Tempted to Delver us from Evil: Gen 9:8-15 1 Pt 3:18-22 Mk 1:12-15 (B Lent 1)

Tempted to Delver us from Evil

Gen 9:8-15 1 Pt 3:18-22 Mk 1:12-15 (B Lent 1)

“..if he were not tempted he could not teach you how to triumph over temptation”

 

The number forty has very much importance and used many times in the Bible. At the time of Noah, it rained for forty days and forty nights. Moses lived forty years in Egypt being prepared to experience God in the Burning Bush. He spent forty nights on Mt. Sinai before receiving the Commandments. Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years. The prophet Elijah journeyed in the desert for 40 days and nights on his way to Horeb. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. After his death, resurrection and ascension the apostles spent forty days in prayer before they received the Holy Spirit. Remembering the significance of these events, the Church also set aside 40 days for the season of Lent.

Today's Gospel reading from Mark states that the Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days to confront the temptations. The Evangelists Luke and Mathew say that Jesu “was led by the Spirit”. Reflecting upon the teachings of St Paul to Hebrews, St Augustine says that Christ was tempted by the devil. In making all of us with him he chose to be tempted by Satan. He suffered temptations, insults, death, in our nature because he shared our nature. But gained victory by his own power (4:15; 2:18).

From these reflections we learn that the design of Christ's mission to mankind is to be a perfect example for our imitation in his life. He was tempted, in order that he might be an example to us when called to encounter temptation.

There are three powerful principles of human nature, of which Satan takes advantage, and to which he adapts his temptations. These principles are “the lust of the flesh” (change stones into bread), “the lust of the eyes” (panoramic view of all the kingdoms of the world), and “the pride of life”. The spirit rules in man over body and soul, and so liability to pride opens the way to temptation. By means of these Satan tempted the first Adam, but Jesus succeeded to set us example to win over poverty, power, and pride.

The desert marks beginning of Jesus’ battle with Satan. The ultimate test will be in Jesus’ final hours on the cross. In a similar way, our Lenten observances are only a beginning, a preparation for and a reinforcement of our ongoing struggle to resist the temptations we face in our lives. To prepare for Easter we spend forty days confronting temptation. Temptations are difficult to overcome. During Lent, we are led by the Holy Spirit to remember the vows of Baptism in which we promised to reject sin and to follow Jesus. In the Sacred Scripture, the number “40” signifies new life, new growth, transformation, a change from old to new. May this lent bring us new life in Christ crucified.

   “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food”

లూర్దు మాత

 

లూర్దు మాత

చలి చల్లటి సెలయేటి నదిపై
చిక చిక్కటి లూర్దు మంచు కొండపై
భువన గఘన కార్య ఆశవై
దయ చుపినావా కరుణాల తల్లివై
 
పన్నెండు గోత్రాలు తారకల కిరీటమై
త్రియేక దైవ కార్య సహకారమై
లూర్దు బిడ్డల ప్రార్ధనా జ్యోతివై
ఆదరించవా నా దీన ప్రార్ధనా ఫలమై
 
మహా మహోన్నత నీ దివ్య రూపం
మహిలోన ప్రసన్న నీ వర్ణం
చూడ తరింప చేయవా నీ కారుణ్యం
జివించెదనమ్మా నీ పాదాల కిరణం

 

God gives and Forgives

Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20—6:2; Mt6:1-6,16-18 (Ash Wednesday -B)

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit” (Ps 34:18)

 

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the first day of the liturgical season of Lent. In this season, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the high point of our Christian life, Easter. Today’s liturgical readings call us to a change of metanoia mind (heart) and teach us about the traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The meaning behind tracing a cross on our foreheads with ashes reminds us of our origin and our death and the sign of our victory: the cross of Christ.

When we reflect upon the Lenten observances, such as prayer, fasting and almsgiving - the Christian's righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. St John Chrysostom says, “You may do good deeds before men, and yet seek not human praise; you may do them in secret, and yet in your heart wish that they may become known to gain that praise.”

The Lord Jesus gives us a model for our prayers—a prayer very different from the vain repetitions, though very short and simple it is very comprehensive and complete. This prayer teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and that all other things shall be added. After the things of God's glory, kingdom, and will, we pray for the needful supports and comforts of our present life.

Religious fasting is a duty required of the disciples of Christ, but it is not so much a duty itself, as a means to dispose us for other duties. Fasting is the humbling of the soul (Ps 35:13). This is inside duty of our being. Many of us take up foregoing dinners, breakfasts but what we are required all of us is to sacrifice the works of the flesh, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness” (Gal 19:19-21).

Some of us also desire to take up charitable works. Now a days the charitable works are not considered to be very religious but philanthropic that is to be drawn between the lines of moral and humanitarian grounds. What is considered to be more noble is to forgive those who sin against us in the exemplary prayer of Jesus, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they do”. And we forgive other because we wish our sins be forgiven by God.  

The word “Lent” comes from an old English word “Lente” meaning “springtime”. It reminds us of spring-cleaning and the new life in nature during spring. This season of Lent is also a time of special grace for us in which we want to do some spring cleaning in our lives and enjoy new life as a result.

 

“Patience is the companion of wisdom” St Augustine

The Challenge of Action: Lev 13:1-2,44-46; 1 Cor 10:31—11:1; Mk 1:40-45 (6) B

The Challenge of Action

Lev 13:1-2,44-46; 1 Cor 10:31—11:1; Mk 1:40-45  (6) B

“This is the book of the commandments of God, the Law that stands for ever: those who keep it live” (DO)

Today’s Gospel begins with Jesus healing a man with leprosy. Leprosy is a bacterial infectious skin disease that had been surrounded by many social and religious taboos. In 1873, the cause of leprosy, is also known as Hansen’s disease. Although it is infectious, modern medical studies show that transmission is more difficult than previously thought. We have medical treatments since the 1940. Today, the patients need not to be isolated.

The Hebrew word used in Leviticus for leprosy is tsara'ath. The word leprosy in Jewish thought, seems to have covered any kind of creeping skin disease. Any such skin disease rendered the sufferer unclean. Such person was banished from the fellowship of others and must dwell alone in isolation. The leper was a person who was already dead, though still alive.

In the case of identification of leprosy, the Law of Moses instructed for the examination of skin diseases by the priests and the person was declared unclean (Lev 14:1-57). They were instructed to rip their clothes and announce their presence with loud cries when moving in the community. If the sores of leprosy healed, the Law of Moses provided a purification rite that permitted the person to return to the community.

In today’s Gospel, the man with leprosy took the initiative asking Jesus for healing. In doing so, according to the Mosaic law, the leper violated the religious customs by approaching Jesus who was clean. But what we need to understand that his request to Jesus can be interpreted as a courageous and daring act. It is the confidence of the leper in Jesus’ ability to heal him. But his request can also be interpreted as a challenge to Jesus in curing him. However, there is an event of trespassing the unhealthy traditional law and breaking the barriers to give life to a human being. There is a divine act that embraces the disfigured and wretched creature lacking the divine love and friendship. In touching the man with leprosy, Jesus made himself unclean so as to cleanse the unclean.

This is an important sign of the depth of God’s compassion. Although God implemented the radical change in the unhealthy barriers, still he respected the Law of Moses instructing the man to present himself to the priests as prescribed by the Law. Christ was made sin for us, that we might be made righteousness in him. Today’s spiritual leprosy is lack of prayer, humility, and faith as the source of all righteousness. The leper was cured, but not perfectly. He had not learned the obedience of faith. His inattention to Christ’s request created a serious inconvenience and hindrance in prosecuting the work of salvation amongst others. Those who have received benefits from Christ should attend implicitly to all that he enjoins, “You are my friends, if you do the things Which I command you” (Jn 15:14). The spiritual blessings of Christ are dependent on perfect subjection to his will. The more a servant of God withdraws himself from the world, the more highly does the world esteem him.

                    “The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities” Ps 41:3

Consecration an act of Worship: “Christ opened heaven for us in the manhood he assumed” (DO)

 

Consecration an act of Worship

Job 7:1-4,6-7; 1 Cor 9:16-19,22-23; Mk 1:29-39

“Christ opened heaven for us in the manhood he assumed” (DO)

Today’s Gospel completes a picture of Jesus’ ministry: preaching, curing the sick, driving out demons, and then moving on to continue this work in another place. Jesus’ compassion and healing of the sick is a sign of the Kingdom of God. Although we have different liturgical readings today, we wish to reflect upon the presentation of Child Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem.

The feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus in the Temple is a major feast in our calendar but we observe it when it falls on a Sunday. The traditional liturgy for the day is called Candlemass. On this day, usually, the Church celebrates the day of consecrated life in the setting of light, faith and hope. The presentation of Jesus in the temple serves two purposes: the first is the redemption of the first-born and the second is the purification of Mary. The first-born belonged to the Lord according to the Book of Exodus 13 1-2 but the book of Numbers 18: 15-16 tells that the first-born could be redeemed or bought back by paying fife shekels. Joseph and Mary show their total submission to law.

The Gospel of Luke tells us of the silent offering of three persons of themselves to God, was a perfect offering. They lived a life of obscurity and poverty for the next thirty years. They indeed accepted God’s will and having understood partially at least the salvific plan of God. They were ready to accept the suffering and pain that came along the way. They are true example of holy family.

The duty of all parents is to present their children to God. Presenting oneself is nothing but consecrating oneself to God, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them” (Lev 20: 1, 7, 8). Once we were officially presented to God on the day of our Baptism, now we present ourselves and our own given nature on the altar. We need to live our daily lives with the awareness both that we are dedicated people consecrated to God and that we are obliged to lead holy lives: I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer (consecrate) your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom 12: 1).

All those who, like Simeon and Anna, persevere in piety and in the service of God, become instruments the Holy Spirit uses to make Christ known to others. In His plan of redemption, God makes use of these simple souls to do much good for all mankind. The Holy Spirit reveals the presence of the Lord to us when we are receptive and eager to receive Him.  Progressive sanctification, or being made holy, cannot begin until we have consecrated ourselves and our things to Him. Consecration first, sanctification follows. Perhaps this is why some Christians are stuck in their walk with him. What has been consecrated to God, God takes ownership of – Satan cannot have it. Let us be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us to recognize the indwelling presence of the Lord with us and in others. 

“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Jos 3:5)

 

 

 

 

 

 

T

The Mystery of Death ("Gaudium et Spes": On the Church in the Modern World - nn. 18. 22)

 

From the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et spes" on the Church in the modern world

 

The Mystery of Death

 In the face of death the enigma of human existence reaches its climax. Man is not only the victim of pain and the progressive deterioration of his body; he is also, and more deeply, tormented by the fear of final extinction. But the instinctive judgement of his heart is right when he shrinks from, and rejects, the idea of a total collapse and definitive end of his own person. He carries within him the seed of eternity, which cannot be reduced to matter alone, and so he rebels against death. All efforts of technology, however useful they may be, cannot calm his anxieties; the biological extension of his life-span cannot satisfy the desire inescapably present in his heart for a life beyond this life.

Imagination is completely helpless when confronted with death. Yet the Church, instructed by divine revelation, affirms that man has been created by God for a destiny of happiness beyond the reach of earthly trials. Moreover, the Christian faith teaches that bodily death, to which man would not have been subject if he had not sinned, will be conquered; the almighty and merciful Saviour will restore man to the wholeness that he had lost through his own fault. God has called man, and still calls him, to be united in his whole being in perpetual communion with himself in the immortality of the divine life. This victory has been gained for us by the risen Christ, who by his own death has freed man from death.

Faith, presented with solid arguments, offers every thinking person the answer to his questionings concerning his future destiny. At the same time, it enables him to be one in Christ with his loved ones who have been taken from him by death and gives him hope that they have entered into true life with God.  

Certainly, the Christian is faced with the necessity, and the duty, of fighting against evil through many trials, and of undergoing death. But by entering into the paschal mystery and being made like Christ in death, he will look forward, strong in hope, to the resurrection.

This is true not only of Christians but also of all men of good will in whose heart grace is invisibly at work. Since Christ died for all men, and the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one, that is, a divine vocation, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being united with this paschal mystery in a way known only to God.

Such is the great mystery of man, enlightening believers through the Christian revelation. Through Christ and in Christ light is thrown on the enigma of pain and death which overwhelms us without his Gospel to teach us. Christ has risen, destroying death by his own death; he has given us the free gift of life so that as sons in the Son we may cry out in the Spirit, saying: Abba, Father!

 

 

The Transforming Word: Dt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28 (4) B

 

The Transforming Word

Dt. 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk 1:21-28 (4) B

“Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul, alleluia” (DO)

The Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus spoke with authority. He didn't just speak the truth; he was the Truth Incarnate. What was the authority of Jesus? It was not the authority of tyranny; it was the authority of companionship. It was not the authority of omnipotence; it was the authority of a vulnerability that is shared and transformed into hospitality. When Jesus spoke, his word brought a difference. He spoke the words of life. The psalmist says that the word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path (Ps 119:105). And it is a sure foundation that we can build our lives upon (2 Tim 3:16) it.

In the Biblical understanding, to speak a word, is to release energy – a powerful, personal force. God created the universe and sustains, through a word “Amen” that is spoken. The prophets spoke his word and that brought conversion. God himself became one of us in Jesus to speak to us of his own self. Such Word is a word of hope, a word that promises, a word that gives dignity and sets us free and heals us. Jesus is the Word who sets people free.

Can we ourselves also look for ordinary ways to speak that word of strength and hope to others? Believing that Jesus’ own words have the power to change, ask how we ourselves use words, not just at the special unique times, but in life, generally. Do we use words in a way that brings strength to others, to lead them more into trust, to bring them healing because they are words of forgiveness? Or do we use words to put others down? Instead of empowering others, do our words tend towards disrespect? This is the authority we too have to offer those we are with. Indeed, in the end, it is the only authority we carry. Let us be ever generous with this authority we have in the name of Jesus.

At every Eucharist we say, “Only say the word, and my soul shall be healed”. It is more than just a liturgical formula. It is a cry from the depths of our own stories. We long with all our being to hear the word of God. The word that will take away our shame and guilt, and affirm us, to reassure us, to set us free. Some of us might be spending our whole life looking for, and waiting for that word.

 The word that we most long to hear is the word that says to us that life is worth living – that our life is worth living. For is not this one of the deepest questions with which we struggle: is life for us or against us? It is a question that lurks underneath many of our other experiences – and particularly those of sickness - “How could God let this happen? Am I sick because I have done wrong? How could God be loving me if he has allowed all this to happen?” How many times do we hear people say, “It seems so unfair! The touch of Jesus holds all these questions arising out of our struggles, asking, “Are you for me or against me?” Yet, when our cry meets Jesus, it will all be calm and quiet.  All we need to do is to come before him as we are.

 We are privileged to share strengthening words to hold the struggles of people who are trying to find meaning in their life since a long time alone! Often, we may not have word to give, and the silence is hard to bear! On these occasions we are reminded powerfully that the word which truly sets people free comes alone from the Spirit of God who whispers the word of freedom in people’s hearts in its own way and in its own time. “The word of God has the power to teach us truth, and to lead us in righteousness (Ps 119:9-11); “It is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hb 4:12). May the compassionate word comfort us in the passion days of the bruised Christ.