Let us thank God for moving a large number of parishioners to attend our parish mission. We express our appreciation for the Parish Mission Team and their collaborators who worked so hard to make this Lenten Mission a success. It was so good to see the involvement of so many children. May the Holy Spirit move us to grow in our knowledge, love and service of Jesus! Let us continue to pray for our inactive members that they respond to God’s calling to return to him and spiritually prepare to celebrate Easter.
Readings: The Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt (slavery) from you." (Jos 5:9); Paul writes, “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.” In this new age God “has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Cor 5:19). In the parable of the ‘prodigal son’ Jesus says, “The father caught sight of him (prodigal) and was filled with compassion.” (Lk 15:20) The readings proclaim God as a compassionate, merciful, and forgiving Father revealed in Jesus. They call us to accept our merciful Father and be involved in the ministry of reconciliation by daring to forgive the unforgivable.
Although the OT is full of the description of the attribute of God as a stern Lord following the law of strict retribution, there is an abundance of passages that gives us a glimpse of the mercy of the Father that was finally revealed by Jesus Christ. For example, Moses hears the voice of God from the clouds who proclaims: “The Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity… and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin. (Ex 34:6) “Though the mountains leave and the hills be shaken, My love shall never leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken, says the LORD, who has mercy on you.” (Is 54:10)
From the early Christians to the present day, Christians believe that in Jesus of Nazareth the personal reality of God is finally manifested in visible and tangible form. Yahweh of Israel is the Father of Jesus Christ and “I (Jesus) and the Father are one.’ (Jn 10:30). In Christ the fullness of God and his saving attributes dwell bodily (cf Col 2:9); in Jesus, God is known in a new and personal manner. (cf. Dictionary of the Bible) In and through Jesus, God is revealed as a merciful Father who unconditionally forgives humans. This saving act of God in Jesus in his paschal mystery is made present in the seven Sacraments for all ages.
The difficulty faced by a good Christian is their inability to experience this loving Father. The reason behind this predicament is the fact a Christian may feel that they have observed all God’s laws and those of the Church and failed to realize that the grievous sin a human can commit is to ignore God; assert their freedom and demand their inheritance of a human existence, to live a life of dissipation, void of God. An ego-centric force tends to decide what is good or bad for themselves even adjusting moral laws to fit into their comfort zone. Then a time comes when they feel empty within, with no sense of direction. This is the time to feel the need for God and to humbly seek him to experience forgiveness and surrendering their life to God to experience healing and peace.
The Catechism states: “Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin… and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification.” (CCC 1446) Let us continue to approach this Sacrament whenever necessary to experience forgiveness and strength to forgive others and become ministers of reconciliation. Fr. Sextus
FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT - MARCH 21, 2010
We are familiar with one of Aesop’s Fables about “The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey.” Kent Crockett has adapted it in his “I Once Was Blind but Now I Squint” in which he writes, ‘A father, son, and their donkey were traveling from one village to another. The boy walked while the man rode the donkey. The father overheard a bystander say, “That’s a shame. Look how that man is making that poor boy walk.” Not wanting to be the object of criticism, the father and son changed places. The boy rode the donkey while the man walked. He then heard a woman comment, “Look how that boy on the donkey is making that poor man walk.” The father and son both climbed onto the donkey. As they traveled down the road, someone said, “Look how that man and boy are making that poor donkey suffer.” They both got off and walked. The people remarked, “Look at that stupid man and boy. They’re walking when they could be riding that donkey.” When they entered the next village, the boy was walking and the man was carrying the donkey! No matter what you do, someone will find fault.’ If you were living in that last village and saw the man carrying the donkey, what would have been your take?
Why do humans have the urge to pass judgment on everyone and everything? They tend to be severely judgmental on people they dislike or despise. It is very natural for humans to observe people and things and give their personal opinion of them. However, no one has the right to monopolize truth. Opinion of an individual, especially with regard to another person’s character or personality, is always a partial truth or fallacy.
In today’s Gospel, the forgiveness of the merciful Father is revealed when Jesus confronts the self-righteous crowd that intends to kill the adulterous woman. He challenges them to confront their own sinfulness and forgives her sin. The prophecy of Ezekiel about the merciful nature of Yahweh comes true in Jesus as he sat before this vengeful crowd with stones in their hand: As I live, says the Lord, I swear I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, but rather in the wicked man’s conversion, that he may live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! (Ez 33:11) Jesus tells the religious leaders: “You pass judgment according to appearances (literally means, according to the flesh) but I pass judgment on no one.” (Jn. 8:15)
In Mt. 7:1-5 Jesus brings out the truth that no human is capable of passing right judgment on another until he/she is conscious and overcomes his/her sinfulness. Judgments of condemnation upon one’s neighbor and refusal to pardon him entail loss of God’s pardon for one’s own sins. Jesus says loud and clear: “You hypocrite! Remove the plank from your own eye first; then you will see clearly to take the speck from your brother’s eye.”
The challenge for this week is to confront the innate and habitual self-righteous tendency we have to pass judgment on others. Let us ask ourselves: Are we quick to magnify the trifling offenses of others and make rash and hasty judgments with few facts to support them? Are we judgmental people? Our life experience shows that we are often compelled to make quick decisions on people and events. An authentic Christian avoids being judgmental, but rather tries to make a charitable observation after much prayerful discernment, always keeping the good of the one on whom the judgment is passed. Counter the habit of gossiping by bringing positive observation about the gossiped person when your group gathers again. Nothing good to say? Just be silent!
Today’s call from Jesus is to be aware of the stark reality – all humans are sinners with human frailties. Experiencing God’s forgiveness in Jesus dares us to become messengers of mercy, compassion and forgiveness in the world. Fr. Sextus Don
PASTOR'S SUNDAY REFLECTION