People in Jesus’ time were so judgmental, ascribing tragedies to the victims’ sins. This punitive opinion of God runs counter to His merciful character, even more so there are “spoiled brat” Christians self-proclaimed followers of Jesus—who continuously compound sin upon sin. 

Sirach 5:4-7 confronts this spiritual brattiness: “Do not say, ‘I have sinned, yet what has happened to me?’ . . . Do not be so confident of forgiveness that you add sin upon sin. Do not say, ‘His mercy is great; my many sins He will forgive.’ For mercy and anger alike are with Him; His wrath comes to rest on the wicked. Do not delay turning back to the Lord, do not put it off day after day. For suddenly His wrath will come forth; at the time of vengeance, you will perish.”

Scary, right? We must then strike the balance of respecting and availing God’s mercy and authentically living out that mercy by virtuous living. 

Obet Cabrillas (rocabrillas@up.edu.ph)

reflect

“If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.” (1 John 1:8-9)

“Jesus Christ of Nazareth, son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (The Jesus Prayer)

St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, pray for us.

First Reading | Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15

God calls Moses into an incredible journey with Him and His people. Moses is merely a shepherd with a miraculous life—he had been saved from death at the hands of the Egyptians by a wily mother. By saying His name to Moses, God reveals that He is the essence of existence. Using the verb “to be” clearly indicates that God “is” and is not dependent on anything and anyone for His being. He simply “is!”

¹ Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There an angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. ³ So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.” ⁴ When the Lord saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” ⁵ God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ⁶ I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ But the Lord said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. ⁸ Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ¹³ Moses said to God “But when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” ¹⁴ God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” ¹⁵ God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; thus am I to be remembered through all generations.” 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11

R: The Lord is kind and merciful.

¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (R) ³ He pardons all your iniquities, he heals all your ills. ⁴ He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion. (R) ⁶ The Lord secures justice and the rights of all the oppressed. ⁷ He has made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel. (R) ⁸ Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. ¹¹ For as the heavens arehigh above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him. (R)

Second Reading | 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 

We have been warned to repent of our sins. However, we are not very good at heeding the warning. Now is the time to repent of our sins. This is why the Church encourages the nightly examination of conscience where we reflect on our day, give thanks for God’s many blessings, and repent of anything we might have done wrong.

¹ I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, ² and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ All ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. ⁵ Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. ⁶ These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. ¹⁰ Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. ¹¹ These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. ¹² Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall. 

Gospel | Luke 13:1-9 

God is patient and His patience will never run out. However, we are the ones who will run out of time to respond to His offer of salvation. There is a clock ticking over our heads; we do not know how much time we have before we die. There is no conversion after death; the decisions we make regarding our salvation will be over and done with before we die. Let us respond to God’s offer of salvation while we still can.

Gospel Acclamation

Repent, says the Lord; the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

¹ Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. ² Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? ³ By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! ⁴ Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵ By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” ⁶ And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, ⁷ he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ ⁸ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; ⁹ it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

Read the Bible in one year! Read GENESIS 37 - 39 today.

Re-Pent

Each great city in the world takes pride of its own iconic structure. Paris has the majestic Eiffel Tower. Barcelona has the towering La Sagrada Familia. New York has the colossal Lady Liberty. Dubai has the record-breaking skyscraper Burj Khalifa.

One exciting thing, especially for tourists, is that most of these significant landmarks have observation decks where visitors can ascend on top via a stairway or an elevator and see the unique and incomparable views of the city.Climbing the lookout posts of such popular attractions or penthouses of buildings calls to mind the stark and uncompromising challenge of the Lenten season—repentance.

Repentance is the combination of two words: “re” means to go back and “pent” is the top floor of the building. To repent is to return to God’s perspective or outlook of reality. While sin defiles, degrades, and disintegrates us, the grace of contrition and conversion fortify and regenerate us, and thus allows us to come back to our original or most sublime dignity as children of God.

The Holy Spirit is the primary mover or agent of repentance. Only God can heal us, make us whole once again, and bring about a new outlook, a new heart and spirit, and a new behavior.

The key to newness and new beginnings is humility. We can only ascend in our spiritual life if we descend into the depths of our sinfulness and allow the Spirit of transformation to work from there or from within. Fr. Paolo Asprer, SSP

reflection question

It’s Lent. How about going deep into yourself to see what you truly need to repent of, then showing yourself to God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?

“Have mercy on me, God, in accord with Your merciful love;  in Your abundant compassion, blot out my transgressions. Thoroughly wash away my guilt; and from my sin, cleanse me.” (Psalm 51:3-4)

Today, I pray for: _____________________________________