Monday of Holy Week

First reading: Isaiah 42:1-7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 27
Gospel reading: John 12:1-11

"Many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus."

The gospel for Holy Monday narrates how Jesus spent some time in
the home of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, just six days before the
Passover. As he was given a dinner in the house, Mary took a
liter of perfumed oil, anointed the feet of Jesus, and dried them
with her hair. This action by Mary elicited an angry response
from Judas Iscariot, who saw only the expense of such an action,
rather than the love Mary expressed to her Master. Jesus then
defended Mary's action, and told Judas that this was to prepare
Him for His burial. This gathering of Jesus and His disciples in
the house of His three friends in Bethany, caught the attention of
the Jews in the area, who also gathered outside the house as a
large crowd, so that they could see not only Jesus, but also
Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Because of this great
miracle Jesus performed in Bethany (the raising of Lazarus), many
of the Jews were turning away from the teaching of the chief
priests, and started believing in Jesus. For this reason, the
chief priests plotted to kill Jesus - and Lazarus too!

This gospel account helps us to see how six types of people relate
with Jesus, in the persons of Martha, Mary, Lazarus, Judas the
Iscariot, the believing Jews, and the chief priests. The way
these six types of people related with Jesus in the gospel can
help us examine and search our hearts, and see its state in
relation to Jesus. Is our heart filled with a sense of service
like Martha? Is it filled with great respect and love like Mary?
Is it filled with special closeness to God like Lazarus? Or is
it filled with concern only for money and material expense like
Judas? Is our heart filled with faith, wonder, and awe like the
believing Jews? Or is it filled with envy, jealousy, and murder,
like the chief priests? We know that if we feel any of the
above towards our brothers and sisters, we are also feeling the
same way in relation to Jesus. For whatever we think, feel, or
do to the least of our brethren, we also do unto Christ.

Holy week is a time for us to be emptied of self and to be filled
with the Spirit of Jesus and more concern for others, especially
our immediate family. It is a time to examine our conscience,
and the state of our heart with regard to God, others, and our
own selves. Instead of the attitude of Judas and the chief
priests, let us instead be like Martha, who was filled with a
spirit of service to God. Or let us imitate the spirit of Mary and
Lazarus who were filled with love and closeness to God. And we
can also be like the believing Jews, who went out of their way to
seek Jesus, and marvel at the wonders God works through His Son.

4th Sunday of Lent (B)

4th Sunday of Lent, Year B

First reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 137
Second reading: Ephesians 2:4-10
Gospel reading: John 3:14-21

"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..."

The gospel account for the 4th Sunday of Lent this coming March
22, is from the evangelist John. It presents Jesus teaching
Nicodemus about the love the Father has for the world by giving
His only Son...and that whoever believes in the Son will not die,
but have eternal life. Jesus taught that the Son of Man was
sent by God into the world so that people and all of creation
will be saved through Him.

Jesus teaching Nicodemus (a Jewish leader and a one of the
Pharisees) gives us an opportunity to also learn about God's
great love for us - a love expressed in His desire to save all
creation through His Son Jesus. And it also gives us an
opportunity to know who Jesus is. The images the gospel account
presents Jesus to us as: the crucified Savior ("the Son of Man
lifted up"); the Way to eternal life ("all who believe may have
eternal life in Him"); the Light that came into the world, and
the Truth who will set us free ("he who acts in truth comes into
the light...to make clear that his deeds are done in God")

It is truly difficult to fathom the depths of God's love for us.
That is why He sent His Son Jesus to help us know the Way and the
Truth of this Love. As long as we live in God's Love, we are on
the narrow road to salvation - a road which "denies one's self,
takes up one's cross, and follows Christ". Once we however get
sidetracked or backslide from the Way, we risk being lost and
being condemned by our own choosing. Let us therefore take all
opportunities to "come back to the Lord with all our heart", and
then hold fast to Jesus - always acting in truth, that we may be
immersed in His Light and feel assured that our deeds "are done
in God".

3rd Sunday of Lent (B)

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

First reading: Exodus 20:1-3, 7-8, 12-17
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 19
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Gospel reading: John 2:13-25

"Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace."

This gospel passage from the evangelist John is perhaps the only
account written in the life of Jesus where He had really
expressed His anger not only in words but also in action: "He
made a kind of whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple
area, sheep and oxen alike, and knocked over the money-changers'
tables, spilling their coins." And He shouted: "Get them out of
here! Stop turning My Father's house into a marketplace!"

Some bible commentators would say that one reason why Jesus got
angry was because many of the merchants who were selling the
animals to be offered for sacrifice were probably cheating their
customers - usually using dishonest scales and measures. The
same goes with the money-changers who were transacting with
foreigners who knew not much of the commercial value of the money
they were exchanging with.

But probably, the better commentary comes from bible scholars
who would explain the prophetic action of Jesus as an emphasis
that the Temple of God is a sacred place of prayer. As such,
noise and worldly activities would profane it and create a
sacrilegiously scandalous scene for people who would like to
visit the Temple to pray and praise Yahweh. And Jesus also took
the occasion to teach that His own Sacred Body is also the Temple
of God. But the Jews did not understand Him because what they
only knew was the physical Temple - the one that took forty-six
years to build.

In the crucifixion account, we will also see how the soldiers
who had crucified Jesus, turned the Temple of His Body into
a marketplace: "We should not tear it (the soldiers said, in
reference to the tunic of Jesus). Let us throw dice to see who
gets it." In the life and ministry of Jesus, what He taught was
for the people to have great respect for the things of God - most
especially the Temple and also the Temple of the Father in person
- His own Sacred Body that was to be sacrificed when His hour
would come to pass.

Many of us are so accustomed to noise that we make our life so
much like a marketplace. We forget the value of the sacredness
of silence and prayer. That is why we are so attracted to the
noise in the world and forget that all this noise is vanity
(as the book of Ecclesiastes teaches us) - leading us to chase
the wind rather than to seek what is eternal. During this
season of Lent, let us seek God's presence more as we choose to
take moments of prayer and silence in His church. And let us
also examine our consciences and see how much we have sought the
marketplace more than the Lord who is always there for us in His
Most Blessed Sacrament.