The principal or central theme of this fifth Sunday of Lent is that there is empowerment through the grace and mercy of God in our sinfulness. God is never interested in the death or punishment of anyone of us due to sin. His grace and mercy always meet us in our state or moment of wretchedness.
Indeed, Lent is the longest spiritual retreat every Christian can or should embark on to prepare and enter joyfully into the Easter joy of the Resurrected Lord. Lenten season is a moment of grace and mercy. We are inviting three actions of forgiveness, conversion and reconciliation with God, others and ourselves, with the attitudes of praying, fasting and almsgiving.
The Christian life is a life of grace in weakness or strength in weakness through God´s grace and mercy. This strength in weakness is the beauty and mystery of our lives in God.
FORGIVENESS SETS US FREE FROM BEING PRISONER OF THE OFFENDER AS WELL AS PRISONERS OF UNHAPPINESS. IT IS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS BUT STRENGTH TO FORGIVE.
In our human life or existence, temptations are always bound to come our way. Interestingly, these temptations are not meant to ruin, to obstruct or to destroy us. They are tests or trials meant to strengthen us, to empower us as winners not losers in Christendom.
The Lenten season is a moment of grace that God a given to us through his Church. It is a sober moment that calls for a pause and a reflection on what is the essence of life. It is a period to know life is nothing with God.
Baptism is a sacrament of grace! It is a sacrament which cleanses from original sin and actual sin (if baptized as an adolescent or adult), make us children of God and members of the Church.
Christ is Christmas! Christmas is one of the most celebrated feasts of Christendom and indeed in the whole wide world. It is a feast the changes the human history forever. A feast and a celebration of Jesus Christ at the centre of it.
There is a call for preparedness of the end of time. A moment of accountability for our Christian stewardship. And also a moment of evaluation to what direction our lives have been since the beginning of the liturgical year.
The Church must remain the noble and productive vineyard of the Lord. If it must relevant in today´s world. Mediocrity has no place in the Church.