Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion (B)

The Passion of Jesus according to Mark            “And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last.”

 April 1, 2012

How deeply do I realize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loves me and gave himself for me? (Gal. 22:20) The final week of Lent offers us an opportunity to bring our hearts and minds into harmony with Christ. As you attend the Church ceremonies which dramatize the last agonizing moments of Jesus’ life, listen to the passion story in a spirit of prayer and embrace its message. There is no point in comforting ourselves with the thought that a group of Jews 2,000 years ago crucified Christ. Each of us had a hand in his death because the face of Christ is marred and scarred by the injury we inflict on our fellowmen. If we are honest, we can see shades of ourselves in the people who put Jesus to death. Peter and Judas, Pilate and the soldiers should make us reflect on the treachery and the evil that reside within all us. No one can follow Jesus through the liturgy of Holy Week without this truth deeply dawning anew in our hearts. However, the undeniable truth is that God loves each one of us with a love that cost his death on the cross.

As we remember, the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, with confidence we place our requests before our heavenly Father:

“ALMIGHTY FATHER, IN YOUR INFINITE WISDOM AND LOVE, YOU HAVE SAVED THE WORLD THROUGH THE CROSS OF CHRIST, YOUR SON. MAY WE ALWAYS REMAIN FAITHFUL WITNESSES TO THAT CROSS IN OUR DAILY LIVES. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST YOUR SON OUR LORD, AMEN.”

The Grain

Fifth Sunday of Lent (B)

John 12: 20 -33     “Unless the grain of wheat is brought down into the earth and dies, it remains

                                    just a grain of wheat”

March 25, 2012

To follow Christ, means to travel the same road as His, to lay down our lives, and to leave everything totally in the hands of God our Father. To drive home this point, Jesus takes an example from the world of nature. Our lives, like Christ’s, must be like the grain of wheat which is brought down into the earth to produce new life. The grain of wheat dying in the earth shows us how we must uproot our attachments, our selfishness before we can start living the life of Christ. We must never forget that we ourselves are God’s grain of wheat. What does to be buried in the earth mean? It means avoiding sin, accepting suffering and living for others. Christ’s way of the cross begins at our own doorstep and this is His challenge to each one of us – to follow His path of pain and suffering in our daily lives.

Firmly believing that God our Father will bring us through our pain and suffering to everlasting life, we now pray: “ O LOVING FATHER, YOUR SON TELLS US THAT HE IS THE GRAIN OF WHEAT WHICH IS BROUGHT DOWN INTO THE EARTH AND DIES IN ORDER TO YIELD A RICH HARVEST. LIKE YOUR SON JESUS, HELP US TO UPROOT OUR SELFISHNESS SO THAT OUR LIVES MAY BE MORE OPEN TO YOUR LOVE. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH JESUS CHRIST YOUR SON OUR LORD. AMEN.” 

Born Again

Fourth Sunday of the Lent (Year B)

John 3: 14 – 21        “Can anyone be born again?”

March 18, 2012

 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that all who believe in him may be healed and may have eternal life.”

Today’s Gospel contains the response of Jesus to Nicodemus’ question – “Can anyone enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered Nicodemus: “Just as the serpent was lifted by Moses in the desert to heal the people, so must the Son of Man be lifted up so that all who believe in him may have eternal life and healed by Jesus on the cross.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus came to earth both to become fully human and to lift all people to eternal glory.

Like Jesus, we are born human and now we try to lift that humanity to glory through the rebirth of baptism and through the powerful love of the Savior on the cross. “Faith,” Jesus says, “leads us to eternal life. The deeper our faith the better foundation we have for being lifted up by the healing form above to the glory of the Kingdom.”

With confidence, we now bring our concerns to God the Father: “GOD OUR FATHER, LOOK WITH LOVE ON US YOUR CHILDREN AND SAFELY GUIDE US ON OUR PILGRI M JOURNEY. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.”  

The Two Giants

Third Sunday of Lent Year B

John 2: 13-25    “Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”                           

March 11, 2012

Jesus told those who were selling doves: “Get them out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!”

At the time of our Lord, two giants were continually at war with each other – the Marketplace and the Father’s House, and when He saw that it had been infiltrated by the money changers, His inborn pride triggered a violent reaction. Acting alone, Jesus drove them out!

We are attracted to both the Marketplace and the Father’s House. Take the issue of life. Can it be bought or sold or it its value beyond all price?

Lent is fitting time both to catch a spark form the fiery zeal of the Lord and to clarify our values.

We now pray: “O LOVING FATHER, ENLIGHTEN US THAT WE MAY CLEARLY SEE THE TRUE VALUE OF OUR FATHER’S HOUSE. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH JESUS YOUR SON OUR LORD. AMEN.”

Your Sins are Forgiven

7^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B  

Mark 2:1-12          “My Son, your sins are forgiven.”

February 19, 2012

Jesus has returned to Capernaum. Hearing this, a great crowd of people gathers where Jesus is. Finally, seeing that it is impossible for them to see Jesus, some friends of the paralytic carry the man to the roof, making an opening and lowering the stretcher down where Jesus is. Seeing the faith of the stretcher-bearers, Jesus heals the paralytic right then and there.

Have you noticed Mark’s focal word – the word “open?” The paralytic’s friends “made an opening” in the roof and lowered the stretcher. Jesus “sees their faith.” Now Mark seems to be connecting in the closest possible way the words “open” and “faith”. By their faith in Jesus, both the friends of the paralytic and the paralytic himself open themselves to the miraculous healing power of Jesus. How open are you to the miraculous powers of Jesus?

We now approach the Father and ask for his love:

“HEAVENLY FATHER, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SON’S FORGIVENESS. ACCEPT OUR GRATITUDE THROUGH YOUR SON OUR LORD. AMEN.”

I Do Will It

 6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year  B

Mk1 1:40-45          Moved with pity, Jesus said, “I do will it. Be cured.”

February 12, 2012

Mark tells us that the leper came to Jesus. Knowing that Jesus had the power to heal him, the leper knelt down in front of Jesus and begged him, “If you wish, you can make me clean.”

This deeply affected Jesus. Mark writes: “Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said: “I do will it. Be cured.”

It is coincidental that the word “leper” written backwards spells “repel” – for that was truly the effect of leprosy – the fear of contracting the dreaded disease and the leper’s unsightly appearance. The primary concern of the Church in discussing leprosy because of faith. Have you ever seriously reflected on the effect of fin on yourself? Leprosy does to the face what sin does to the soul – it makes one ugly and repelling. By the blood of Christ, however, we have been cleansed of that ugliness. So the story is really not about the leper who was cured. Rather, it is about you and me – right here and now – who have been healed of sin and eternal death by our compassionate Savior.

Like the leper who cried out for healing, we now pray:

ALMIGHTY FATHER, HELP US TO REACH OUT TO PEOPLE WE IGNORE. INCREASE OUR FAITH AND ACCEPT OUR PRAYERS IN THE NAME OF YOUR SON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN

Jesus prayed

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B
Mk: 1:29-39    “Jesus went off to a lonely ... and was absorbed in prayer."

February 5, 2012                                                           

 

This is the only place in Mark’s Gospel where we find the word “absorbed”; Jesus was “absorbed in prayer.” His whole being was filled with a sense of the reality and of the love of God. This means that when Jesus prayed, he met God. It was more like a deep awareness of the reality of God. This experience was supremely important to Jesus. And so from time to time Jesus would escape from everybody so that He could be with his Father and open his heart and his deepest feelings to God.

Do we set aside time for prayer? Mother Teresa once said, “We need to find God and God cannot be found in noise or in restlessness. For Jesus, prayer was the way he received strength, wisdom, and joy. It was his way of being in the most intimate communication possible with his Father. And, as Jesus himself said, what happened to him can also happen to us.

We now pray that God will watch over us and protect us:

“FATHER, WE WATCH OVER YOUR FAMILY AND KEEP US SAFE IN YOUR CARE, FOR ALL OUR HOPE IS IN YOU. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.

Be Quiet and Listen

4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

Mark 1: 21-28     “Be quiet! Come out of that man!”

January 29, 2012:  

In today’s section of Mark’s Gospel, “the people were fascinated by the teaching of Jesus- a new teaching in spirit of authority.” The prophets, including the great Moses, used to say: “Thus says the Lord.” Jesus now says: “I tell you…” the exorcism accompanying Jesus’ teaching in Mark’s account emphasizes this authority. Where God’s word breaks through in human history, announcing the coming of his kingdom of justice, of love, and of peace, there evil must certainly cease!

Listen often and with faith to the Lord Jesus and to his teaching with authority, as we have it in Scripture. “Spellbound” by his words, you will keep balance in a society where so much cheap “wisdom” is for sale. We now ask ourselves: “Frankly speaking, how attentively do we listen to the word of God when we attend the Mass? Do we prepare to receive the message that God has for us?

In prayer, we now approach God the Father who has the power and the authority over all things especially over the burdens that weigh us down: “O COMPASSIONATE FATHER, WE REJOICE IN YOUR ABUNDANT LOVE FOR US. ESTABLISH YOUR AUTHORITY WITHIN US AND BE OUR COMPANION ON THE ROAD OF LIFE. THIS IS OUR PRAYER THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.