FIFTH WEEK OF LENT..
We know where it is going to end....there is a quiet yearning to get it done...but Jesus chooses different ways. He wants to show the confrontation that He and his message will always have with the world, and with the two sides of who we are....the one who walks in the light and the one who hides in the darkness.
MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… Dan.13,41-62; John 8,12-20) The irony is strong. Here is Jesus the “new temple,” standing in the Temple which He will replace...Here is Jesus in the very spot where discerning who He is should be so easy, and yet they do not see. Here is the light shinning brightly so that all may see, only to be met by blindness of heart....The light shines so brightly and yet no one sees. So many reasons to see the place, the words ...The light never goes out, the light which is Christ always stands before people trying to break through the darkness of sin induced darkness. To see the light we are asked to put, as the old expression goes, two and two together. This is where the people in the Temple completely missed the boat. They did not stop to reflect on their tradition, or what Jesus had said at other times. They took the words but not the meaning. They could repeat the words but not the message. For us, it is obvious what Jesus is saying...perhaps there is even something in our hearts which says: how foolish those people were. Is He looking down on me and saying the same thing? Is He wondering why I missed the light so often in my life.
Is He standing in the Temple of the world in which I live, and I do not see Him? The darkness which He has to penetrate is as real today as it was then....Perhaps I am more guilty. I know He is the light, I have accepted that, and yet so often I prefer the dark...
Question:
1:Do you see all of nature as the great hymn of praise ?
TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… (Num.21,4-9;John 8,21-30) People listen to the same words...”many came to believe in Him” and at the same time other hearts remained hard....Can I ask the question; why did they believe? What did they hear that turned their hearts to Him? Maybe for each there is a different answer. The personal touching of our hearts by the Lord...He comes the way we need Him...He comes to respond to the individual yearnings of the human spirit...Some see and understand beyond just the appearances...others are trapped in the material world. To some the brightness of hope fulfilled shines forth while others look for something or someone to remove the emptiness...They can not accept the gift which has been given. He says: I AM…some hear those words others hear something else: what I am... Some were quiet, standing on the periphery of the conversation but listening and taking things into their hearts....others were too busy talking they had no time to listen....some were holding on to the security of their thoughts afraid to let go ...Others let the freshness come in and reached out for something new...Some put their trust in politics others put theirs in the Lord.
Question:
1: What does it mean to you to say “Christ is our hope?”
WEDNESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… (Dan.3,14-20;John 8,31-42)A willingness to listen is not enough...The word which Our Lord preaches must be the food of our existence. To live in the real world is to be free. When we live our lives in a world of our own making, we are not be free.
The real is what brings out the greatness of the human spirit...the false captures us. But what is real, or what is truth? The definition corresponds to various experiences...It is a nice day...true. People do bad things...true. We can limit the definition to the material world...to the world of sensual perception.
There is another world, a world we cannot see but is just as real. As a matter of fact it is “more real” than the material one in which we have to make our way. It is the world of God-the ultimate truth the ultimate reality because He does not have any of the limitations of “our world”.
It is this truth, this reality which sets us free. Why? What is it about this truth which is so powerful that we are free? At the bottom line freedom is simply the ability to love. The more one loves the freer one becomes. This truth of God brings us into contact with the boundless love which God has for us. The deeper we immerse ourselves in this love the more the strings of this world are cut away ...We start forgetting ourselves and our own little interests, we begin to walk in the sunshine of the love of God...That is freedom. That is what the Word which Our Lord gives us and which He wants us to make our food offers.
Question:
1: What word of God has struck you during Lent?
THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT... THE SOLEMINITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION (Is.7:1014; Heb.10:4-10; Luke 1;26-38) It begins…With the “let it be done to me” the plan of God for our salvation becomes present. Mary with her yes says that all people have a place in God’s plan. She knew who she was, she knew that her life had a meaning which even she did not know completely. This is the great lesson of the Annunciation by saying yes to who we are we make Christ present in the world.
OR
. (refusing to go further...The security is threatened. We know that there is an invitation to go beyond
, to take a step into that world which we do not know but which beckons. The structures upon which so much of our lives are founded hold us back ...The courage is lacking but more importantly the dream is not there. To be able to dream of something beyond what we see and hear, to be able to dream that all reality is not boxed in this world, to be able to dream that God has a dream for us...that dream is what goes first...today’s word if nothing else puts before us the one offering the dream and those refusing it. To dream and to live that dream, this is the gift which the Lord gives.
Question:
1: has there been a time when you thought God was asking you to do something but you held back because of fear?
FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT... (Jer.20,10-13;John 10,31-42) There is something very humbling about this scene. I place myself as one of the inquisitors of Jesus...I have seen His works in my own life....sometimes in small ways, at other times in ways which truly stagger me by their power. At times the works are like a gentle breeze almost unnoticed, at other times they are like the thunder coming from the mountains...The humbling point comes in when I sit back and reflect on the one simple fact: this is the Lord, the God working in a weak not very worthy human being. It is the Lord, the almighty, taking a piece of clay and molding it into the image which He wants...It is the Lord of all creation, looking down on one of His created and doing great things within him.
Today’s scene reflects that part of me which has such a difficult time accepting the fact that God walks with me and works within me. I can not be too hard on the inquistors…because often times I am one of them…the fact that God is with me is too powerful, almost frightening, and yet that is what the Lord is asking us to accept. Getting caught up in the same irony: the problem is not what the scribes and Pharisees say it is.
They say that Jesus-although He is nothing but a man makes Himself out to be God; when in fact the reality is that although He is God, he shows Himself as a true man. They got the situation backwards. Perhaps they were afraid; perhaps it was just too much for them; perhaps they wanted a different “God” to be with them; perhaps they were blind. These all sound so familiar when I look at my own life.
Question:
1: What great thing has God done through you?
SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK… (Ez.37,21-28;John 11,45-56) The poor Pharisees...trying to solve the things of God with human reason...I hear their talk and can not help but think how fallible we are. There was Caiphas advocating the death of Jesus and at the same time prophesying what that death would mean: for the nation to gather into one the dispersed children of God...I wonder if Caiphas now is in heaven, I certainly hope so. He is looking down on this scene and hopefully having a good laugh at himself ...wondering how he got entangled in discerning the things of God with simply human reason.
Maybe he is laughing at the great joke that took place ...He thought he had everything under control; the logic was perfect: if Jesus dies the Romans will leave them alone...human logic falls right on its face. Caiphas from whereever he is now can see it. At least I hope he is enjoying the situation.
Unfortunately, we do not see the irony that clearly yet. There is an arrogance at times the way we look at situations thinking that we are in perfect control. Because we have thought it out, that is the way it is going to be...Then God comes and does something...just to remind us of who is really in charge. We see also that the plans of people are not in accordance with God’s desires. It is once again so easy for us to make ourselves the center, thinking that we are the ones who determine the right and the wrong.
Once again, fear seems to be predominant...It colors the way we think. The subtle fears, that come into our lives and we are not even conscience of can control us. Pray to be freed from the fears which prevent us from seeing the things of God.
We know where it is going to end....there is a quiet yearning to get it done...but Jesus chooses different ways. He wants to show the confrontation that He and his message will always have with the world, and with the two sides of who we are....the one who walks in the light and the one who hides in the darkness.
MONDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… Dan.13,41-62; John 8,12-20) The irony is strong. Here is Jesus the “new temple,” standing in the Temple which He will replace...Here is Jesus in the very spot where discerning who He is should be so easy, and yet they do not see. Here is the light shinning brightly so that all may see, only to be met by blindness of heart....The light shines so brightly and yet no one sees. So many reasons to see the place, the words ...The light never goes out, the light which is Christ always stands before people trying to break through the darkness of sin induced darkness. To see the light we are asked to put, as the old expression goes, two and two together. This is where the people in the Temple completely missed the boat. They did not stop to reflect on their tradition, or what Jesus had said at other times. They took the words but not the meaning. They could repeat the words but not the message. For us, it is obvious what Jesus is saying...perhaps there is even something in our hearts which says: how foolish those people were. Is He looking down on me and saying the same thing? Is He wondering why I missed the light so often in my life.
Is He standing in the Temple of the world in which I live, and I do not see Him? The darkness which He has to penetrate is as real today as it was then....Perhaps I am more guilty. I know He is the light, I have accepted that, and yet so often I prefer the dark...
Question:
1:Do you see all of nature as the great hymn of praise ?
TUESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… (Num.21,4-9;John 8,21-30) People listen to the same words...”many came to believe in Him” and at the same time other hearts remained hard....Can I ask the question; why did they believe? What did they hear that turned their hearts to Him? Maybe for each there is a different answer. The personal touching of our hearts by the Lord...He comes the way we need Him...He comes to respond to the individual yearnings of the human spirit...Some see and understand beyond just the appearances...others are trapped in the material world. To some the brightness of hope fulfilled shines forth while others look for something or someone to remove the emptiness...They can not accept the gift which has been given. He says: I AM…some hear those words others hear something else: what I am... Some were quiet, standing on the periphery of the conversation but listening and taking things into their hearts....others were too busy talking they had no time to listen....some were holding on to the security of their thoughts afraid to let go ...Others let the freshness come in and reached out for something new...Some put their trust in politics others put theirs in the Lord.
Question:
1: What does it mean to you to say “Christ is our hope?”
WEDNESDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT… (Dan.3,14-20;John 8,31-42)A willingness to listen is not enough...The word which Our Lord preaches must be the food of our existence. To live in the real world is to be free. When we live our lives in a world of our own making, we are not be free.
The real is what brings out the greatness of the human spirit...the false captures us. But what is real, or what is truth? The definition corresponds to various experiences...It is a nice day...true. People do bad things...true. We can limit the definition to the material world...to the world of sensual perception.
There is another world, a world we cannot see but is just as real. As a matter of fact it is “more real” than the material one in which we have to make our way. It is the world of God-the ultimate truth the ultimate reality because He does not have any of the limitations of “our world”.
It is this truth, this reality which sets us free. Why? What is it about this truth which is so powerful that we are free? At the bottom line freedom is simply the ability to love. The more one loves the freer one becomes. This truth of God brings us into contact with the boundless love which God has for us. The deeper we immerse ourselves in this love the more the strings of this world are cut away ...We start forgetting ourselves and our own little interests, we begin to walk in the sunshine of the love of God...That is freedom. That is what the Word which Our Lord gives us and which He wants us to make our food offers.
Question:
1: What word of God has struck you during Lent?
THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT... THE SOLEMINITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION (Is.7:1014; Heb.10:4-10; Luke 1;26-38) It begins…With the “let it be done to me” the plan of God for our salvation becomes present. Mary with her yes says that all people have a place in God’s plan. She knew who she was, she knew that her life had a meaning which even she did not know completely. This is the great lesson of the Annunciation by saying yes to who we are we make Christ present in the world.
OR
. (refusing to go further...The security is threatened. We know that there is an invitation to go beyond
, to take a step into that world which we do not know but which beckons. The structures upon which so much of our lives are founded hold us back ...The courage is lacking but more importantly the dream is not there. To be able to dream of something beyond what we see and hear, to be able to dream that all reality is not boxed in this world, to be able to dream that God has a dream for us...that dream is what goes first...today’s word if nothing else puts before us the one offering the dream and those refusing it. To dream and to live that dream, this is the gift which the Lord gives.
Question:
1: has there been a time when you thought God was asking you to do something but you held back because of fear?
FRIDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF LENT... (Jer.20,10-13;John 10,31-42) There is something very humbling about this scene. I place myself as one of the inquisitors of Jesus...I have seen His works in my own life....sometimes in small ways, at other times in ways which truly stagger me by their power. At times the works are like a gentle breeze almost unnoticed, at other times they are like the thunder coming from the mountains...The humbling point comes in when I sit back and reflect on the one simple fact: this is the Lord, the God working in a weak not very worthy human being. It is the Lord, the almighty, taking a piece of clay and molding it into the image which He wants...It is the Lord of all creation, looking down on one of His created and doing great things within him.
Today’s scene reflects that part of me which has such a difficult time accepting the fact that God walks with me and works within me. I can not be too hard on the inquistors…because often times I am one of them…the fact that God is with me is too powerful, almost frightening, and yet that is what the Lord is asking us to accept. Getting caught up in the same irony: the problem is not what the scribes and Pharisees say it is.
They say that Jesus-although He is nothing but a man makes Himself out to be God; when in fact the reality is that although He is God, he shows Himself as a true man. They got the situation backwards. Perhaps they were afraid; perhaps it was just too much for them; perhaps they wanted a different “God” to be with them; perhaps they were blind. These all sound so familiar when I look at my own life.
Question:
1: What great thing has God done through you?
SATURDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK… (Ez.37,21-28;John 11,45-56) The poor Pharisees...trying to solve the things of God with human reason...I hear their talk and can not help but think how fallible we are. There was Caiphas advocating the death of Jesus and at the same time prophesying what that death would mean: for the nation to gather into one the dispersed children of God...I wonder if Caiphas now is in heaven, I certainly hope so. He is looking down on this scene and hopefully having a good laugh at himself ...wondering how he got entangled in discerning the things of God with simply human reason.
Maybe he is laughing at the great joke that took place ...He thought he had everything under control; the logic was perfect: if Jesus dies the Romans will leave them alone...human logic falls right on its face. Caiphas from whereever he is now can see it. At least I hope he is enjoying the situation.
Unfortunately, we do not see the irony that clearly yet. There is an arrogance at times the way we look at situations thinking that we are in perfect control. Because we have thought it out, that is the way it is going to be...Then God comes and does something...just to remind us of who is really in charge. We see also that the plans of people are not in accordance with God’s desires. It is once again so easy for us to make ourselves the center, thinking that we are the ones who determine the right and the wrong.
Once again, fear seems to be predominant...It colors the way we think. The subtle fears, that come into our lives and we are not even conscience of can control us. Pray to be freed from the fears which prevent us from seeing the things of God.
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