3rd Sunday of Lent “A”

Today is the third Sunday of Lent. The Church reminds us to grow in faith. However, we cannot talk about growing in faith without first talking about faith. More so we cannot talk about what faith is without talking about what is revelation. Faith and revelation go together.
Revelation is the unveiling of God of Himself to man. It is a Divine initiative to tell man His will. Faith is the response of man to God’s revelation. Faith makes us believe and accept God as his ultimate meaning of his life.
This is what our Gospel tries to show us today. Here we find Jesus initiates a conversation with the Samaritan woman. It reminds us of God, that He always takes the first move. He reveals himself, his will.
Now we go to the response of the Samaritan woman. Remember that faith is a response of man to the revelation of God. And here we can find three different responses of the Samaritan woman to Jesus. These different responses make us know the stages of faith.
First, she called Jesus “Jew” –this is the first stage of faith. This is faith based on a natural knowledge of God. We know God through our parents, catechists or others. We believe in Him because it is what others tell us to do so. But in the real sense, God is a stranger for us.
Second, she addressed Jesus “Sir” as she later said Jesus is a prophet. This is a faith based on the contemplation and study of believers especially with the scripture or theological research which deepens knowledge of revealed truth.
Third, she indirectly implicates the Jesus is the Son of God. This is the supernatural sense of faith. We never stop to welcome, to penetrate more deeply and to live more fully from the gift of Divine Revelation. This is the stage wherein we can say that everything that is happening around is in accordance with the will of God and we accept everything as He is the meaning of our life.

2nd Sunday of Lent "A"

Today is the second Sunday of Lent. Lent is the season for prayer, fasting, abstinence and alms-giving. And for today, we have our Gospel (Matthew 17:1-9) which reminds us of the importance of prayer.
First, Jesus prays. He does not only pray but he has a favorite place to pray –a mountain.
Second, Jesus takes with him Peter, James and John and leads them up a high mountain. Here Jesus wants to build a community of disciples who pray. This means that they seal their relationship with prayer and they are related to each other though prayer.
Third, Jesus is transfigured before the three. There is a change in the appearance of Jesus. This is the effect of prayer. When you sincerely pray, your prayer radiates that what is inside you will be manifested outside you. This is what love means too. Yes, a person can love, but if he is unable to communicate such love, it will not reflect on the appearance of the person.
Fourth, there is distraction whenever you pray. You see Peter is distracted when he sees Jesus is transfigured. He forgets to focus on what Jesus wants them to do on a mountain –that is to pray.
Fifth, a voice from heaven is heard saying “Listen to him” (to Jesus). It means that we have to focus on our prayer. We do not need to say something but to allow God to speak to us.
Then at the end of the Gospel, Jesus told them about his impending death. Here it reminds us that when a person prays, he can be able to accept anything even death. Jesus tells us that we can pray before we die, and we can pray while dying. Our prayer will help us accept whatever future there may be for us. So my dear friends, let us always pray!

1st Sunday of Lent "A"

In an animated film Madagascar 1, Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe live together at New York's Central Park Zoo. Marty tries running away from the zoo, hoping to live in the wild. But when Alex, Gloria and Melman break out of their cages too, they get caught and end up being zoo transferred. But they all accidentally end up on Madagascar where they meet King Julien and the lemurs. Later in the wild, Alex starts to see his friends and the lemurs as food, and tries to eat them. In one instance we can hear this conversation between Alex and Marty:

Marty the Zebra: Oh, c'mon! Do I look like a steak to you?
Alex the Lion: Yeah!
Marty the Zebra: See I told you I don't look like no... wait, what'd you say?

When Alex begins to turn on his friends and the lemurs, unable to overcome his instincts and hunger, King Julien bans him to the far side of the island. But at the end Alex shows how he has overcome his predatory nature. And then the penguins help Alex satisfy his meat craving through sushi instead of steak.

Here we find a story of how a lion can overcome his instincts and hunger for the sake of his relationship with the zebra. As a Catholic, we can find a similar message from our Gospel today. We are called to overcome temptations for the sake of our relationship with God.

In today’s gospel, after Jesus was baptized “the Spirit immediately led him into the desert to be tempted by the devil…” (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus was tempted three times but he resisted because he knew who he is in relation to God. He is the son of God and he would never put this into risk. Though he was tempted, he never sinned. His relationship with God is above all there is. This is also our call. We need to resist temptation not for anything else but to show we value our relationship with God. He is our Father as revealed by Jesus, and we are his adopted children through baptism. We can face temptation because we know who we are before God and we value our relationship with Him –we are his children. We will not allow then to strain our relationship with him by succumbing to temptations.

9th Sunday in OT

The story follows three pigs sent out into the world by their mother. Each of them builds a house to protect them from the hardships of the world, but along comes a big bad wolf. One by one, the wolf blows each house down until he comes to the last pig's house, which was built on a strong foundation of brick. The wolf is unable to even scuff the brick house and attempts to sneak in through the chimney. The pigs are ready for his entrance, placing a pot of boiling water in the fireplace. When the wolf leaps into the chimney, he lands in the pot and the pigs make a stew out of him.

In our Gospel, Jesus told the story of the builders with a lesson: When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm for ever (Proverbs 10:25). He reminds us of the kind of foundation we have to build our lives upon. It will determine whether we can survive the storms of life or not. Builders usually lay their foundations when the weather and soil conditions are at their best. It takes foresight to know how a foundation will stand up against adverse conditions. Building a house on a flood plain, such as a dry river-bed, is a sure bet for disaster!

So what kind of foundation are you building your life on? If we make the Lord and his word the rock and foundation of our lives, then nothing can shake us or keep us from God's saving presence and help. The Lord Jesus and his word must be the sure foundation of your life!