2ND WEEK OF LENT
Psalter: Week 2 / (Violet)
Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6
Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
1st Reading: Jer 17:5-10
This is what Yahweh says, “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings and depends on a mortal for his life, while his heart is drawn away from Yahweh!
He is like a bunch of thistles in dry land, in parched desert places, in a salt land where no one lives and who never finds happiness.
Blessed is the man who puts his trust in Yahweh and whose confidence is in him! He is like a tree planted by the water, sending out its roots towards the stream.
He has no fear when the heat comes, his leaves are always green; the year of drought is no problem and he can always bear fruit.
Most deceitful is the heart. What is there within man, who can understand him? I, Yahweh, search the heart and penetrate the mind. I reward each one according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds.
Gospel: Lk 16:19-31
Jesus said to the Pharisees, “Once there was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted every day. At his gate lay Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores, who longed to eat just the scraps falling from the rich man’s table. Even dogs used to come and lick his sores. It happened that the poor man died, and angels carried him to take his place with Abraham. The rich man also died, and was buried. From the netherworld where he was in torment, the rich man looked up and saw Abraham afar off, and with him Lazarus at rest.
He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me, and send Lazarus, with the tip of his finger dipped in water, to cool my tongue, for I suffer so much in this fire!’
Abraham replied, ‘My son, remember that in your lifetime you were well-off, while the lot of Lazarus was misfortune. Now he is in comfort, and you are in agony. But that is not all. Between your place and ours a great chasm has been fixed, so that no one can cross over from here to you, or from your side to us.
The rich man implored once more, ‘Then I beg you, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house, where my five brothers live. Let him warn them, so that they may not end up in this place of torment. Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’ But the rich man said, ‘No, Father Abraham; but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.’“
Reflections
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
IS WITHIN YOU
The most important religious truth is that GOD IS NOT JUST OUT THERE AND EVERYWHERE: GOD IS WITHIN EACH ONE OF US. This is the insight of every religion. The Buddhist calls this THE TRUE SELF. The Hindus are more radical in their statement: GOD IS IN YOU AS YOU. If we truly believe this, then we can pray everywhere and our very person is sacred. The most important prayer is the one that goes within oneself to discover, to commune with and to be one with this Divine in us. This is what meditation is all about. It is not having beautiful thoughts. It is not uttering words of praise, thanksgiving, repentance. It is just being SILENT. It is being PRESENT TO THE PRESENCE. Some can experience moments of this union. In other religions, it can be called enlightenment, kensho. It is a profound experience of oneness with everything that is because the ONE within us is EVERYTHING THAT IS. It is totally God’s gift and cannot be earned. Sometimes it is experienced by someone totally undeserving meaning that this person may not even be religious or may not even know how to meditate. The Spirit blows where she wills. If one has not experienced this, it is also all right. It does not erase the fact that God is within us. What is important is that one is there when God chooses to give us this experience. It is like in a pottery. The important thing is for the clay to be there. It is the potter who will give it its shape.
Daily Reflection 2018
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Biblical Texts are taken from Christian Community Bible, Catholic Pastoral Edition (57th Edition) The New English Translation for the ROMAN MISSAL
With permission from the EPISCOPAL COMMISION ON LITURGY of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
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