Most of us when we were children may have tried to figure out what would happen if we put a seed in a glass of water. At first, it seems nothing is happening, then maybe after a few days, the outer shell of the seed begins to crack, then slowly a little green sprout springs out of the seed until a little bud form and a green leaf slowly unravels.
There is some reassuring and challenging teaching presented to us in the readings of today’s liturgy!
In his Lenten Message for 2024, Pope Francis recalls that Lent "is a season of conversion, a time of freedom" because "God does not want subjects, but sons and daughters" and, citing the Book of Exodus, he emphasises that the Word of God addresses each one of us personally today: "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery".
Along these lines, the Holy Father emphasises that "it is time to act, and in Lent to act also means to pause, to pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister" because "love of God and love of neighbour are one love".
Lent really crept up on us this year, didn’t it? It felt like we were no sooner waving a wistful farewell to the Christmas season when Ash Wednesday was upon us.
Now, we are well and truly in the midst of our Lenten journey – a journey that will take us all the way to Calvary and then, to the glory of Easter.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Today we enter the second week of Lent. Today's Gospel shows us the transfiguration of Jesus. Literally, transfiguration means a change of face.
Temptations are a regular part of our lives. When I was still living in Macquarie Fields, five days a week, I would go out in the morning and take an hour’s walk. Basically that was my exercise for the day.
With the arrival of Palm Sunday our Lenten journey is almost over. Christ’s persecution and crucifixion is still ahead of us, but the promise of his resurrection at Easter is within our sight.
This coming Sunday’s Gospel is full of drama. It tells the story of Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, who died, was buried, then raised from the dead. There are dialogues between Jesus & his disciples, and Jesus & Lazarus’ sisters, Mary & Martha, culminating in his instruction to take away the stone which closed the tomb, and then his command to the dead Lazarus to come back to life.
Karma is something that a lot of people are asking me about, as to whether it is a Christian belief or not. Well, I would politely say that it is not. For us Christians, we believe that retribution or judgment will be happening not in this life but in the next.
Many years ago, I was watching a TV show about newly wedded husband and wives. It was a fun show about how well do you know your partner. They would have questions like, “What’s your favourite ice cream flavour?” “What’s your favourite footy team?” “What’s your kind of food that you like your wife to cook for you?” Sometimes, both partners would get the answer correct and sometimes they would get it awfully wrong and that’s the fun part.
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