped to their hands such that each time they tried to eat they only threw the food on the ground. "What a pity" said the saint. Then the angel took her to heaven. There the saint was surprised to find an almost identical setting as in hell: men and women sitting round a large table with all sorts of delicious food, and with a four-foot fork strapped to their arms. But unlike in hell, the people here were happy and laughing. "What!" said the saint to one of them, "How come you are happy in this condition?" "You see," said the man in heaven, "Here we feed one another." Can we say that of our families, our neighborhood, our church, our world? If we can say that, then we are not far from the kingdom of heaven.

Practical: Today the Church invites us to reflect on God's love for the world and to be joyful because of it. God loves each and every one of us, so much so that He give us His only son. Today we are invited to say yes to God's love. It is sometimes hard to believe that God loves even me, But I believe it because I know that God loves unconditionally; no ifs, no buts. Then we can love God back and enter into a love relationship with God. Then, like little Alice, our faces will radiate the joy of God's love. Then we shall learn to share God's love with those around us. Then we shall learn to give to God and to one another.

Introduction : IV Sunday in Lent : Laetare Sunday

Message : Laetare Sunday or Rejoice Sunday sets a tone of joyful anticipation of the Easter mystery.  God pardons and raises up those who have been unfaithful, those who have loved the darkness rather than the light.  For God so loved the world that he sent his only son to deliver the world from exile.

March 19 Monday : Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Joseph is honored on 19 March since the end of the 10^th c; declared Patron of the Universal Church in 1870 by Pope Pius IX; patron of workers, carpenters, and of fathers; also of Austria, Belgium, Bohemia, Canada, Mexico, Peru, and Vietnam: mentioned in the Roman Canon.

23^rd Friday : Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop

Toribio, 1606; from Salamanca; as a layman he was the chief judge of the Inquisition at Granada; as archbishop of Lima he presided over the III Council of Lima(1583); established the first seminary in the New World; sought to alleviate poverty among the native population; contemporary of Rose of Lima; patron of Latin American bishops.