Category: Fifth Week

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LOOK UP WITH FAITH TO THE CRUCIFIED JESUS AND LIVE

⏰Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (31 March 2020) 📕Num 21:4-9; Ps 102:1-2, 15-17, 18-20 (R.v.1); John 8:21-30 🎤LOOK UP WITH FAITH TO THE CRUCIFIED JESUS AND LIVE My dear, the Cross is a very important part of our Christian faith. The cross is the symbol of suffering in the life of Jesus and we cannot fully know Jesus without the cross. The impatience of the people of Israel towards God and Moses (Num 21:4-5) was an expression of distrust, and through that, the Israelites separated themselves from God who has been protecting them from dangers. So we must...

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“I WILL BE THEIR GOD AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE…” (Ezek 37:27-28).

⏰Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent (24 March 2018) 📕Ezek 37:21-28; Jer 31:10, 11-12ab, 13 (R.v.10d); John 11:45-57 Imagine these chief priests and the Pharisees! While many Jews were glorifying God because of the marvels Jesus performed at Bethany and having faith in Jesus (cf. John 11:1-44), see the evil that came out of their meeting, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation” (John 11:47-48). If you read through the...

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BEHOLD THE LIFE-GIVING WOOD OF THE CROSS!

⏰Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (04 March 2017) ????Num 21:4-9; Ps 102:1-2, 15-17, 18-20 (R.v.1); John 8:21-30 The impatience of the people of Israel towards God and Moses (Num 21:4-5) was an expression of distrust, and through that, the Israelites separated themselves from God who has been protecting them from dangers. So we must understand that expression of God sending fiery serpents upon them to mean that God turned his face away from them when he could not condole their sins such that things that were not able to harm them before began to harm them. That is...

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ONE WITH GOD IS INDEED WITH THE MAJORITY

⏰Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent (03 March 2017) ????Dan 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R.v.4abc); John 8:12-20 At the beginning of this new working week, the story of the rescue of pious woman, Susanna in the Book of Daniel 13:1-62 tells us that faithfulness triumphs over adversity. This portion of the book of Daniel belongs to the deuterocanonical section of the book which is only found in the Septuagint. Susanna was a just wife of a rich man, Joakim in whose house many Jews gather on daily basis for different reasons. It now happened...

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CHRIST: THE RESURRECTION AND LIFE

⏰Fifth Sunday of Lent Year A (2 April 2017) ????Ezek 37:12-14; Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7b-8 (R.v.7b); Rom 8:8-11; John 11:1-45 The three readings that we have in our liturgy of today center on the life which God gives to all people. While the First and the Second Readings reflect the promise of that life, the Gospel presents Jesus as that promised Life. The First Reading falls within the division of the book of the Prophet Ezekiel that deals with the restoration of Israel. Before the three verses that form our First Reading today, the Prophet had seen a vision...

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AM I NOW TOO FAMILIAR WITH GOD?

⏰Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent (23 March 2018) 📕Jer 20:10-13; Ps 18:1-2a, 2bc-3, 4-5, 6 (R.v.6); John 10:31-42 The Jews were always in the habit of picking stones to throw at those they considered sinners or blasphemers (see John 8:3-8, 59, 10:31). They claimed to be fighting for God to keep the society pure. Good motive! Isn’t it? But why were they fighting Jesus also? I can immediately see two reasons: over-familiarity and complacency.  They knew Jesus was a carpenter, so what is he going to tell them about God and righteousness? And they are children of Abraham and...

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ABRAHAM’S BLESSINGS SHALL BE YOURS

⏰Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent (22 March 2018) 📕Gen 17:3-9; Ps 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9 (R.v.8a); John 8:51-59 My dear, I pray that the kind of the blessing God gave to Abraham (Gen 17:3-9) shall also be your lot through Christ our Lord. Amen. However, remember that it was Abraham’s faith in God that earned him that blessing because that faith was counted in his favour as righteousness (cf. Rom 4:13, 22). Abraham believed even in seemingly impossible situations (Rom 4:18) insofar as God has said it. It is through this faith that he was able to see the...

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IN JESUS IS OUR FREEDOM

⏰Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (05 April 2017) ????Dan 3:14-20, 24-25, 28; Dan 3:29-30, 31, 33, 32, 34 (R.v.29b); John 8:31-42   Sin enslaves us but whoever is in Christ Jesus is free indeed (John 8:34, 36). The devil promises false security and threatens to terminate us when we refuse to worship him (cf. Dan 3:4-6, 14-15) but remember that God never abandons those who put their trust in him (cf. Dan 3:95). Those who put their trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion that cannot be shaken but stands forever (Psalm 125:1) and those who hope...

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LOOK UP WITH FAITH TO THE CRUCIFIED JESUS AND LIVE

⏰Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent (20 March 2018) ????Num 21:4-9; Ps 102:1-2, 15-17, 18-20 (R.v.1); John 8:21-30 My dear, the Cross is a very important part of our Christian faith. The cross is the symbol of suffering in the life of Jesus and we cannot fully know Jesus without the cross. In his priestly prayer (John 17), Jesus informed us that eternal life is gained by the knowledge of the one true God and his only Son, Jesus (John 17:3). Earlier, he did refer to his being lifted up on the cross as a moment of revelation of...

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MANY ARE THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE JUST, BUT FROM THEM ALL, THE LORD DELIVERS HIM

⏰Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent (08 April 2019) 📕Dan 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62; Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6 (R.v.4abc); John 8:12-20 🎤”MANY ARE THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE JUST, BUT FROM THEM ALL, THE LORD DELIVERS HIM” (Ps 34:19) For the sake of information, the story of Susanna in the Book of Daniel (Dan 13) belongs to the set of the deuterocanonical books of the Bible. That explains why that story would not be found in many versions of the Bible. Susanna was a very beautiful and Godfearing woman and the wife of a very prominent man at the...