Perseverance is the badge of true saints

"God does not require that we be successful only that we be faithful" - Mother Teresa

(Gn 17:3-9) When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:
“My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”

God also said to Abraham:
“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”

In today’s First Reading, God tells Abram, soon to be Abraham, of the covenant that He will make with him and his descendents, a “whole host of nations.” “I will render you exceedingly fertile…kings shall stem from you.” Quite a promise to a man up in years with a barren wife and one adopted son, Ishmael, by his wife’s maid-servant!

How many covenants do we enter? Lent offers the invitation to take time to reflect on how God and I have done with the promises given.

As we are approaching the end of this Lenten season, I marvel over the ‘failures’ of Lenten ‘give-ups.’ Less than forty days ago, I heard many people state, “I’m giving up Facebook” or “I’m giving up coffee” and so on. By now I know that many of us have failed. So now the question arises: Why can’t we keep our promises? Why do we fall into temptation?

I think it’s just a part of our human essence, brought about by original sin. It’s who we are, no hiding it. But one line needs to be drawn: the one promise we must strive to hold is our faith. Yes, faith has its dry seasons at times, in which we feel distant and unconnected to God. That’s O.K.; that’s not a sign a failure. What is failure is when we—during such times—simply give up on God. If we ask for grace, with time, God will reveal himself to us.

One cannot desire freedom from the Cross when one is especially chosen for the Cross

"True freedom is not advanced in the permissive society, which confuses freedom with license to do anything whatever and which in the name of freedom proclaims a kind of general amorality. It is a caricature of freedom to claim that people are free to organize their lives with no reference to moral values, and to say that society does not have to ensure the protection and advancement of ethical values. Such an attitude is destructive of freedom and peace." - Pope John Paul II

Gospel text (Jn 8:31-42):
Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son always remains.
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence;
then do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God;
Abraham did not do this.
You are doing the works of your father!”
So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication.
We have one Father, God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here;
I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

Today, when we are only a few days from the Holy Week, our Lord is asking us to live some very specific things, small, but at times, not very easy. I shall explain them throughout this commentary: basically, it is a matter of persisting with His word. How important it is to always refer our life to the Gospel! Let's ask us: What would Jesus do in this situation I have to face now? How would He treat this person which I find so specially difficult to treat? Which would be his reaction before this circumstance? A Christian must be —according to Saint Paul — “another Christ”: «I no longer live, but Christ lives in me» (Gal 2:20). How is it, our Lord's reflection, on our daily life? Am I his mirror?

Our Lord assures us that, if we persist in his word, we shall know the truth, and the truth will make us free (cf. Jn 8:32). To be truthful is not always easy. How often do we tell small lies, how often do we pretend, how often do “we act dumb”? We cannot deceive God. He sees us, He contemplates us. He loves us and follows us, in our day-to-day routine. The eight Commandment teaches us not to bear false witness nor not to tell lies, no matter how small, even if they look trivial to us. “White lies” are not permitted either. Jesus Christ tells us in another moment: «Let your yes mean, "Yes" and your no mean "No"» (Mt 5:37). That trend to do good, which is true freedom, is very much related to Truth. Sometimes, we are not free enough because there is a double standard in our life, we are not clear. We must be convincing! The sin of lies enslaves us.

Our Lord says «If God were your Father you would love me» (Jn 8:42). How can we make it come true in our daily desire to get to know the Master? With what kind of devotion do we read the Gospel, even though we may have little time at our disposal? Which sediment will it leave in my life, in my day? When people look at you (and me) can it be said, that they see Christ's life?

“Patience cures many an old complaint”

“The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem.“

(Nm 21:4-9)
From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom .
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,
“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,
“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,
“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”
Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

As I begin this reflection, bombs are falling on Libya and radiation is making its way across the north of Japan . These are all grounds for complaints: “When will winter end?” “Who will save us from this situation?” “What have we done to deserve this?” Both nature and man throw deadly bolts of destruction which disrupt life’s patterns. In the first reading the Israelites crossing the desert complained about the quality of food and drink and travel conditions. In today's gospel (John 8:21-30) both the people and the disciples were confused about Jesus’ fate. They did not understand what he was saying and challenged/queried him about his intentions. In these responses human nature is at play.

In day to day living we all complain about something—some small and some significant. Our complaints are quiet and personal or quite loud and public. In today’s readings the complaints are the latter, loud and public. We complain about persons, places and things—all quite human. Today’s readings focus on the peoples’ discontent with God and with the actions of God in the person of Jesus. This is a complaint of a different texture than our grumblings about the weather, a sports team, a meal, parking, politicians or even the in-laws!

In this fifth week of Lent you might reflect a bit and then ask yourself the question: do you have any complaints about God? Any resentment towards God? Any old unhealed wounds in your relationship with God? Do you grumble under your breath about God’s fairness or God’s mercy or God’s forgiveness? Are you agitated by God’s apparent generosity to others? Are you unmoved by the plight of those in great need of God’s justice? Are you close to imitating the disposition of the Israelites in the desert – unappreciative of what God is doing for you; doubting God’s care for His people? Or is your complaint more like the stubborn lack of understanding of the Pharisees in refusing to believe that Jesus was the son of God and on a mission from his father?

The timing is right for this exercise because we are nearing the cusp of Holy Week when “the Son of Man will be lifted up.” As the Lord said to Moses in the first reading: “Make a seraph and mount it on a poll and whoever looks at it will live.” How much more life saving and life giving is the crucified Jesus when He is lifted up on Good Friday as our Savior and Lord!

Surface your complaints about God, your resentments toward God and make the words of today’s psalm your words: “O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily.”

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle”

And even if the sins of soul are as dark as night, when the sinner turns to My mercy he gives Me the greatest praise and is the glory of My Passion. --St Faustina

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.
They said to him,
“Teacher, this woman was caught
in the very act of committing adultery.
Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
So what do you say?”
They said this to test him,
so that they could have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.
But when they continued asking him,
he straightened up and said to them,
“Let the one among you who is without sin
be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
And in response, they went away one by one,
beginning with the elders.
So he was left alone with the woman before him.
Then Jesus straightened up and said to her,
“Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?”
She replied, “No one, sir.”
Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.
Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

Today, we are given to see in the Gospel the merciful face of Jesus. God is love, and Love that forgives, Love that takes pity on our failings, Love that saves. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees «brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery» (Jn 8:4) and they asked the Lord: «But you, what do you say?» (Jn 8:5). They were not as much interested in following Jesus' teachings as they ware in accusing him of going against the Mosaic Law. But the Master takes advantage of this occasion to manifest that He has come to seek the sinners, to straighten out the fallen, to call them to conversion and to penance. And this is for us the message for Lent, inasmuch as we are all sinners and we all need God's saving grace.

Today, it is said that the sense of sin has been forgotten. Many do not know anymore what is good or bad, nor even care. We are all forced to live in a culture dominated by rampant impurity. Every day, this culture bombards us with its messages and tries to pressure us and our children, saying ever so subtly, "There is no such thing as a sin.” It is very easy to fall into this way of thinking.

This is why, the sense of conversion and penance during Lent is to confront us face-to-face with God, to look straight into the eyes of God on the Cross, to personally go and confess our sins to Him by way of the sacrament of Penance. And, Jesus will tell us, as He did with the woman in the Gospel: «Neither do I condemn you… go away and don't sin again» (Jn 8:11). God forgives, and, is on our side, this entails a demand, a commitment: Do not sin again!

Mary, haven of sinners, pray for us!

“Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.”

The great gift of Easter is hope - Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God, in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love, which nothing can shake. - Basil C. Hume

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
+Let us go back to Judea.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
“Your brother will rise.”
Martha said,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

Today, the Church presents us with a great miracle: Jesus resurrects a defunct that had been dead for several days. He asks all of us: «Do you believe this?» (Jn 11:26). Do we believe that God has given us a new life through the Baptism? St. Paul says that we are a new creation (cf. 2Cor 5:17). This resurrection is the foundation of our hope, which is not based upon an uncertain, future and false utopia, but upon a fact: «The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!» (Lk 24:34).


Jesus says to them: «Untie him and let him go» (Jn 11:44). Redemption has liberated us from the chains of sin that we were all suffering from. Pope Leo the Great said: «Mistakes were defeated, authority mastered and the world gained a new start. Because if we share in his sufferings we will also share in his glory (cf. Rom 8:17). This gain is not only prepared for those smashed in the name of the Lord, by those godless. Because all those who serve God and live in Him are crucified in Christ, and in Christ they will receive the crown».

We, Christians, are called to live in our earth this new supernatural life that allows us to get credit for our luck: Always ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope! (cf. 1Pet 3:15).

Just as “Jesus wept” for Lazarus and his friends, he weeps for us, pining after our stone-hard hearts and saying, “Take away the stone.” He does not want us to be bound to sin and death; he has given his life to ensure that we “will see the glory of God.” If we empty ourselves so that we can be filled with the Spirit, if we work hard to know him, trusting that he is the confidence that keeps us trying, he will say about each of us at the Judgment, “Untie him and let him go.”

"The Spirit Brings Us Together-But we pull ourselves apart"

“Truth can cause division, but it's the kind of division that strips away the blindfold layers over our eyes, so we can see the way forward.”

Gospel text (Jn 7:40-53):
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?
Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family
and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
So a division occurred in the crowd because of him.
Some of them even wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees,
who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.”
So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”
Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them,
“Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him
and finds out what he is doing?”
They answered and said to him,
“You are not from Galilee also, are you?
Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.

The dispute among those who heard the words of Jesus was whether Jesus was the Prophet, the Christ, or the Messiah. This created a division among the believers. The guards were timid to arrest Jesus because they said, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” The reaction of the Pharisees was contempt and the reaction of Nicodemus was timid. His heart was telling him to defend Jesus, but his head told him to not take the risk. I feel like this is the battle we play out in our lives daily. When we make decisions do we follow our heart or do we listen to our head? This is a very difficult balance to find, because we want to be smart with our decisions but at the same time follow our passion and listen to God.

In today’s readings we are challenged to take a stand for Christ and for the Gospel. After reading the Gospel I asked myself if I would have had the courage to stand up for Jesus, or if I would have shied away at the risk like Nicodemus?

Jesus Christ is truly a “sign that will be contradicted” as Simon had told Mary (cf. Lk 2:34). Those who listened to Jesus' words did not remain indifferent to them, to the point that, on this occasion, as in many others, «the crowd was divided over Him» (Jn 7:43). The reply of the officers who wanted to arrest the Lord centers the question and shows us the power of Christ's words: «No one ever spoke like this man» (Jn 7:46). It is like saying: His words are different; they are not empty boastful words, full of arrogance and falseness. He is “the Truth” and his way of speaking reflects this reality.

We all have to choose! God does not impose upon us; He offers himself to us. And it is up to us to decide to be for him or not. It is a personal matter each one —with the help of the Holy Spirit— has to solve by himself. Miracles are useless, if man's dispositions are not humility and simplicity. We can see the Jews divided before the same facts. And, this is because in love matters it is not possible to give a half-hearted, half way reply: Christian vocation implies radical response, so radical as the testimony of submission and obedience Christ gave in the Cross.

Today as then, we Christians are —must be— “a sign of contradiction”, because we do not speak and behave like others do. By imitating and following Jesus Christ, we likewise must use “the language of charity and love”, a necessary language that, in fact, we can all understand. As the Holy Father, our Pope Benedict XVI, wrote in his encyclical Deus caritas est, «Love —caritas— will always prove necessary, even in the most just society (...). Whoever wants to eliminate love is preparing to eliminate man as such».

Lukewarm acceptance is more bewildering than outright rejection

“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel you believe, but yourself.” - Saint Augustine

Gospel text (Jn 7:1-2.10.14.25-30):
Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea ,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
"Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
"You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me."
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.

Why was Jesus, the Holy One, traveling about in "heathen Galilee " (Mt 4:15), the pagan territory? It was because His life was in danger in the "holy" territory. Jesus had decided not to travel in the "churchy" area of Judea and Jerusalem , because some of the Jews there were looking for a chance to kill Him. These religious folks did have their eyes fixed on Jesus (Heb 12:2) — not to exalt Him, but to eliminate Him. All the while, these folks were busily carrying out their religious activities, such as the holy Feast of Booths (Jn 7:2). They gave Jesus outward lip-service (Mk 7:6), but internally they found Him "obnoxious" ( Wis 2:12) and so kept Him out of their worship.

It is likely that some of us are also deeply involved in religious activities. Accordingly, we must constantly "examine [ourselves]" (2 Cor 13:5). Are we, who reside in the holy territory, the ones among whom Jesus can do the least good? Are we giving Jesus lip-service, but working to keep Him out of "our" ministries and lives for fear? Are we pillars of the Church but "always opposing the Holy Spirit"? (Acts 7:51) Could it be that we are keeping Jesus away rather than rolling out the welcome mat for Him?

Scripture points out that one thing is for certain. We will all suffer trials in life and at times it may seem that the wicked are winning or being rewarded. It would be easy to become bitter and lose faith; to wonder, is God really seeing this? We can draw from today’s scripture readings that, yes, God is watching.

You wonder what Jesus thought. The Son of God comes among us and those in power plot to kill him. The disciples appear clueless. And the people in Jerusalem said you can’t be the Christ; we know where you’re from! One wonders how frustrated Jesus must have been.

In trying times where God seems distant and injustice seems to reign, we have a choice. We can distance ourselves from God or move closer to God. It always seems to come down to faith and trust. As we move towards Easter this is a time to think about Christ and His sacrifice. The Lenten season offers us an opportunity to spend more time with God. My prayer today is for each of us to know the Lord is watching over us and to deepen our relationship with God.

We must seek Christ when it’s the most difficult to do so, because that’s when he is the closest.