4th Sunday of Lent Year B

2 Chronicles 36:14-16,19-23
Ephesians 2:4-10
John 3:14-21

This Lent, let me prepare my heart for conversion.

My brothers and sisters, what is bothering you? This might seem like a strange question to ask out of the blue. However, if we pause for a moment and reflect on our life honestly and truthfully, it is not such a strange question after all. Indeed, for all of us – without exceptions – there is something in our life that bothers us. Behind the facade of happiness, behind the facade of piousness in our Lenten observations, we are not at peace. For some of us, it may be a broken relationship with a loved one. It may be regrets from a past wrong. It may be the harbouring of vengeance and unforgiveness towards someone who hurt us. It may be jealousy towards a family member or a peer. Whatever it is, the negativity is eating away at us, robbing us of inner peace. In truth, it is a spiritual ailment. But what is the source of this spiritual ailment? How can we heal from it? For until we heal, we will not experience peace.

The truth is, whatever it is that is bothering me, it is bothering me because I am unable to let it go. And the reason I am unable to let it go is because I am unable to acknowledge that I am the one that is not letting it go. Why? Perhaps I think I have done nothing wrong in a relationship that turned sour. Perhaps I am unable to forgive someone. Perhaps I am unable to forgive myself. Perhaps I feel that somehow when someone is doing better than me and I am jealous, the problem is with them, not with me. My brothers and sisters, what we are feeling is the effect of sins – not other people’s – but our sins. Indeed, the lack of peace that we experience is the result of the devil having a stranglehold of our hearts on account of our sins.

Last week, we read the story of how Jesus cleansed the temple of all its vices. We reflected on how that temple in Jn 2 is in fact us, for we are the temples of God (1 Cor 3:16). And as long as we allow our vices and our sins to occupy the temple, Jesus cannot enter with the peace He brought for us with His life. But in spite of our rejection of Him, Jesus never stopped trying. He keeps reaching out to us, hoping that we will accept His love and be healed. In the First Reading this week, we read how, by their sins, the people have been unfaithful to God (verse 14). God repeatedly attempted to reach out to them and convert their hearts but the people kept rejecting Him by rejecting all of God’s prophets (verse 15-16). And so, the sins of the people finally caught up with them. The kingdom of Judah was plundered by the Babylonians and many were taken into exile to Babylon. (verse 19-20) They suffered under Babylonian rule for 70 years until once again, God showed His mercy. God stirred the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to let the people return to their homeland. We see this cycle repeated often, in the Bible and perhaps also in our lives. Because of their sins and unrepentance, the people suffered greatly. Then they cried out to God in repentance and God delivered them from their woes.

So, my brothers and sisters, if our sins are robbing us of our peace, do not make the same mistake as the people of Judah. Let us heed Jesus’ warning in the Gospel this week, “And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” (verse 19) But alas, there are many who continue to reject God. They refuse to acknowledge the evil that is in their lives. They refuse to even accept that they need a saviour. Indeed, as Jesus succinctly observed in this week’s Gospel, “For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” (verse 20) So we ask: Is Jesus talking about me? We ask: What is the sin by which the devil is having a stranglehold on my soul? Is it my pride? Is it my anger? Is it my greed? Is it my envy? Is it my unforgiveness? As St Paul explained in the Second Reading, in the present age, God has shown the same mercy through Jesus Christ. God loves us. so much so that He sacrifice His own Son in order to move our hearts, that “even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (verse 5).

But it is not as if we deserve this love and mercy of our own merits. St Paul said in the Second Reading, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast.” (verse 8-9) Or, in the words of our Lord Himself in the Gospel this week, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (verse 16-17) Indeed, it is purely the mercy of God that He adopts us as His “children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17).

My brothers and sisters, this is what our Lenten journey is for. It is to awaken our hearts for conversion. This Lent, let us forgo our pride and come to Jesus. Let us be “those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” (verse 21) Peace be with you.

3rd Sunday of Lent Year B

Exodus 20:1-17
1 Corinthians 1:22-25
John 2:13-25

How do I find faith? Is it through my eyes, my head or my heart?

My brothers and sisters, Lent is a journey where God invites us to faith. But how do we arrive at faith? In the Second Reading this week, St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom” (verse 22). So we ask: How do I arrive at faith? Do I build my faith on evidence (signs); or do I build my faith on logic (wisdom)? In other words, how we find faith? Is it through our eyes (signs) or through our heads (wisdom)? The truth is, while evidence and logic can help us grow in faith, neither is the foundation we build our faith. Allow me to explain.

The Jews of Jesus’ time demanded miraculous signs from the Lord in order to believe Him. In the Gospel of Matthew, they asked Jesus, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” (Mt 12:38) In the Gospel this week, they asked again, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” (verse 18) But as the author of Hebrew tells us, “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) For if we need to see to believe, then it is not true faith. It is at best shallow faith. This explains why in spite of the many miraculous signs that Jesus performed, when Jesus was arrested and persecuted, all His disciples ran away. They had signs, but yet they still lack faith. This also explains why the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus for signs. But it was not signs they are after. Rather, they are finding justifications for their lack of faith! In the Gospel this week, we read, “many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to testify about anyone; for he himself knew what was in everyone.” (verse 23-25) Even today, there are no shortage of miracles. For behind every Saint that the Church have declared, there were miraculous events that the Church uses as justifications for its decisions. These miracles as signs from God. Yet, the world refuses to believe. So, my brother and sister, let us ask ourselves: Like the Scribes and Pharisees, am I too asking for signs while ignoring the signs that God has already shown me?

While some uses their eyes to looks for signs as their path to faith, others resort to their heads. They look to logic. St Paul wrote in the Second Reading, the “Greeks desire wisdom” (verse 22). The Greek are supreme intellects, producing great philosophers such as Socrates and Plato. They wanted to reason themselves to faith. But as St Anselm said, theology is faith seeking understanding. In other words, faith comes before reason. Reason does not lead to faith but builds on faith that is already there. As an example, have you ever wondered why even though it is common knowledge that smoking causes cancer, many continue to smoke? Indeed, reason alone cannot change our hearts. In the case of faith, theology alone does not lead us to faith. Otherwise, the most faithful people in the world ought to be the theologians. Conversely, those with little understanding in theology ought to be the weakest in faith. But we know this is not true. Theology is faith seeking understanding. In other words, theology provides understanding to the faith that is already there. Using the smoking example earlier, having already quit smoking, the knowledge of smoking causes cancer strengthen the person’s resolve to stay off cigarettes.

So, how do we arrive at faith? Faith is a journey of the heart not of the head. We need God to enter our heart and touch it. But this is where faith is at its simplest yet, to many, most difficult. The truth is, God cannot enter our hearts while we block Him out. What are some of the obstacles? First and foremost, these are our sins and indulgences. They are the greatest obstacles to God coming into our heart – our pride, greed, jealousy, selfishness, lust, unrepentance, etc. Because of my pride, we could not acknowledge that I need a saviour. Because of my greed and jealousy, my relationships to friends and loved ones are strained. Because of my selfishness, I do not reach out to those in need. My brothers and sisters, our body is the temple of God. But like the temple in today’s Gospel, we filled the entrance of our temple with merchants, money changers and other vices, so much so that God is unable to enter. My brothers and sisters, we need to drive out the evils that is in our heart, just as Jesus drove away the merchants and money changers. But before we can even do that, we need the humility to admit that there are evils in our lives. We need to have the desire to purify ourselves. Only then can Jesus come in, drive out our darkness and heal us. Otherwise, like the scribes and Pharisees, we will be seeking alternative pathways to faith such as signs and logic, only to be disappointed.

When we allow Jesus to enter and melt our hearts of stone, then true faith starts to take roots in our hearts. Our Lenten practices of prayers, sacrifice, almsgiving and repentance are no longer ritualistic habits, but they become truly life giving – to us and to others. The same goes with observing God’s Commandments. We cease to view these as some kill-joy oppressive rules, but ways God is teaching us to live better, love better. So we ask ourselves: How ready am I to follow God’s Commandments? In Exodus times, as the people journeyed to the Holy Land, God gave them the Ten Commandments. This week’s First Reading, taken from Exodus 20, presents us the Ten Commandments. The first three of the Commandments address with our relationship with God; while the next seven address with our relationship with each other. The Ten Commandments are moral laws to help free the people from immoral practices they grew accustomed to in Egypt. In the same way, they can help us drive out the evil that is in our heart, to let God in, to live and love better.

The Ten Commandments can be summarised as follows:

1. Honour God
2. Honour God’s name
3. Honour God’s day
4. Honour your father and mother
5. Do not kill
6. Do not commit adultery
7. Do not steal
8. Do not lie
9. Do not wrongfully desire your neighbour’s wife
10. Do not wrongfully desire your neighbour’s goods

Embedded within these Commandments are the key to peace, healing, and inner joy. They tell us to put God first before all other earthly gratifications (fame, fortune, achievements, and even sporting pursuits) (Commandments 1-3). They tell us to place priorities on our families (Commandment 4). They provide us moral codes on sanctity of life, on sexuality on justice and integrity (Commandment 5-8). It further challenges us that morality is not simply a case of not committing evil, but true morality is having a pure heart that rejects evil outright (Commandment 9-10). My brothers and sisters, this Lent, let us take these Commandments to heart. May the Holy Spirit walk with us on this journey. Amen.

2nd Sunday of Lent Year B

Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18
Romans 8:31-34
Mark 9:2-10

A call to sacrificial love.

Sacrifice is a great human quality. When we make sacrifice for someone close to us, it is a concrete sign of the love we have for that person. Hence, it is not surprising that sacrifice is a great Christian quality that is exalted in the Bible. On this second week of the Lenten season, the Scripture invites us to contemplate more deeply on this topic. This week, God invites us to love more perfectly, more selflessly, in imitation of His love for us. As we reflect on the Scripture reading this week, let us reflect on these questions: In what areas in my life is God calling me to selflessly love and sacrifice? How have I responded?

In the First Reading, God demanded Abraham sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. This request must have been both shocking and confusing for Abraham. Imagine, after being promised an heir; after waiting for ten long years, a child was finally born to Abraham. Then God asked Abraham to sacrifice this very child! In spite of the enormity of the sacrifice, Abraham did not complain. Abraham responded in obedience and trust, as he went about the preparation work to sacrifice his son (verse 9). But just as Abraham was about to raise the knife to kill the child, the angel of God stopped Abraham, offering a ram caught in a thicket to take the place of the child. Then God promised Abraham, “Because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of their enemies, and by your offspring shall all the nations of the earth gain blessing for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.” (verse 16-18) So, on the account of Abraham’s strong faith, God will form Abraham and his offsprings into the nation of Israel, where it was to be a nation of royal priesthood, leading other nations to faith and to God. (1 Pet 2:5) So as we can see, when God invites us to sacrificial love, our sacrificial love is never for our own sake, but for the sake of others.

The truth is, when God invites us to sacrificial love, He is never going to ask us to do something He would not do Himself. In fact, God is love (1 Jn 4:8) and God will never be outdone in love. In the Second Reading this week, St Paul wrote, “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?” (verse 32) As St Augustine reflected, God spared Abraham’s son, but for sake of humanity, did not spare His own Son. Whereas God providing a ram to save Issacs, He did not hold back His own Son, but provided Jesus as a Lamb to save all of humankind. Indeed, this is the kind of sacrificial love we are called to emulate. It is the kind where our sacrifice is not for own sake, but for the service of our brothers and sisters.

The Gospel this week tells the story of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is recorded in all three synoptic Gospels of Matthew (17:1-8), Mark (9:2-8) and Luke (9:28-36); and is always read on the second week of Lent. Through the Transfiguration, the evangelists underpin the enormity of God sacrificing His only Begotten Son. The Transfiguration occurred at a time when Jesus was about to face his gruesome death. My brothers and sisters, do not be mistaken for a moment that just because Jesus is God, going to the cross is easy for Him. Indeed, like the rest of us when we face trials, knowing what is ahead of Him distressed Jesus greatly. For proof of that, we need not look any further than the Garden of Gethsemane, on the eve of His Passion, where Jesus was so distressed that He sweated blood (Lk 22:44). It is a condition we now know as hematidrosis. It is in this context that at the Transfiguration, God sent Moses and Elijah to strengthen Jesus. Like Abraham in the First Reading, the Transfiguration was God the Father making preparation to sacrifice His Son. But unlike Abraham, God actually went through with that sacrifice, for the sake of love.

In the midst of the great mystery of the Transfiguration, we were told that Peter in his ignorance (Lk 9:33, Mk 9:6) proposed to build three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah respectively: “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” (verse 5) Peter was ignorant at two levels. Firstly, Moses and Elijah are no longer creatures of this earth, hence they do not dwell in tents built by human hands. Secondly, Jesus has declared Himself as God on many occasions. To build three tents for Jesus, Moses and Elijah would be putting Jesus on par with the earthly prophets Moses and Elijah. My brothers and sisters, how about us? Like Peter, are we ignorant too? Have we not recognised the grace of God as He calls us to sacrificial love? Are we observing Lent as merely ritualistic practices, and not recognising it as God’s invitation to us to grow spiritually?

My dear friends, let us conclude this week’s reflection by contemplating on this question: For the sake of others and for the sake of love, what is God calling me to sacrifice today? Let us ponder on this as we journey through Lent.

Peace be with you.

1st Sunday of Lent Year B

Genesis 9:8-15
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:12-15

As we begin our Lenten journey, we are invited to reflect on our covenent relationship with God.

My brothers and sisters, this week we begin our seven-week preparation period towards Easter. More than any other time during the year, the Lenten season is a time when God invites us to reflect on our life and our relationship with Him. Why is this important? Because many in the world have yet to find true happiness. Many of us strive hard for happiness – whether it is for money, status or good relationships with our loved ones. Yet true joy and contentment continue to elude many of us. Why is that so? This is because God is source of our joy. And even though we called ourselves Christians, many of us have yet to find an intimate place in our hearts for God. As St Augustine said to God, “You have made us for yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Hence, it is appropriate that we commence our Lenten journey with a reflection of our relationship with God. In the First Reading this week, we recall the story of the Great Flood, where Noah and his family were saved from destruction by the Ark that Noah constructed. When the water receded, God said to Noah and his sons, “As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you” (verse 9). But what is the covenant relationship that God promised Noah, his family and by extension, us? To begin exploring this covenant relationship, we first need to understand what a covenant is. Covenant is sometime described as an agreement. But this is not entirely accurate. While a covenant has elements of an agreement, a covenant relationship is more than just having a kind of “spiritual contract” with God. The truth is, a covenant is a pledge of the two parties to share life with each other. Insofar as being life-giving, a covenant is also a pledge for the two parties to sacrifice for each other. Whereas ancient covenant is a mutual commitment by two parties to each other, our covenant with God has one important difference. For in establishing a covenant relationship with humankind, God took the initiative to unilaterally pledge Himself to us; while he patiently and lovingly wait for us to reciprocate. St Paul underpinned this point in the Second Reading when he wrote, “For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.” (verse 18) And to emphasise the unilateral nature of God’s covenant, St Paul wrote elsewhere: “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:7-8)

My brothers and sisters, let us ask ourselves: What is the state of my covenant relationship with God? Have I responded to Jesus’ outreach by showing the same life-giving gestures and the same sacrifices? Not only to God, but have I extended the same life-giving gestures and sacrifices to my brothers and sisters too? For as St Paul said, “we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another” (Rom 12:5). Indeed, our brothers and sisters are in fact the body of Christ. In other words, God is inviting us to reexamine our attitude to our brothers and sisters, especially those whom we find most hard to love. So we ask ourselves: Have I loved my brothers and sisters the same way Jesus loves me?

In the Second Reading this week, St Paul invoked God’s covenant relationship by recalling the Great Flood. He wrote, “when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you – not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (verse 20-21). Notice how St Paul links the waters of the Great Flood to the waters of our baptism? Indeed, just as the waters of the Great Flood brought Noah’s family to God’s covenant, the waters of our baptism bind us all as one family in covenant relationship with God.

My brothers and sisters, let this be our challenge this Lent, that is, to grow closer to each other and to God in covenant. In the Gospel this week, we read that before He began His public ministry, Jesus “was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.” (verse 13) This was Jesus’ purification. Having been purified, He commenced his public ministry, proclaiming repentance and the Good News: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (verse 15) As Jesus stood at the beginning of His quest to convert humanity, so too are we at the beginning of a conversion journey – our own conversion. My dear friends, we are at the beginning of our great Lenten journey. As we pray and reflect, let the Scripture passages this week have the same purification effect on us as we commence Lent. Amen.

Shalom.