Jesus Quenches Our Thirst

The gospel of 3rd Sunday of Lent is about the encounter of two persons: Jesus and a woman from Samaria. At the well, Jesus simply tells the woman that she will remain dry unless she confronts her past and changes her life.  She submits to the Love of God.  From the moment she submits to God's love, she is forgiven and transformed. Her thirst is quenched.

We must capture that type of spiritual thirst! We must thirst and long for God and for spiritual living! To often, we try to quench our thirst in all the wrong places. We drink from the worldly well instead from the well of life, which is found in Christ.

A Woman at a well is thirsty.  A thirsty Jesus joins her.  A thirsty people, you and I, are also present at that well. Jesus provides the living water, the water of his Word and Eucharist that alone will ultimately quench our thirst. 

Lenten prayers, fasting and almsgiving offer us a precious opportunity to drink this life-giving water to share it with others as well. We pray that this year Lent season will bring us closer to the fountain of living water, the new promised life in Jesus.

Psalmist expressed it this way, "As a deer yearns for running streams, so I yearn for you, my God. I thirst for God, for the living God." (Ps 42:1-2).

Fresh Soil of the Earth!

Yesterday and today we were blest with good rainfall. It has been more than two months that we have been going through a tough time with the heat, haze and water cut. We were only able to sense a burnt smell from the face of the earth. After the heavy down pour these two days we are now able to smell the fresh soil of the earth. Soon we will be seeing the greenish fields, clean air, solution to the water ration and reduce of dust.

"Lord, send for your Spirit and renew the face of the earth," (Psalm 103:30)

The MYSTERY of MH370

Do continuously light a candle at your home altar, grotto and in your office for the MISSING FLIGHT MH370

We pray for the missing passengers and crews that the Lord will keep them safe wherever they may be.

We pray for their families, that the Lord will grant them comfort and consolation.

We pray for the "RESCUE TEAMS" that the Lord will grant them strength so that they may not lose hope in searching for our missing brothers and sisters.

As one nation, let us be united in prayers!

Temptation is a Real Test

The liturgy of the 1st Sunday in Lent proposes every year to our meditation the temptations of Jesus. The reason of this choice is it wants to encourage us to face temptations by learning how to identify them and how to get over them, and how to pull ourselves up, by taking the example of Jesus. Like Jesus in the wilderness, we are being led by the Spirit into a forty-day period of prayer and fasting, to help us reflect on the direction our lives are taking.

Temptation is a real test and the worst thing about it, is that it is always an attraction. Temptations are always a testing ground of our faith as they force us to make decisions for or against God. As followers of Christ, we must be ready to stand firm from the evil one. Because Jesus Himself experienced temptations, He understands us in our weaknesses and He is always there to give us hope and encouragement.

God as Our Point of Reference. Overcoming temptation is not an easy business. In fact, it’s impossible without God’s grace. When Jesus was tempted, He showed us what our reference point should be: God. All three times the devil tempted Him, he answered by putting God’s word and God’s will first. In order for us to persevere in our Lenten resolutions, we must center ourselves on God and rely on His grace. That means living close to Christ in Scripture and staying close to Him especially in the Sacraments of Eucharist and Reconciliation.

Lord Jesus, in this season of Lent, I want to draw closer to you. I want to love you more than myself and say “yes” to your will in every moment.

We are to Spring into Action During Lent

Ash Wednesday is a call to “Repent and believe the gospel” (Mk 1:15). It inaugurates the Lenten Season. For the next forty days, the Church sets aside for us to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. In this penitential season we have the opportunity to make an annual spiritual “tune-up”, a 40-day retreat with Our Lord.

The word Lent is derived from an Anglo-Saxon word lengthen or lencten meaning "spring." We are "to spring" into action, to do the tasks of the season, to prepare for the new growth and graces that overflow from Easter. Spring is the most important season for a farmer, for it determines what crops he will plant. Once decided, he prepares the soil thoroughly and plants the seed carefully, hoping that the seed buried deep in the soil will produce an abundant crop.

During this Lenten spring, joyfully dying to self in order to become that fruitful grain of wheat, “unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit…" (Jn 12:24f).

Let us renew our efforts, and through our Lenten observance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving and master them as we “follow in the footsteps of the poor and crucified Christ” (St. Francis of Assisi).

The Holy Father offers some helpful thoughts on our path of conversion as individuals and as a community. The title of the Holy Father’s message for Lent 2014 is “He became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). St Paul was writing to the Christians of Corinth to encourage them to be generous in helping the people in Jerusalem who were in need. What do these words of Saint Paul mean for us Christians today? What does this invitation to poverty, a life of evangelical poverty, mean to us today?

These next seven weeks is a time for you to look deep into your heart, to think about your life and how you have been living it.

                                                        Have a Blessed and Fruitful Lent.