Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion
Procession With Palms — Gospel MT 21:1-11 Reading 1 IS 50:4-7 Reading 2 PHIL 2:6-11 Gospel MT 26:14—27:66 Meditation: As we enter into Holy Week this Palm Sunday, our Lenten journey brings us to its culmination in the most holy week in the liturgical calendar. The reading for the Procession of Palms recalls our Lord's triumphant entry into the holy city of Jerusalem while the Lord's Passion according to St. Matthew presents the Lamb of God, the Suffering Servant of God and as St. Paul's letter to the Philippians reveals , the God who 'emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness...' This week celebrates the most important event in human history: our redemption from sin and the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ. As we enter into Holy Week, because it is our story, the Christian story, place yourselves in it during your reflections: see yourselves in the crowd so overjoyed in welcoming Jesus to Jerusalem: they praise and honor Jesus for his mighty deeds and his powerful teaching which prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Wave you palms for the King of kings! But crowds are fickle, yes, we can be fickle; at the instigation of the High Priests and their leaders, they turned their backs against him, humiliated him and, in order to crucify the Son of God, they shouted to free Barabbas, a murderer; they forsook the very "Hosannas" they greeted the Lord with, instead saying, "We have no king but Caesar!" "Let his blood be upon us and our children." Crowds are fickle, we can be fickle. Place yourselves in the story as it is our story. We can betray him like Judas, we can deny him like Peter or we can stand with him like Mary and John but we all receive forgiveness from that cross, redemption from our sins. As we celebrate Holy Week I pray that we may all be willing to join with Christ, the Suffering Servant, on his road to Calvary and the cross and so share in his glorious triumph and resurrection. Place yourselves in the story as it is our story. Peace.
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Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Ez 37:21-28 Gospel Jn 11:45-56 Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." Meditation: Conversion must take place in the heart. We can be scholars in theology and never experience conversion. Take the chief priests and the Pharisees, all scholars for sure yet they remained unconverted. Why? Because their hearts were never open to God's grace. In Christ they saw loss not gain: "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." As scholars they should have been well versed in the words we hear from Ezekiel in the first reading: "My servant David shall be prince over them,and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees. They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children's children..." Their fear of Rome was greater than their trust in God's covenant, so much so that even the resuscitation of Lazarus brought murderous intent rather than glorious hope and praise. But let's not be too quick in our condemnation and take this last Saturday of Lent to examine our own heart: is it predisposed to conversion or have we something other that God at its center? Peace. Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Jer 20:10-13 Gospel Jn 10:31-42 "If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father." Meditation: It's common practice today to make a statement then walk it back: "when I said such and such, I really didn't mean that...". Happens all the time, especially with politicians so when the Jewish leaders accused Jesus of making himself God and confronted him with rocks, it was the perfect opportunity to clarify exactly who he was (Jn 10:33). Jesus could have easily said, "Easy, guys! Don't stone Me. When I said 'I AM', I really didn't mean to imply that I was actually God." Everyone would have gone home and Holy Week would have probably been cancelled, not taken place. But Jesus not only refused to walk back His claims to be God; rather, he doubled down on it citing the evidence of his works, his obedience, and having been sent by the Father to us (Jn 10:34-38). 'Believe': it's what we've been hearing as we read John's Gospel in particular this Lent. From Samaria to Galilee and back to Judea he called for them to believe and he calls for us to believe still. Finally, do our works reveal that the Father is in us and we are in the Father. Is our testimony believable? Peace. Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Gn 17:3-9 Gospel Jn 8:51-59 Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad." So the Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM." Meditation: Back in the Trinidad of my youth we had a 'character' who roamed the streets of the city nicknamed 'Red Hawk'. Now at a carnival celebration one year we were all trying to get close to the stage exit so we could see the performance for free. The problem was that it was a no-no according to the organizers and the law enforcement who maintained a perimeter with a police horseman. Well Red Hawk approached the area where we wanted to be and looked at the police officer on his horse then drew a line in the sand daring the officer to cross it and come and remove him. The smart 'constable' turned his horse around and left and we all ran forward and stood with Red Hawk for the rest of the show. Funny how the mind works; pulling a distant and obscure memory from my youth as I reflect on Jesus and the Gospel today. In the first reading God says to Abraham (formerly Abram): "I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God." God also said to Abraham: "On your part, you and your descendants after you must keep my covenant throughout the ages." The Jewish leaders wanted to remind Jesus of their proud lineage all the way back to Abraham. Jesus reminded them of his: "Before Abraham came to be, I AM". That is his line in the sand. Stand with him or against him but you're going to have to take a stand. As a youth I stood with Red Hawk but now I ask would you stand beside me with Jesus? Peace. Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Dn 3:14-20, 91-92, 95 Gospel Jn 8:31-42 Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, 'You will become free'?" Jesus answered them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free. Meditation: 'Truth' is being assailed today as I've never seen before: accusations of 'fake news', presentation of 'alternate facts', deflections, cover ups, and of course blatant lies emanate from those that occupy the halls of power. It can all be summed up in Pilate's words: 'truth', what is that? Yet today's Gospel tells us that truth is not a 'that', it is a person: Jesus Christ. The Pharisees and scribes have been hostile in opposition to the truth (nothing really changes does it?), hiding behind the letter of the law while decimating its spirit, claiming bloodline with Abraham yet denying Abraham's hope and in their self delusion and deception remain "a slave to sin". Truth is freedom: "If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free", but it comes with a price, a cost, a cross. Jesus will pay the ultimate price in being the liberating truth. In the first reading from Daniel, a white hot furnace awaited Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego for standing up for their faith before the powerful Babylonian king. Three cast into the fire yet four seen in it and they were saved. The Truth set them free! As we draw closer to Holy Week let us try even harder to seek the truth despite what it may reveal about ourselves. The words of Ash Wednesday "repent and believe in the Gospel" is a call to seek the Truth and freedom. Peace. Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Nm 21:4-9 Gospel Jn 8:21-30 So Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him." Meditation: When we hear Jesus speak of being "lifted up" or referring to himself as "I AM" in John's Gospel, he is using Old Testament language from the Torah or the Prophets to help the church come to faith in him in the light of his death and resurrection. One might say he is waiting for the 'lightbulb to go on' even with the Pharisees and scribes. But with that particular group the lightbulb never goes on and their hearts remain hardened against him. Let it not be so with us. Today's scriptures also features powerful images of the Serpent and the Cross: Israel’s sin, symbolized by the serpent with its venemous bite, is changed into an instrument of salvation. God instructed Moses to make a bronze serpent and mount it on a pole, so that all who looked upon it after admitting their sin and repenting were cured by the Lord. Saint Paul wrote: “For our sake God made the sinless one to be sin, so that in him we might become the very holiness of God” (2 Cor 5:21) in reference to Christ on the cross. His crucifixion removes the venom of our sin from us. Let us look upon Him whom they pierced and repent and be saved. Peace. Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Dn 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62 Gospel Jn 8:1-11 Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more." Meditation: The Scriptures today tell a tale of two women, both accused of adultery but one innocent and the other guilty. The innocent woman hoped and appealed to the God of JUSTICE: But Susanna cried aloud: "O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be: you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me" and she was vindicated.The guilty woman lay silent; she knew the law, she broke it and knew the price to pay; dare she to hope at all, appeal to whom and for what? On that day however she encountered the God of MERCY. "Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And with that they left, one by one, so that she stood alone before the only sinless one who could actually cast the first stone, but she received new life instead of death. Justice gives us what we deserve, mercy gives what we do not deserve and both justice and mercy have their origin in the heart of God. For this we should be eternally thankful. I hope this Lent we encounter the God who is both just and merciful, whose love for sinful humanity (us) led him to the Cross. My sins condemn me as I stand before Him but mercifully He does not. Peace. Fifth Sunday of Lent
Reading 1 Ez 37:12-14 Reading 2 Rom 8:8-11 Gospel Jn 11:1-45 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Meditation: For the past few weeks the Gospels have given us accounts of various encounters with Jesus; the woman at the well, the man born blind, and today the people at Bethany, Martha, Mary, Lazarus and the townspeople. Every encounter comes with an invitation to faith: to the Samaritan woman at the well and her townspeople; come and see and drink living water. To the man born blind; behold the man, the prophet, the son of man, the Lord and now to Martha and Mary and all with them - "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" "Lazarus come out" Lazarus' resuscitation foreshadows the resurrection of Christ. Death will not have the final say on our sin. The first Word in Christ was "let there be" and the final Word in Christ is "come out". Christ calls each and every one of us to "come out" of darkness into the light, out of sin into holiness, out of death into eternal life. Do you believe this? This is the final week of Lent before we enter into Holy Week. What are we still hiding from, still running from, still imprisoned in, still ignorant of? Hear the words of our Lord "come out". Peace. Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Jer 11:18-20 Gospel Jn 7:40-53 Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" Meditation: President Obama was subject to the 'birther' movement which questioned the legitimacy of his presidency amid doubts over his birthplace. The scriptures today confirm the writer of Ecclesiastes that "there is nothing new under the sun". Jesus taught with wisdom and authority ("never before has anyone spoken like this man") and performed great signs (giving sight to the man born blind, making the lame man walk) yet this was not sufficient evidence for the chief priests and Pharisees. They doubted the legitimacy of his claim because he was a Galilean and not from Judea (when in fact he was born in Bethlehem and of the house of David). It seemed that God would have to play by their rules. Isn't that typical of our all too human hubris? In today's Gospel we hear nothing from Jesus but a lot about him and it comes down to the choice we all have to make: is Jesus the Son of God or not? The crowd, guards, chief priests and Pharisees all had made their choices, "Then each went to his own house." I just addressed a youth group on this at a retreat a few hours ago. Is choosing Christ difficult? Yes because so many voices are saying otherwise. Is choosing Christ easy? Yes because his way is always profoundly better than ours. However we experience, hard or easy, it we have to choose. Do we accept his words and signs as truth or are we asking for proof of birth before we believe? Peace. Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Reading 1 Wis 2:1a, 12-22 Gospel Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 "Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him." These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward." Meditation: The passage from our first reading today foretells the mindset or should I say the 'heartset' of the religious leaders that Jesus encountered: "Their wickedness blinded them". "So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own..." As a little child my mother would send me to the corner shop for an item or items. I would say "Mr. Stephen, mom wants..." and he would give it to me. No money passed but he would write it down on a slip of paper he had on a wire hook. It was the credit tab I realized much later. But Mr. Stephen knew me and more importantly he knew who sent me. That relationship was built on solid evidence of my mother's trustworthiness and so he accepted me, a mere child, as messenger. But as it was then so it is now: their wickedness blinded them. We would persecute truth as being offensive: "To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us," as we hear in the first reading. Sin and self-delusion often walk hand in hand but per the warnings of my native country, Trinidad/Tobago, "God don't sleep" and "God don't like ugly", the latter referring not to physical appearance but a deformity of heart and deeds that will bring retribution. Lent says "be warned". |
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