HOLY WEDNESDAY

The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced. – Isaiah 50:7

       In one large gathering, a young woman came up to me and asked, “Can you hear my confession?”

        I shook my head, “I’m sorry, I’m not a priest.” But I saw desperation in her eyes as she told me, “But can I still confess my sins to you?”

        “I can listen to you, pray for you, but I can’t absolve you of your sins,” I said.

      We walked to a corner of the hall and she poured her heart to me, sharing her guilt. As she did so, I felt an urging from God to tell her, “My dear friend, God loves you more than you can ever imagine.” She began to cry almost uncontrollably. “Bo, I know God loves me. But I don’t love myself. I know God forgives me. But I can’t forgive myself for what I’ve done,” she said.

     Through the years, I’ve met many people like her who’ve already asked for God’s forgiveness but can’t seem to forgive themselves. They seem to think that their sin is bigger than God’s love for them. They seem to think that their moral standards are higher than God’s standards.

       God doesn’t want us to grieve and wallow in guilt. Focus on God’s love for you. Or you fall into despair. Bo Sanchez (bosanchez@

Reflection: Do you carry the guilt of some sins you’ve already confessed?

Father, help me with Your grace to forgive myself as You’ve forgiven me.

St. Hugh of Grenoble, pray for us.

Jesus set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51). Is the use of the word “flint” in this reflection similar to the one in Isaiah’s third Servant Song? I believe so. Jesus knows what He has to do, in the same way the Servant does, and He gets on with it even though He knows that it will not be a nice experience.

4 The Lord God has given me a well-trained tongue, that I might know how to speak to the weary a word that will rouse them. Morning after morning he opens my ear that I may hear; 5 and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. 6 I gave my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. 7 The Lord God is my help, therefore I am not disgraced; I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame. 8 He is near who upholds my right; if anyone wishes to oppose me, let us appear together. Who disputes my right? Let him confront me. 9 See, the Lord God is my help; who will prove me wrong?

Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34

R: Lord, in your great love, answer me.

7 [8] For your sake I bear insult, and shame covers my face. 8 [9] I have become an outcast to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons, 9 [10] because zeal for your house consumes me, and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me. (R) 20 [21] Insult has broken my heart, and I am weak, I looked for sympathy, but there was none; for consolers, not one could I find. 21 [22] Rather they put gall in my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (R) I will praise the name of God in song, and I will glorify him in thanksgiving: 32[33]“See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, may your hearts revive! 33 [34] For the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.” (R)

What makes Judas’ betrayal even worse is that he profits from it – 30 pieces of silver. I am challenged to reflect on my life to see if I have betrayed Jesus at any time for personal gain. I have to admit that there have been times when I was ashamed (for fear of rejection by others) to proclaim the Gospel as I should. While this might not be the same as what Judas did, it is similar and something that should never happen again.

Hail to you, our King; you alone are compassionate with our errors.

14 One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, 16 and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over. 17 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, “My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”’” 19 The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover. 20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. 21And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” 23 He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. 24 The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” 25 Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.”

think: Have I betrayed Jesus for personal gain?

READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Exodus 25-27

PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

The ultimate purpose of my life

GOALS FOR THE QUARTER

Priority areas God wants me to work on

A WORD TO THE WEARY

More than one and a half years ago, a big part of Eastern Visayas in Central Philippines was ravaged by a super typhoon, the likes of which had never been seen in recent times. We saw heart-rending images of desolation, destruction and death. We were at a loss for words. We did not know what to say to whom, how, when and where — at a time when we did not even know fully the extent of the devastation that only slowly came to our individual and collective consciousness.

       Intense pain and suffering can render us speechless. I remember when I was about eight years old, playing with what was then called a trolley — a two-wheeled scooter that one propelled with one’s foot. It was at a then major thoroughfare in Makati that I was run over by a Volkswagen Beetle filled with passengers — all adult women. As I got out from under the car and saw my bleeding left foot, I was tongue-tied in shock. So were the women in the car. I couldn’t say a word or even cry.

         I was in pain. And I didn’t have the words to match what was welling from within. I was afraid, too. All I remember doing was to look pleadingly at the women and the only man in the car (the driver), who, after a momentary initial shock, simply sped away, leaving me literally in a lurch.

       Isaiah was in pretty much the same situation. The passage comes from what is known as the third “Suffering Servant Song.” If anything, that “song” was more hopeless, more violent, more pain-studded than the other two. But it was also more faith-filled.

       I went home to my mother limping, but made stronger by the same secret that Isaiah knew all along. As Nietzche wrote: “What does not kill me makes me stronger.”

       Kudos to the people of Eastern Visayas! In their pain, the “Lord God was their help!” Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

REFLECTION QUESTION: Recall your past sufferings. Have they made you stronger?

Dear Lord, thank You for being with me through my sufferings. Though I experienced pain, there is joy in knowing that, with You, I have survived it all.