Once there was a dog that belonged to a prince. It was in charge of looking after the prince’s baby when he was away.

After one hunting trip, the prince came home to find his baby’s room full of blood. With the baby missing and his dog’s mouth covered with blood, the prince plunged his sword into the pet thinking it had killed the baby. But the dog’s dying yelp was drowned by a baby’s cry. The prince looked around and found the baby unharmed near the dead body of a wolf. The dog had protected the baby by killing the wolf.

It’s easy to judge people and circumstances wrongly. The next time you judge or act upon a judgment, try counting one to three. It will give you time to pause and reflect on your thoughts and actions.

The Lord asks us the same thing He constantly does for all of us. He always gives us a chance to show that we are good and that we can be better.

Today, avoid judging. Just love. Monching Bueno (ramon_bueno@yahoo.com)

reflect

Do you see more of the good in people or the bad? Remember, how you see others is a reflection of how you see yourself.

Father God, help us to always see the good in people and situations.

Saint Zeno, martyr, pray for us.

In our spiritual life, we sometimes neglect to be good stewards of the gifts God has given us. We overlook the fact that these gifts are not just for our own benefit, but also for the entire Body of Christ. Let us reflect on how we have used God’s blessings and gifts to serve others.

¹ Brothers and sisters: Thus should one regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² Now it is of course required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. ³ It does not concern me in the least that I be judged by you or any human tribunal; I do not even pass judgment on myself; ⁴ I am not conscious of anything against me, but I do not thereby stand acquitted; the one who judges me is the Lord. ⁵ Therefore, do not make any judgment before the appointed time, until the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will manifest the motives of our hearts, and then everyone will receive praise from God.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 37:3-4, 5-6, 27-28, 39-40

R: The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

³ Trust in the Lord and do good, that you may dwell in the land and enjoy security. ⁴ Take delight in the Lord, and he will grant you your heart’s requests. (R) ⁵ Commit to the Lord your way; trust in him, and he will act. ⁶ He will make justice dawn for you like the light; bright as the noonday shall be your vindication. (R) ²⁷ Turn from evil and do good, that you may abide forever; ²⁸ for the Lord loves what is right, and forsakes not his faithful ones. Criminals are destroyed, and the posterity of the wicked is cut off. (R) ³⁹ The salvation of the just is from the Lord; he is their refuge in time of distress. ⁴⁰ And the Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him. (R)

Gospel | Luke 5:33-39

When we enter into a personal relationship with Jesus, our lives undergo a radical transformation because we have to make Him our focal point. We need to change our priorities and strive to be faithful to our conversion experience. Let us ask ourselves: are we willing to make the necessary changes?

Gospel Acclamation

I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.

³³ The scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and offer prayers, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same; but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ³⁵ But the days will come, and when the bridegroom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And he also told them a parable. “No one tears a piece from a new cloak to patch an old one. Otherwise, he will tear the new and the piece from it will not match the old cloak. ³⁷ Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ Rather, new wine must be poured into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one who has been drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Read the Bible in one year! Read ISAIAH 49 - 52 today.

Today, Jesus was asked this question: “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Fasting has always been an essential element of any spirituality and even ideologies. Even before Jesus began His ministry, John the Baptist’s followers had been practicing a kind of fasting that is characteristic of the ascetic and austere life. The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ time, too, were replete with fasting customs that include meticulous ceremonial washings and sanitation of jars and kettles.

Last Lenten season, a friend of mine posted on his Facebook wall some rules on the age requirement for fasting and what kind of food to abstain from. In the comments section, I read someone say, “Is that really needed? Isn’t fasting from sin and evil the better kind of fasting Jesus wants during this Lenten season?” That comment received many likes. But though well-intentioned, there is much to correct in that statement.

First of all, fasting from sin and evil is to be done not only during Lenten season. We are to fast from all sin and evil all the time. First Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Abstain from every form of evil.” Notice it did not say, “Abstain from some form of evil.” It did not say “during some times.”

The real essence of fasting, therefore, is the willpower that abstinence from something that is good and pleasurable will give us. This is why we are asked to give up pleasurable activities or delicious food. They are not bad in themselves, but the self-mastery that follows from willful abstinence is the goal of all fasting.

The occasional fasting from something good empowers us to regularly fast from sin and evil. This is the reason why, in Christian tradition, even Fridays outside of Lent are also considered days of penance and abstinence. I grew up in this tradition. Ever since, all my Fridays have been meatless Fridays.

So yes, while fasting from sin and evil is a greater intention, it does not cancel out fasting from food and anything that is pleasurable. In fact, it presupposes it.

The Book of Proverbs commends: “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (25:8). Enjoy your fast! Fr. Joel O. Jason

reflection question

Are abstinence and asceticism occasional or regular parts of your spirituality?

With the discipline of an athlete, help me run the race of holiness. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _____________________________________________