10th March 2020: - Reflection by Bro. Lalith Perera (CRL)

First Reading (Isaiah 1:10, 16-20)

“Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!”.

Sodom and Gomorrah had fallen into sin.  God spoke to the people of Israel through the Prophet Isaiah and called them “Sodom and Gomorrah” because they had fallen deeply into sin.  God equaled the people of Israel to the greatest sin of the Old Testament, the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah.

In the lives of the saints we see persecution by the Romans from the 1st to the 3rd century.  For history to be completed we have to understand what the Romans did to the church, the church did to the people from the 13th century to the 18th century.  It is called the Inquisition.  Nobody wants to talk about it and treat it like a family secret.  If we do that we will never really deal with the consequences.  People were questioned for their faith.  If they didn’t meet the standard of the church, some were put in prison or tortured.  Many were killed.  You need to understand that you can have religion and be brutal all the same time.  That’s why we need to have a heart of love.  If we don’t have it, we can do a lot of terrible things in the name of God.  The Spanish inquisition was the worst of all.  Many were killed.  Many don’t want to talk about these things.  If we don’t deal with them, we will have an unbalanced view.  We can easily use authority in a very abusive way if it is not tempered by the call of Jesus; “love one another as I have loved you”.  Spirituality is the growth in loving and being concerned about others.  

“Wash and make yourselves clean.   Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong”.  

We can’t justify the wrong that we do.  When you look at the last 2000 years you can see people were not very mature.  Even the European society was not very mature.  They behaved badly towards each other.  Even religion couldn’t temper that.  Many became Christians but their nature and attitudes were unchanged.

“Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow”.

Be concerned about people.  Being right with God is now connected with how you treat others.  We can have a great discipline of prayer and doing everything according to the teachings of the church, but we can be intolerant of other people.

When people have power over us, we are very understanding of them.  We give them space, forgive them and we try to be Christian.  We don’t do the same for people under us.  We are intolerant, reactive, harsh. Sometimes we are unconcerned about people who are closest to us and in our families.  We are polite to people outside, but unkind to those in our families.  Our spirituality must transform our inner nature.  We need to grow.  The sign of our spiritual growth is how we deal with them.  

When our parents grow older, when they become dependent, you easily put them aside, disregard them.  Examine your journey with God by examining how you deal with others.  What happened in Sodom and Gomorrah, in the Inquisition, can easily happen in our own lives if we separate religion and people.  Many people look down on Napoleon, the Emperor of France who had a great thirst to concur Europe.  But he was the one who stopped the inquisition, and not religious leaders.  It needed someone from outside to do that.  

Today is a good day to reflect on our own relationships.  Rather than being right, be humane.  People come first.  

“Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed.  Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. 

If you realize that you have done these, there is an answer.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool”.

This is the good news.  If you realize something is wrong in your approach return to God.  That’s the beauty of the Christian journey.  You don’t have to defend your position or carry guilt all your life.  Turn to God and allow Him to minister to you.

“If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;”

If you align yourself with God, you will be blessed.  If you are right with God, do the right things, God will put things in place for you.  Your life is taken through effortlessly.  Unless of course you have a mission that goes through resistance, like in the life of Jesus.  If not, you will flow with the wind of the Holy Spirit.

“but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.”  For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

But if you are in sin, not in agreement with what God, everything will be a struggle.  When you don’t flow with God you will find resistance in your life.  So instead of defending our brokenness and our woundedness and our position, come to the Lord for Him to cleanse you.  Lent is a good time to ask ourselves are we resisting the wind of the flow of the Holy Spirit?  Are we in rebellion to God in certain areas of our lives?  Are we in rebellion to other people in our lives?  If we realize that we are, let us return to God.  
If the doors are closing instead of asking God to open doors or change others, we need to sit and pray and ask the Lord to change things within us.  Sometimes even in our prayer times we are judging others.  That’s why we don’t grow.  Even in the inquisition, they were judging other people without using that time to examine their own hearts.

Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12)

“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.  So, you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach”.

You can have religion and theology, but you may also not be really living the Gospel we hold on to.  You can easily to it with our relationships. That’s why Jesus said you must not do what they do.  They had religious truths, but they had not developed.  This is a crisis we face today even in the church.  The credibility has been compromised.  When credibility has been compromised nobody listens to you.    It has nothing to do with the teaching but has to do with the behavior.

“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.  Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long;”

Jesus talks about how the Pharisees treated others.  Though they knew the Law of Moses their attention was on what they could receive from others.  We can fall into that; our worth and value coming from others.  That is the easiest thing to do; get value, respect and love from others and live for that.  What is hidden in your heart that others don’t see really doesn’t matter as long as people give you love, worth, respect.  That is what Jesus is saying, “you have lost God in this”.

“they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues;”

People haven’t changed for 2000 years.  Everyone of us is like that.  We like to be acknowledged and loved.  Those who acknowledge and respect are good.  Those who don’t show us respect are no good.  We judge others by the way they relate to us.
“they love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others”.

Human honor and respect were number one.  We must be careful of this.  It is so easy to rest in that.  In my own journey through life, I have all the time flirted with the human respect others give.  When we lean on that, it feels good.  But ultimately if you lean on people’s love, honor and respect, in the end some little problem is going to crop up.  When that comes, those very people reject you.  During the time you have danced and waltzed with people, you have forgotten to dance and waltz with God.  Then you are left with nothing.

Jesus taught us to pray “lead us not into temptation”.  But it is not necessary for us to be led into temptation, we are looking for them.  We easily fall into them.  But we think everything is fine because we are doing all the religious practices properly.

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers”.

You have to break out of this trap of being caught in human recognition, honor and position.  You have to come out of it.

“And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven”.

Stop seeking human honor above God.

A reflection by Bishop Luis Martinez;

“Spiritual life is undoubtedly a continual ascent, since perfection consists in union with God, and God stands above all creation.  To arrive at God, we must ascent but the paradox that I emphasize lies in this; the secret of ascending is descending”.  St Augustine in his inimitable style, thus explains this paradox; consider O brethren this great marvel.  God is on high; reach up to Him and He flees from you.  Lover yourself before Him and he comes down to you.  In the spiritual life, souls humble themselves with more or less effort, yet ever returning the conviction that they must become little.  “But when the descend to a certain depth they become dismayed and grow weary of descending.  It seems to them that they have been deceived and time has come for them to ascend.  They are not aware in the way of spirituality one ascends only by descending and that to arrive at the summit the soul must never weary of going downwards”.

The Lord says return to me.  Though your sin is scarlet I will wash you whiter than snow.  The Lord is inviting us; come as you are, I love you.

When we descend, not trying to be important, God is able to make you ascend.

4th March 2020: Reflection by Bro. Lalith Perera (CRL)

First Reading (Jonah 3:1-10)

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”  Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth”.

The reason why the people listened to Jonah was because his words were God’s words.  When something is spoken under the anointing and the power of God, it has a capacity to change the lives of people, because it is God’s word.  When we speak only human words, advise and tell people what to do, won’t make much of a difference in their lives.  Under the anointing of God, a little word that is spoken has the power to change.  It is important to find out are we operating under the power of the Holy Spirit or on human power alone.

“This is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles:  Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

In the Old Testament, there is the concept of God being angry and punishing, and you repent to be free of punishment.  Even today, most people work in this paradigm; God is pleased with you He will bless you.  If you don’t please Him, He will punish you.  So, people repent to escape punishment.

The New Testament is very different to this concept.  To understand the Old Testament, you need the light of the New testament.

Gospel (Luke 11:29-32)

“As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.  For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation”.

The sign of Jonah; Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days.  Jesus was in the belly of the earth for 3 days.  The sign is the resurrection of Jesus.

Many people limit their religious experience to get something from God.  The message of salvation, the death and resurrection of the Lord that brings eternity into our lives is missed.  Many people are not even interested in that because their only interests are in this world.  

The greatest help that God has given us is the message of salvation; forgiveness of sin, freedom from our broken nature and the opportunity of the Lord living inside us  That is why Jesus said that a sign that is greater than the signs of the Old Testament will be given.  That’s why we need to examine our hearts and find out have we lost the main message of Christianity which is the forgiveness from sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit into our lives and the opportunity to have God live in us to have a miraculous, transformed life.

“The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom; and now something greater than Solomon is here”.

The Queen of the South was touched by the wisdom of Solomon.  Jesus says a wisdom greater than that of Solomon is here, but you are not responding to that.

“The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here”.

In the Old Testament it was fear and punishment that people responded to.  In the New Testament Jesus is bringing us forgiveness and love.  If we remain at the level of fear and punishment, we are in the Old Testament. Instead are we are discovering something greater than Jonah: forgiveness and love?

This is explained beautifully in today’s reflection in the Magnificat written by Pope Francis.

“His outstretched arms on the cross are the most telling sign that he is a friend who is willing to stop at nothing”: 

If we miss this and limit Jesus to a God who provides stuff and solve our problems, we have lost this beautiful revelation of the love of God.  He is a friend who stretches out His arms for you.

“He had always loved those who were his in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was (Jn 13:1). Saint Paul said that his life was one of complete trust in that self-sacrificing love: I live in faith: faith in the Son of God who loved me and who sacrificed himself for my sake (Ga 2:20)”.

Today is a good day to ask if we are open to this love or are we caught up in the Old Testament; getting favors, asking God to help, fear His punishments… Or are we open to the self-sacrificing love of God?  Today, allow this love to become real to you.  So don’t say anything, just become aware of His self-giving love for you.

Pope Francis continues;

“Look to his cross, cling to him, let him save you, for those who accept his offer of salvation are set free from sin, sorrow, inner emptiness, and loneliness”.

Isn’t this what we are really looking for?  But we are telling the Lord what to do.  We are asking Him to send someone to fill our loneliness or what to do to take away our sorrow.  In these 40 days, lets be quiet and allow His love to set us free from sin, take away the sorrow, the emptiness and the loneliness.  If you are set free from sin you are actually set free from the other three as well.  Because sin is to have the wrong understanding of reality; looking for happiness and solutions in the wrong places.  

When our sin is dealt with God’s love, we are set free of all the other complications of life.  You start this by opening yourself to this love.  That’s the message of the New Testament.  Jesus is the love of God, the unconditional love of God brought to us in the person of Jesus Christ.  That is why He said, it is more than the sign of Jonah.

Pope Francis writes;

“And if you sin and stray far from him, he will come to lift you up by the power of his cross. Never forget that he forgives us seventy times seven. Time and time again, he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love". 

He is coming after us.  Experiencing this love makes us merciful, loving, kind, reaching out to the lives of others.  Without doing that, trying to be merciful and kind because God will not give me what I want is Old Testament understanding.  It limits us to the Old Testament dimensions.

“With a tenderness that never disappoints but is always capable of restoring our joy, he makes it possible for us to lift up our heads and to start anew…. The Lord’s love is greater than all our problems, frailties, and flaws…. He embraced the prodigal son, he embraced Peter after his denials, and he always, always, always embraces us after every fall, helping us to rise and get back on our feet”. 

Without this dimension Christianity is incomplete.  Today, let us open ourselves to this love.  Every solution is in this love, not outside somewhere else.

“Because the worst fall, and pay attention to this, the worst fall, the one that can ruin our lives, is when we stay down and do not allow ourselves to be helped up”. 

When people get into despair they give up.  They say I am too far gone, God can’t help me.  Or they justify their sin and don’t repent.  When you do either of these you get stuck and you lose this great mercy and love of God.

“His forgiveness and salvation are not something we can buy, or that we have to acquire by our own works or efforts…. His self-sacrifice on the cross is so great that we can never repay it, but only receive it with immense gratitude and with the joy of being more greatly loved than we could ever imagine: He loved us first (1 Jn 4:19)”. 

That is why Christians can always be joyful if they can touch the mercy of God, His forgiveness and his love.

“Keep your eyes fixed on the outstretched arms of Christ crucified…. And when you go to confess your sins, believe firmly in his mercy which frees you of your guilt. Contemplate his blood poured out with such great love, and let yourself be cleansed by it. In this way, you can be reborn ever anew”.

2nd March 2020: God our Standard - Reflection by Bro. Lalith Perera (CRL)

(Background to last Sunday’s Gospel) 

Deuteronomy 8:2-3 takes us to the original place from which Jesus’s responded to Satan;
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.   I've humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord .
Deuteronomy 8:3 says that God gave the Israelite a creative solution.  He did something that no one had seen before.  When Jesus quoted “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” He said He was trusting in the to meet His need.  

If God is all knowing (Omniscience) does He really have to test us?  In fact, how we act under pressure is a revelation to ourselves about ourselves.  What is hidden in us comes out when we are under pressure.  God wants us to bring those areas that are hidden to Him so that He can fix them.  

If we are getting into the same problems, dealing with the same issues all the time, it is a sign that we need to examine ourselves.  How we behave, how we think, our attitudes need to be brought to the Lord.  Otherwise, forever we will walk in blindness asking God to help without dealing with the real issues and getting the same results.

When do we take matters into our own hands?  When we don’t see any other solution.  We don’t believe that God can give us a creative solution.  Jesus was hungry after fasting for 40 days, He was desperate.  But He knew God would meet His need.

First Reading (Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18)

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy”.

Most of the time standards of other people become our standards and they can easily lower us down to their levels.  When people in higher places are violating principles, people below them tend to double that violation.  We damage ourselves by lowering our standards.

Christians have a challenge; be holy because God Himself is holy.  Our standard is God Himself.

“Do not steal.  Do not lie.  Do not deceive one another.  Do not swear falsely.  Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.  Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.  Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind.  Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great but judge your neighbor fairly.  Do not go about spreading slander among your people.  Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life.  Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt”.

God does not do these things, neither should we.  Our standards come from God.
This, however, is not possible.  That is why we need God.  Instead o lowering our standards to those of others, we are to come before the Lord with our inability.  When we do that, He enables us.  

If you try to be holy by yourself, you will fail.  But if you come to the God of holiness and tell Him you are unable to fulfill His command, He gives the grace to be holy.  That is why Jesus came into this world; to make us holy.

Gospel (Matthew 25:31-46)

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.   All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” 

Jesus is talking about mercy and judgement.  We will receive mercy when we keep returning to God in our inability to be faithful.  But if we act in self-confidence and reactions, we will have to deal with judgement.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world”.

God has prepared a kingdom for us before the beginning of the world.  We fell into sin and lost the kingdom.  Jesus came to fix that problem.    God’s plan to save us was eternal.  He had been planning it right from the start.  He made a creative way to save us by becoming a human being Himself.

According to the Jewish way of looking at the Bible, they recognize the present through the past.  They believe saving Noah from the flood was a sign for God saving His people in the Exodus.  With God everything is already finished.  We reflected on it last year under the theme Finished work of God.  The Church Fathers who took the interpretation of the Jews say when Abraham sacrificed Isaac it was a prototype of God sending His son, the lamb of God to be sacrificed.

The perfection that God wants to do in us has already happened.  He has already made us holy and made us complete.  To receive it we need faith.  So lets start believing that God has already given us holiness by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  It is finished.  Done.  Believe this.

Faith is not given to us to receive small favors from Go.  It is given to receive what God has already done in our lives.  Already the future of divine son-ship is with you.  Hold it in your heart.  If you dare to believe, it will manifest in your life.