5th Sunday of Lent Year B – March 17, 2024

 5^th Sunday of Lent Year B – March 17, 2024

Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Hebrews 5: 7-9; John 12: 20-33

 

Theme: Lenten Season is the Time We Prepare Ourselves for the New Covenant Through Jesus

 

Today is the fifth and last Sunday of Lent. Next Sunday will be Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. The liturgy of last Sunday taught us about the importance of confession. We learned that the Lenten season is the time to become aware of our sins, confess them, and live out our discipleship in “daylight.” God is the Father of mercy. When we regret our wrongdoings and confess them sincerely, by his grace and love, he forgives us and enables us to return to the community of his faithful. I encourage those who have not made their confession yet to do so this week. I will be in the Church (in the Confessional room) this Wednesday, March 20^th, from 5:00 pm to 6:30 p.m.) Let us take advantage of this opportunity and prepare our hearts to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, which is also our resurrection to new lives.

Today's Scripture readings prepare us for the new lives that we will start at Easter. Our new lives will be based no longer on the old covenant but on the new one. Prophet Jeremiah prophesied this new covenant in our first reading. And our Gospel passage demonstrates that this new covenant is fulfilled with Jesus.

Our first reading comes from one section of the book of the prophet Jeremiah called a “little book of consolation” or a “book of comfort” (Jeremiah 30-33). The whole book of Jeremiah was written amid the ruin of Judah, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its temple by the Babylonians, and the deportation of their people in exile in Babylon. This book consists of constant laments, predictions of the devastation, and general expressions of woe, except in this small section (ch. 30-33) where the prophet conveys hope. In our first reading passage, Jeremiah prophesies that, although the chosen people broke the Sinai covenant God forged with them through Moses, God promises to establish a new covenant with them. This new covenant will be different from the previous one. The difference is that the old covenant through Moses was the law written upon stones, while the new covenant will be the law written upon their hearts (v. 33). This new covenant will be a new start of a strong relationship because God will forgive and forget their sins and, therefore, he will be their God, and they will be his people. Also, note the universal character of this new covenant, which is expressed by the mention of both the “house of Israel and the house of Judah” in v. 31. The “house of Israel” refers to the Northern kingdom of Israel, and the “house of Judah” alludes to the Southern kingdom of Judah.

A brief history here will help us to understand the importance of naming both kingdoms. The twelve tribes of Israel were split into two kingdoms due to the dispute about who could succeed Salomon as a king: Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, or Jeroboam, the servant who rebelled against Solomon. Ten tribes teamed up and formed the Northern kingdom of Israel, with Samaria as the capital and Jeroboam as a king. They are identified as Israelites. The two other tribes (Judah and Benjamin) formed their kingdom in the South called Judah, with Jerusalem as the capital and Rehoboam as the king. The modern Jews are the descendants of this kingdom. Both kingdoms became strong and independent. They created two distinct lineages in the history of the people of Israel. Each has his own kings and even own prophets. Unfortunately, they both fell into captivity under different powers at different times. In around 722 B.C., the Assyrians destroyed the Northern kingdom of Israel, and the Israelites were taken to Assyria. Some of them took refuge in the Southern kingdom. The few who remain in the ruined land of Israel are identified as “Samaritans.” They intermarried with pagan nations. The exiles never returned to their land. They are considered “The lost sheep of Israel.” The Southern kingdom of Judah was ruined in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, who deported their inhabitants into exile in Babylon. The Jews returned to their land after nearly 70 years of captivity with the permission of Cirus, the king of Persia, who conquered the Babylonians. They considered the Samaritans as not being any more part of the “chosen people” because of their intermarriages with pagans.

Now, in our first reading, God promises to establish a new covenant with both the “house of Israel” and “the house of Judah,” meaning all twelve tribes of Israel, including the Samaritans and the “lost sheep of Israel.” We can also see this universal character of the covenant in our Gospel. First, at the beginning of the passage, with the presence of the Greeks who came to see Jesus (see John 12: 20-21). These Greeks represent the non-Jews, including all of us. Second, at the end of the Gospel story, Jesus declares that when he is lifted up from the earth, he will draw to himself not only the Jews but everyone (see John 12: 32).

Our first reading teaches us that the Lenten season is when we prepare ourselves for this new covenant. Like the people of Judah, many times we, too, failed to keep God’s commandments. Here, God promises us that he will forgive all our sins and not remember them anymore. He will be our God, and we will be his people in a new covenant that he will forge with us. Then, we are called to recognize our sins and confess them before we begin a new life in a new covenant, which becomes effective through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, as we heard in our Gospel.

So, preparing ourselves for the new covenant entails accepting and carrying our crosses with courage and faith. In our Gospel, Jesus speaks of his cross by mentioning some reasons for his death. These reasons should motivate us as we also accept carrying our crosses and following after him. First, he speaks of his cross as a sign of his glorification. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” (V. 23). This teaches us that we should not be terrified by what we go through daily. Suffering is part of our lives. Therefore, we should see the glory of God even amid trials.

Second, using the example of a grain of wheat that cannot produce much fruit unless it falls to the ground and dies, Jesus declares that his cross is a self-gift that will result in eternal life (v.24). Jesus accepted to carry his cross until the end because he knew that the result of his suffering is the eternal salvation for all of us. We, too, are called to accept our crosses with faith, knowing that the result of this is our salvation and the salvation of all those we serve.

Third, Jesus speaks of his cross as the way that all those who love him will follow to inherit eternal life (vv. 25-26). We should not run away from our crosses. We are Christians, so our calling is to follow in the footsteps of our Lord. Let us have the courage to “hate our lives in this age,” meaning to love Jesus and his mission above all. Only in this way will we preserve them for eternal life (v. 26).

 Fourth, Jesus’s cross marks the time of judgment when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be driven out (v. 31). The cross of Jesus conquered Satan. When we carry our crosses and follow after Jesus, we will defeat the devil of our time.

Fifth, Jesus speaks of his cross as the moment he will draw everyone to himself (v. 32). We carry our crosses not only for our own salvation but for the salvation of everyone. Our mission consists of bringing everyone to inherit eternal life.

To accept and carry our crosses the way Jesus did, the sacred author of our second reading presents us with the prayerful life, reverence, and obedience of Jesus to imitate. He says that while living, Jesus offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death. He was heard because of his reverence (Hebrew 5: 7). Our Gospel speaks of this moment of prayer and of how God listened to his supplication (see John 12: 28). Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered.” (Hebrew 5: 8). We should be men and women of prayer, reverence, and obedience to God. May the liturgy of this Mass give us the grace that we need to accept and carry our crosses with courage and faith as we prepare ourselves during this Lenten season for the new covenant that we will celebrate in Easter. Amen

As the Lenten season comes to an end, it would be necessary to briefly review what our Holy Mother Church tried to teach us through the sacred Scriptures of this liturgical year B.

The Scripture readings of the first Sunday prepared us to know that the Lenten season is the time to resist Satan with all his temptations. The way Satan tempted Jesus in the desert is the same way he continues to tempt us today. When he tempted Jesus, Satan aimed to prevent him from starting his ministry because he knew that Jesus’ ministry, which consisted of calling people to be members of God’s kingdom that he came to inaugurate on earth, would make him lose people on his side. Likewise, by tempting us today, he intends to prevent us from respecting our Lenten observances of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. He knows that Lenten observances lead us to repentance, making us members of God’s kingdom. We were prompted to resist Satan with all his temptations during this Lenten season.

The liturgy of the second Sunday reminded us that the Lenten season is our “journey of faith.” Although this “journey of faith” is challenging as it entails crosses, the glory of the Transfiguration that we experience at each Mass must motivate us to persevere until we reach the destination: which is the new life in a new creation in the heavenly kingdom that Jesus came to inaugurate on earth, which we will celebrate in Easter.

The Bible readings of the third Sunday taught us that the Lenten season consists of following God’s commandments and letting Jesus cleanse our hearts as they are the Temples of the Holy Spirit and the House of God, in the way he cleansed the Jewish Temple. We learned that we cannot transform our hearts, the Houses of God, into marketplaces, meaning the place of sins. Whenever it happens, we need to let Jesus enter our hearts through the sacrament of confession and clean them up of all sins. 

The liturgy of the fourth Sunday called us to become aware of our spiritual alienation caused by our sins. Like the Babylonian exiles, we, too, are alienated from God by sin. We were also called to decide to return to God through the sacrament of confession. When we regret our wrongdoings and confess them sincerely, God, by his grace and love, forgives us and enables us to return to the community of his faithful. Third, since our communions with God and the Christian community are restored through confession, we should now live out our discipleship, not in the darkness, but in “daylight’.

Finally, the Scripture readings of the fifth and last Sunday call us to prepare ourselves for the new covenant that Jeremiah prophesied in our first reading and that Jesus fulfilled in our Gospel. In this new covenant, God promises to forgive our sins and not remember them anymore (first reading). To be members of this new covenant, Jesus, in our Gospel, asks us to accept and carry our own crosses (all trials and suffering we go through daily) with courage and faith. He invites us to see through our crosses the glory of God, the self-gift that results in eternal life, the moment to defeat Satan and the way to bring the brothers and sisters we serve to everlasting life. To be able to do so, our second reading calls us to imitate Jesus in prayer, reverence, and obedience.

Note also that the first readings selected for the Lenten season of this liturgical calendar B developed essential points of the history of our salvation intending to prepare us for the celebration of the Paschal Mystery (Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord). So, we meditated on (1) the covenant that God had with Noah (first Sunday), (2) the covenant through Abraham (second Sunday), (3) the covenant at Sinai through Moses (third Sunday), (4) the people of Israel broke the covenant and as a result, they were deported to exile in Babylon (fourth Sunday), and (5) Jeremiah prophesized a new covenant with the “house of Israel” and the “house of Judah” marking the universalism (fifth Sunday), which God will establish with all of us through the blood of his only Son Jesus on the cross. We will celebrate its inauguration from Passion Sunday throughout the Easter season.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD

4th Sunday of Lent Year B – March 10, 2024

 4^th Sunday of Lent Year B – March 10, 2024

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

 

Theme:  Lenten Season is the Time We Need to Become Aware of Our Sins, Confess Them, and Believe in Jesus in “Daylight.”

 

Today is the Fourth Sunday of Lent. The Scripture readings of the First Sunday prepared us to know that the Lenten season is the time to resist Satan with all his temptations. The liturgy of the Second Sunday reminded us that the Lenten season is our “journey of faith.” Therefore, we need to follow God’s commandments, especially keeping his day (Sunday) holy. Whenever we “transform our hearts, which are the Temples of the Holy Spirit and the Houses of God, into marketplaces” (which means whenever we sin), we are reminded to let Jesus enter our hearts through the sacrament of confession and cleanse them as he did with the Jewish Temple in the Gospel story. Now, the liturgy of this Fourth Sunday calls us to become aware of our spiritual alienation caused by our sins, confess them, and live out our discipleship in the “daylight.”

 The first reading we heard today recounts two remarkable events in the history of the people of Israel. The first event is how the people of Israel failed to keep the Sinai covenant. As a result, the Babylonians destroyed their city, Jerusalem, and their Temple and deported them to exile in Babylon. The sacred author commences our passage by telling us that the sins of the people were the cause of their deportation to exile in Babylon and the destruction of their city and its Temple (v. 14). He also mentions the compassion that God showed to them before the destruction happened by sending his prophets with messages of warning and calling them to repentance (for instance Micah and Jeremiah record these warnings. See Micah 3:12; Jeremiah 7 and 26) to avoid the catastrophe of deportation and the ruins of the city and its Temple. However, the people of Israel chose to ignore God’s calls and continued their wrongdoings, especially concerning temple rituals (vv. 15-16). The second remarkable event is the return of the Babylonian exiles to their land through Cyrus of Persia, which attests to the fidelity of God to maintain the covenant forged with his people despite their unfaithfulness (vv. 22-23).  

Through this first reading, our Holy Mother Church tries to teach us that the people of Israel in Babylonian exile represent all who are alienated from God by sin. In the past three Sundays, we were reminded to stay in different covenants that God established with us through Noah (first Sunday), Abraham (second Sunday), and Moses at Sinai (third Sunday). Despite all these teachings and warnings, like the people of Israel, we ignore God when we persist with our wrongdoings. Our first reading teaches us, first, to become aware of our spiritual alienation caused by our sins and, second, to decide to return to God through the sacrament of confession. When we regret our wrongdoings and confess them sincerely, God forgives us and enables our return to the community of his faithful. Saint Paul, in our second reading, tells us that God shows us his mercy because of the love he has for us. The grace of God saves us. Our Lenten observances are not meant to earn God’s love but rather to respond generously to his love and mercy that we have already received in Jesus Christ. Our Gospel tells us much more about God’s love for us.

Our Gospel is the last part of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. To better understand it, we need to know its beginning. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, leader, and teacher. Note that as a Pharisee, he believed in the resurrection, and as a leader and teacher, he presented and influenced the larger Jewish community. He came to Jesus at night to have a conversation regarding how he and the Jewish community he represented believed who Jesus was (John 3:1-2, 10). In his answer, Jesus changed the topic and invited Nicodemus to reflect on the need to be born from above as a condition to see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was confused as he imagined literal rebirth from the womb, while Jesus meant rebirth through “water and Spirit” (vv. 3-9). Jesus asked Nicodemus how he could be a teacher of Israel and not understand that topic (v. 10). Then Jesus instructed him about what he meant by being born from above and why it mattered (vv. 11-21).

Our Gospel passage picks up from v. 14. Jesus tells Nicodemus that he will be lifted up just as Moses lifted up the serpent of bronze in the desert so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (v. 14.) Note that Moses lifted up the serpent of bronze in their journey from Egypt to the promised land. It happened that during that forty-year journey in the desert, the people of Israel were being bitten by seraph serpents that God sent among them because they sinned against God. All those who were bitten by serpents were dying. When they repented, to save them, God asked Moses to lift up a serpent of bronze and invited all those bitten by the seraph serpents to look at it for healing (Numbers 21: 4-9). By comparing this bronze serpent to his crucifixion, Jesus is teaching Nicodemus and all of us that those who look at him, crucified on the cross, with faith and willingness to repent will have eternal life (v. 15). On Good Friday, we will commemorate Jesus’ passion and death. Our Lord will be lifted up on the cross. The liturgy of Good Friday gives us an opportunity to “look at Jesus crucified on the cross” solemnly and venerate his Holy Cross. Let us do it with great faith and willingness to repent. Also, let us ensure that we have Jesus' crucifixes in our homes and look at them regularly in prayer with faith.  

Jesus told Nicodemus that he, Jesus, is the gift God gave to the world because God loves his people so much (v. 16.) This gift became effective, first, in the Incarnation when God decided to come down on earth, take our human flesh, and live with and among us. Second, God’s gift of his Son was fulfilled when Jesus laid his life on the cross for our redemption. Jesus is God’s gift to us to redeem us. This redemption depends on our faith in Jesus. If we believe in him, we will be saved, but if we do not believe in him, we condemn ourselves because his mission is not to condemn but to save the people (vv. 17-18).

Jesus closes his conversation with Nicodemus by revealing to him and us that faith in him that he is talking about fosters confidence to live out our discipleship, not in the darkness, but in “daylight” (vv. 19-21). This is in contrast with this private conversation that Nicodemus initiated with Jesus at night. He was afraid of his fellow Jews who did not believe in Jesus. So, he came at night in private to let Jesus know that he and a small group of people he represented believed in him. Here, Jesus challenged him to live out his faith openly in the light, not the darkness. In this Mass, Jesus challenges us, too, to live out our faith openly so that our “works may be seen as done in God.” (v. 21).    

Easter is approaching. A good celebration of the mystery of our salvation in Easter will depend on three things that the Scripture readings of this Sunday invite us to do. We are called to become aware of our sins, confess them, and believe in Jesus openly in “daylight.” Amen.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD

 

3rd Sunday of Lent Year B – March 3, 2024

3^rd Sunday of Lent Year B – March 3, 2024

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

 

Theme: The Lenten Season Consists of Letting Jesus Clean our Hearts and Observing God’s Commandments

Today is the Third Sunday of Lent. The Scripture readings of the First Sunday prepared us to know that the Lenten season is the time to resist Satan with all his temptations. The liturgy of the Second Sunday reminded us that the Lenten season is our “journey of faith.” Although this “journey of faith” is challenging as it entails crosses, the glory of the Transfiguration that we experience at each Mass must motivate us to persevere until we reach the destination, which is the new life in a new creation in the heavenly kingdom that Jesus came to inaugurate on earth, which we will celebrate on Easter. Then, on this Third Sunday, our Holy Mother Church teaches us that the Lenten Season consists of letting Jesus cleanse our hearts when we transform them into “marketplaces” (see the Gospel) by not observing God’s commandments (see the first reading).

The first reading we heard talks about the Ten Commandments God gave to the people of Israel. In the previous chapter, God established a covenant with the people of Israel through Moses. A Covenant is a sacred agreement in a relationship between God and his people. In this case, on the one hand, the Israelites agreed to obey God and keep his covenant. On the other hand, God promised to make them his treasured possession among all people, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (see Exodus 19: 1-25). Through this covenant, God invites the Israelites into his family.

This reading reminds us that, like the people of Israel, we, too, are in the covenant with God through Jesus. By his death on the cross and resurrection, Jesus has extended the family of God to include all the nations. This is what Saint Paul affirms in our second reading. He says that the crucified Jesus, whom he proclaims, is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to all those who are called (Jews, Greeks, and all of us today,) he is the power and wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:23-24.) Here, Saint Paul affirms that we are all members of God’s family through Jesus. Now, we know that every family operates by some rules. The way parents set up rules for their families is the same way God, in our first reading, explains the rules called “commandments” to his family members, including all of us today. These commandments are Ten in total. The first three are the basic principles to live in a good relationship with the Father of our family, God.  The other seven intend to help us have a good relationship with our brothers and sisters. Undoubtedly, many Christians have already forgotten these Ten Commandments. That is why I encourage us to read this first reading meditatively again.

I would like to focus only on the third commandment here. God reminds us to keep holy his day, the Sabbath, which is Sunday for us. He says that he gave us six days to do our work, and the seventh day, Sunday, is the day that he asks us to keep holy because it is his day. Do we respect this commandment? Do we keep Sunday holy? Attending Mass on Sunday (or Saturday eve) is not optional. Failing to worship God in the Eucharistic celebration is considered a sin for all Christian Catholics because it violates this commandment about the holiness of God’s day. The Lenten season consists of following God’s commandments. We need to keep Sunday holy by attending the liturgy of Mass.

Next to following God’s commandments, the Lenten season also consists of letting Jesus cleanse our hearts when we fail to obey God. The Gospel we heard is the story of the cleansing of the Temple by Jesus. The evangelist John reports that Jesus went to Jerusalem for the feast of the Passover. He found people selling and buying things in the temple area and money changers doing business. He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the temple area. He told them to stop making his Father’s house a marketplace.

The context of this Gospel’s story is related to our first reading. To keep the Sabbath holy, as the third commandment required, worshiping God in the temple and offering him animals as sacrifices were parts of the requirements for the people of Israel. Since the temple in Jerusalem was far for most of them and it was difficult to travel with their flocks or herds, the law of Moses allowed them to organize a marketplace at the temple area. So, people could travel with their money and buy animals and other things they needed for sacrifice at the temple site (see Deuteronomy 14: 24-26). However, this permission compromised the sacredness of the worship just as the permission for divorce compromised the sacredness of marriage (see Deuteronomy 24: 1; Matthew 19: 1-12). While allowed by the law of Moses with good intentions, selling and buying in the temple’s area gave rise to a highly profitable business that overtook the sacred purpose of their pilgrimage. By driving them all out, Jesus, who is the Law in the flesh, taught them that the need for materials cannot overtake the need for spiritual life. God must be first.

This Gospel reading applies to us as well. For many Christians today, leisure and all material needs become more important than spiritual needs. They ignore their sacred obligation to keep God’s day holy by attending Mass. We transform our hearts (which are the “Temple of the Holy Spirit” and “House of God”) into marketplaces when we prioritize leisure and material needs over spiritual ones.

When we do so, we violate God’s commandments and break the rules of our Christian family. Hence, the sacrament of confession is needed to repair our relationships with our Father God and our brothers and sisters that our sins damage. The Lenten season consists of letting Jesus come into our hearts through the sacrament of confession and cleaning them up from all sinful practices.

The liturgy of this Third Sunday of Lent teaches us that we are members of God’s family. Therefore, we must follow the rules of our family, which are God’s commandments, especially that of keeping Sunday holy. Whenever we fail to do so, we need to use the sacrament of confession to let Jesus clean our hearts and restore our relationships with God and our brothers and sisters. Amen.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD 

2nd Sunday of Lent Year B – Feb. 25, 2024

 2nd Sunday of Lent Year B – Feb. 25, 2024

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

 

Theme: The Lenten Season is a Journey of Faith

Today is the Second Sunday of our forty-day penitential journey called Lent. The liturgy of the First Sunday prepared us to know that the Lenten season is the time to resist Satan with all his temptations. We learned that Satan is not happy to see us preparing ourselves spiritually to celebrate the mystery of our faith at Easter. The way he tempted Jesus in the desert is the same way he temps us today to prevent us from being members of God’s kingdom that Jesus came to establish on earth, which we will celebrate in Easter. We need to resist him. Then, the liturgy of this second Sunday teaches us that the Lenten season is our “journey of faith,” which leads us to celebrate our new lives with the Resurrected Jesus in Easter.

Our first reading is the story of Abraham's testing. God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac, as a burning offering. This is the climax of Abraham’s long “journey of faith,” which started in Chapter 12 when God called him to leave his land and go where God would indicate him (Genesis 12: 1-4).  Abraham did not hesitate to sacrifice his son Isaac to God. Seeing Abraham’s great faith, God ordered him not to kill his son. He provided him with a single ram that Abraham sacrificed in place of his son (Genesis 22: 10-13). At the end of this story, God blessed Abraham and promised to make his descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore. Notice how God included all of us in this blessing. He says, ^“And in your descendants, all the nations of the earth will find blessing because you obeyed my command.” (v. 18). So, Abraham became the father of faith for all the nations. Although his “journey of faith” was painful and challenging, Abraham did not give up his faith in God. This is what we are called to do in our own “journey of faith” this Lent. Let us continue to trust God and never give up. This is what our Gospel also teaches us.

 Likewise, the story of the Transfiguration we heard in today’s Gospel passage, for all the Synoptic Gospels, marks the “beginning of the end” of the earthly life of Jesus. After the Transfiguration, Jesus began his “journey of faith” toward Jerusalem, culminating with his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. The Transfiguration of Jesus was also the foretaste of the climax of the “journey of faith” that the disciples of Jesus started. Jesus uses his Transfiguration to show his disciples what they will look like in the heavenly kingdom. This is to encourage them to continue to follow him even if it costs them to sacrifice their lives. Likewise, in this Lenten season, all of us are on our “journey of faith,” which will conclude in the Passion Week when our sinful states die with Jesus, and in Easter when we receive new lives with our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

The historical context of this story is on the critical detail at the beginning of verse 2 that the lectionary has omitted. Verse 2 is like this: “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them” (v. 2, NAMBRE). The “After six days” indicates what happened before the event of the Transfiguration. In the verses that immediately precede our story, Jesus, for the first time, told his disciples about his passion, death, and resurrection, which were going to take place in Jerusalem (Mark 8: 31-33). He also instructed them on discipleship conditions, which involved self-denial and carrying one’s cross for anyone who wished to follow him (Mark 8: 34-38). Mark says that the Transfiguration story happened six days after the disciples and the crowds who were following Jesus learned these painful instructions for the first time. We can understand their attitude at that moment. Undoubtedly, they were anxious, discouraged, and troubled. They indeed lost their enthusiasm and motivation for discipleship. They were about to abandon following Jesus.

In this context of discouragement, six days later, Jesus selected three of them (Peter, John, and James), led them up a high mountain apart by themselves, and made them experience his transfiguration as the foretaste of the glory of eternal life in heaven that is awaiting all those who follow him until the end of their lives. Jesus' divine glory overcomes his death and that of his followers. These three disciples had a mission to share with their companions this magnificent experience to encourage each other not to give up their discipleship. Jesus continues to do the same thing with us, especially in this Lenten season. He selects you and me and leads us up a high mountain, our Church, “Our Lady Star of the Sea,” where he transfigures before us at each Eucharistic celebration (Mass) we attend. He makes us foretaste the glory of the Transfiguration to encourage us to continue our “journey of faith” until the end, no matter the difficulties we may encounter.

Mark reports that in the Transfiguration of Jesus, Elijah and Moses appeared and conversed with Jesus (v. 4). Elijah and Moses represent prophetical books and books of law, respectively, the main two parts of the Jewish Bible. So, the presence of Elijah and Moses here means that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.    

Peter enjoys the divine glory of the Transfiguration. He makes a special request to build three tents there: one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus (v. 5). The narrator comments that Peter did not know what he was saying because they were so terrified (v.6). Then, the voice of God coming from the cloud, which cast a shadow over them, revealed to them that Jesus is his Beloved Son, and they need to listen to him. (V. 7). On their way down from the mountain, Jesus charged them to relate their experience of the Transfiguration only after his resurrection.

Through his request, Peter desires to remain in this divine glory for good. He wants to enjoy Jesus’ glorification without passing through the Passion and Death of Jesus. Sometimes, we act as Peter did. In the context of this liturgical season, many Christians like to celebrate Easter but do not like to repent and live out the observances of Lent, which are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There is no Easter without Lent. There is no glory in God’s kingdom without taking up our crosses and following Christ.

 Through the cloud of the Transfiguration, God speaks to these three disciples and each of us that to enjoy the divine glory, we need to listen to his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. What do we need to listen to specifically? We must listen to what Jesus instructed us in the verses that immediately precede our text. Let us repeat them.  Jesus, for the first time, told his disciples about his Passion and Death that would occur in Jerusalem, where they were going (Mark 8: 31-33). This way of the cross is the way that God chose to glorify his Son and all those who follow him like us today. The second thing that Jesus told them that we must listen to is the instruction regarding the condition of discipleship. Whoever wishes to be Jesus’ disciple must deny himself or herself, take up his or her own crosses, and follow him (Mark 8: 34-38). So, the voice of God called these three disciples and all of us to accept the “journey of faith,” which entails the cross and leads to divine glory.  

The same voice of God encourages us today to listen to Jesus, who calls us to repent and believe in the Gospel (see the Gospel of last Sunday, Mark 1: 12-15, especially v. 15). We need to listen to Jesus, who invites us to first spend 40 days with him in the desert (our desert is this Lenten season) in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. This is to be done before we enjoy the glory of a new life in a new creation in his kingdom that he came to initiate here on earth that we will celebrate in Easter. We need to listen to God’s Beloved Son, Jesus, when he calls us to resist Satan with all his temptations, such as the temptation of dividing us, especially in our families, and discouraging us from coming to Church to pray to God and serve him. We need to listen to our Lord Jesus when he asks us to go down from the mountain of the Transfiguration and accept the way of the cross instead of “building three tents” to remain there for good. We should not stay up there in the mountain of the Transfiguration enjoying this divine glory alone while our fellow humans in our families, neighborhoods, and societies need us to minister to them so that they, too, can enjoy this heavenly glory one day.

That is why at the end of each Mass, Jesus, through the celebrant priest, tells us, “The Mass is ended; go in peace to love and serve the Lord.” Some priests prefer the shortcut, “The Mass is ended, go in peace.” These words mean that it is not a good idea to remain in the Church, our mountain of Transfiguration, for good. At each Celebration of the Eucharist that we attend, we do the same experience that Peter, James, and John did in this story of the Transfiguration of our Lord. Moreover, Jesus transfigures our souls to look like his Transfigured Body through his Word that we hear in the Scripture readings and his Body and Blood that we share in the Holy Communion. At the end of the Mass, we should not remain in the Church for good, as Peter requested. Instead, Jesus sends us out to love and serve our brothers and sisters so that they, too, come to Church and enjoy the divine glory of the Mass.    

 The Liturgy of this Second Sunday of Lent reminds us that the Lenten season is our “journey of faith.” Although this “journey of faith” is challenging as it entails crosses, the glory of the Transfiguration that we experience at each Mass must motivate us to persevere until we reach the destination. Amen.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD

1st Sunday of Lent Year B – Feb. 18, 2024

 

1^st Sunday of Lent Year B – Feb. 18, 2024

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

 

Theme: Forty Days of Lent: Time to Resist Satan’s Temptations

This past Wednesday, we celebrated Ash Wednesday’s Mass which marked the beginning of a forty-day penitential time called the Lenten season. Our Holy Mother Church gives us these forty days of Lent so that we might prepare ourselves to celebrate the Paschal mystery of our Lord Jesus (his Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension). At Ash Wednesday Mass, we received ashes on our foreheads symbolizing our firm decision to spend this penitential season in Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving. By receiving ashes on our foreheads, we expressed our willingness to repent and believe in the Gospel now, not to ignore or postpone it. We were reminded that we are dust, and unto dust, we shall return. Thus, with the Ash Wednesday Mass, we have begun our forty-day penitential journey toward Jesus’s resurrection, which is also our resurrection, in Easter.

Then, today is the first Sunday of Lent. The liturgy of this Mass prepares us to know that Satan who tempted Jesus in the desert continues to tempt us today, especially during this Lenten season. Therefore, we should resist him with all of his temptations and so remain members of the kingdom that Jesus came to establish (see our Gospel). Repentance is a good start to resist Satan. Note, the way God patiently waited for Noah to build the ark which saved him and all the remnants from the flooding water (see the context of our first reading. God is also patiently waiting for us to turn to him in the baptismal water with which the catechumen will be baptized and the rest of us will renew our baptismal promises in Easter (see our second reading).

Indeed, in our Gospel, the evangelist Mark does not focus on the parameters of the temptations. He does not tell us about how many times Jesus was tempted, neither does he specify each type of temptation as Matthew and Luke do. He rather mentions some important elements in his account. First, he informs us that Jesus was driven into the desert by the Spirit. The verses that immediately precede our passage recount the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. During his baptism, Mark reports that on coming out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him (Mark 1: 9-11). This Spirit who descended on Jesus in his baptism is the same Spirit who drove him into the desert. As we too have joined Jesus in the desert throughout our forty days of Lent, the Spirit of God is with us and sustains us.

Second, Mark says that in the desert, Jesus was among wild beasts and the angels ministered to him. The presence of the wild beast and the ministering angels describe the kingdom of God that Jesus came to inaugurate. It is the kingdom of a new creation where humans and wild beasts live together in perfect harmony, alluding to the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned and were expelled. This is the kingdom of the resurrection in which we, like the angels, will minister to the resurrected Jesus and praise him in Easter.

Third, Mark says that Satan tempted Jesus in the desert. This is the main point in this first Sunday of Lent. The way Satan tempted Jesus in the desert is the same way he temps us today. His purpose in tempting Jesus was to prevent him from starting his ministry because he was fearful of losing people. He knew that the mission of Jesus for which he went to the desert to prepare himself consisted of calling the people to be part of the kingdom of God that Jesus came to establish. The same Satan continues to tempt us today because he knows that the Lenten season prepares us for the Paschal Mystery. Through the baptism (for the catechumens) and the renewal of our baptismal promises in Easter, we will resurrect with Christ and so start a new life in a new creation. Therefore, we are called to resist Satan with all his temptations. 

After completing his forty-day preparation in the desert, Mark says that Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God. Here Mark does not just mean the Good News from God but the Good News about God at work in Jesus Christ. This proclamation of the Gospel of God is Jesus’ first-ever homily in the Marcan Gospel. Then, let us pay attention to the first words of his preaching: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the Gospel.” (v. 15, NABRE).

To be members of the new creation of the kingdom of God, which we will celebrate on Easter, Jesus asks us to do two things during these forty days of Lent. The first thing is to repent and the second is to believe in the Gospel. To repent means to abandon all our wrong deeds, confess our sins, and decide to start a new life with the Resurrected Jesus in Easter. To believe in the Gospel means to accept Jesus as the fulfillment of all God’s promises. That is why Jesus tells us that his ministry time is the time of fulfillment. Here he means that all the covenants of the Old Testament between God and his chosen people, including the covenant that God established with Noah that we heard in our first reading, are fulfilled with him. The kingdom of God that the prophets of the Old Testament foretold is now at hand with Jesus. The new life in a new creation is now at hand. Our resurrection with Christ is now at hand in Easter. Therefore, we need to repent all of our sins and believe in the Gospel of Jesus to start a new life in a new creation as Noah and all the remnants did in our first reading.

The sacred author of our second reading says that the flooding at the time of Noah is the prefiguration of our baptism. His interpretation is that as Noah and all the remnants first needed to pass through the water of flooding in the ark before they enjoyed the new life in a new creation, we too need to pass through the water of baptism before we start a new life in a new creation of the resurrection of Jesus in Easter. Saint Peter, in this reading, teaches us that the way God patiently waited for Noah to build the ark, which saved him and all the remnants, is the same way he is patiently waiting for us to turn to Baptism to receive forgiveness of sins and be saved. He reports to us that only “eight in all” were saved through this flooding water. The number “8” is a symbol of the new creation that God established after the flood. This means that those baptized in Christ (including all of us in Easter, we will renew our baptismal promises and the Catechumen will receive Baptism) are resurrected into eternal life and start a new life in a new creation of the resurrection with Christ.

As we have commenced this forty-day journey of repentance which prepares us to celebrate a new life in a new creation in Easter, the liturgy of this first Sunday calls us to resist Satan who every day tries to prevent us from fulfilling our Lenten observances. May this Mass enable us to stay strong spiritually throughout this Lenten Season. Amen.

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD

Ash Wednesday. February 14, 2024

 

Ash Wednesday. February 14, 2024

Joel 2: 12-18; 2 Corinthians 5: 20 – 6: 2; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-18

 

Theme: Works of Penance: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving

Today, we start the Lenten season. This is a forty-day penitential time in which we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Paschal mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ. Note that Penance is part of the Christian way of life. It has to do with Sin and Conversion. We should not ignore it. Let us journey together as a Church. This Ash Wednesday Mass is the kickoff. The ashes that we will receive on our foreheads today will have only as much meaning as we are giving them. Let us make this symbolism a meaningful beginning of a time of penance. The ashes remind us that since conversion is a necessity, then we should not wait until tomorrow; we need to work on it now because “we are dust, and to dust, we will return”. This can happen at the moment we least expect it. Prophet Joel, in today’s first reading, invites us to return to God: “Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning” (Joel 2: 12). Saint Paul also in our second reading implores us on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. What the first and second readings invite us to do is called “Penance”. The Gospel then explains the works of this penance: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving.

The Church exhorts us to observe prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving during this Lenten Season to help us spend these forty days of preparation well. They are the external works of Penance. They have no value in themselves unless you relate them to the real penance which is your conversion to God. Here are some examples (but not limited) of what you can do:

1.                   Prayer connects us to God. During Lent, you are encouraged to increase your prayer time. For instance, during these forty days, you commit yourself to attend some or all of the following: Stations of the Cross, Daily Masses, Lenten Revival, Bible study, personal and family Bible reading and sharing, rosary, and other spiritual exercises. During these forty days of Lent, you may make a list of your prayer intentions if needed and pray intensely for them. So, make your prayer life more significant during this time.

2.                   Fasting connects you to God (in prayer), to yourself (in conversion), and to others (in charity). Here are different ways of fasting: First, you may choose to work on your sins and weaknesses (for example on your anger, gossip, overeating, and any other addictions) to seek conversion and healing. Second, your fasting can be limiting the way you use social media, video games, TV, and casinos. Third, regarding fasting from food, here are what the Church recommends: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory; abstinence from meat is observed on Ash Wednesday and Fridays; a person (except the sick and over 65-year-old people) is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. Remember this: Fasting from food must be associated with prayer and charity otherwise it is just a diet. True fasting must connect you to God, yourself, and others.

3.                   Almsgiving is the moment we reach out to those in need, especially with the time and money we save from fasting. Use this time to do charity work (for example, take the Holy Communion to the sick, do some work in the yard and inside of the Church, and volunteer for other charity organizations.), to be with your family, to visit the sick, prisoners, and the needy. The money you save from your fasting can be offered to the Church, or you can help the poor including those you do not know overseas. Almsgiving is the gift of what you have and who you are to others. Offer them with prayer. 

I pray that God bless all of us as we commence our forty-day penitential time. Amen.

Happy Lenten Season!

Rev. Leon Ngandu, SVD