THE GRACE OF REPENTANCE, RECONCILIATION AND RENEWAL
Truly, Lenten season is not only a moment of prayer, penance and charity, but also a time of repentance, reconciliation and renewal of our relationship with God and our brothers and sisters. It is a time to take full advantage of the grace and mercy of God made available to us through Christ Jesus.
Equally, it is a moment of seeking reconciliation with God, others and ourselves. That is a time to mend broken relationships damaged because of our pride, hatred, and insensitivity. Above all, Lent offers us a moment of total renewal to raise with Jesus into the newness of life.
OUR THEME
Proverbs 15: 5 says, ¨only a fool despises parental discipline; whoever learns from correction is wise.¨ this is the antiphon of the readings of this Sunday of Lent towards the theme of repentance.
Actually, the predominant theme of this third Sunday of Lent is that of the mercy and patience of God. It is also repentance from our sinful ways or lifestyle to living and doing good.
The reading also points out that the intervention of God in human events and histories are moments of grace and salvation. They invite us all to take full advantage of such moments.
THE CENTRAL THEME BY FR. ANTHONY
The central theme of all three readings of today speaks of the mercy and compassion of God. It is visible how God discipline His children by occasional punishment while giving them another chance despite their repeated sins. Although the love of God for us is constant and consistent, He will not save us without our cooperation. God invites us during Lent to repent of our sins and renew our lives by producing fruits of love, compassion, forgiveness, and faithful service.
FIRST READING: EXODUS 3:1-8, 13-15
God pities his people in Egypt and will free them through Moses. However, before Moises becomes an instrument of God to liberate his people. He must know and have experience of the God calling him to service intimately. We can never fulfil the Plan of God or his mission without knowing who God is personal to us.
The burning bush experience for Moses was one of religious curiosity and personal encounters with God. It was a moment of God’s intervening grace to the horror of human sufferings and brokenness.
Hence, God’s call to Moses was to be a leader and mediator for his people was a complex task. One that needs assurance, though, Moises put on some resistance eventually yielded to do the odious task; for God to save his people Israel from enslavement. Clearly, for many of us, the step towards repentance is submission to the divine Will of the Father; so that salvation in Christ Jesus, the Moises can be guaranteed from slavery to sins.
PSALM 102 OR 103
Our responsorial Psalm reminds us of the unfailing mercy of God: “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” Thus, the psalmist invites us to sing to the goodness and mercy of God. The Lord is kind and merciful to us; let us praise, thank and bless his mercy, goodness and blessings.
SECOND READING: CORINTHIANS 10:1-6, 10-12
The experiences and lessons of the past are meant to help us make good decisions and live better lives. St Paul made us understand history in interconnected and faith-based as well.
In the figure of Moses and Israel, we see the figure of Christ with us. Hence, we must learn about the faith journey of Israel, especially of the failures and unfaithfulness. Therefore, we must persevere in faith, grace and mercy of God to be saved.
LESSON FROM THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL
St. Paul recalls the historical faith journey of Israel in the light of God’s intervention and saving mystery. The failure to respond to such timing intervention; and the loss of grace by the chosen nation, the consecrated people and the royal race of priesthood.
For him, this unfolding cautionary narrative from Exodus demonstrates how the Israelites were stiff-nakedness in violating God’s covenant through idolatry. They had doubts about God’s providence in the desert even after experiencing liberation from slavery. The result or consequence was the total perishment of generations. Hence, St. Paul calls us to life steadfastness or faithfulness with God learning from the Israelites’ history of unfaithfulness and its consequences.
Indeed, Lent is a season of practising such discipline and steadfastness to grow in grace within the mercy of God.
THE GOSPEL: LUKE 13:1-9
The Lord of the vineyard offers us ample chance to bear fruits personally or collectively in our Christian life.
There is a very strong word in today´s Gospel Luke 13:1-9. We are called to repentance. We must break free from our slavery to sins and seek to do good. Jesus is very emphatic with us: if we do not repent, we shall perish.
Jesus’ parable and the story of the victims of human perpetuated evil is a recalling grace of God with patience and mercy. That also invites us to be productive with his AMAZING GRACE to us all. A moment of salvation, reconciliation and renewal.
TRAGEDY OF LIFE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
The gospel passage makes allusion to two tragedical stories in the time of Jesus. The Galileans whose blood mingled with their sacrifices for resisting Roman dominance. And the tragic collapse of the tower of Siloam that killed eighteen people. These are unfortunate events in human history, but their interpretations could be crueller than tragedies themselves.
This was the case of these events in Jesus’s time. They were to Jesus probably with the Jewish mentality that those victims deserved their fate because they were sinners: why?
The Jews rigidly connected sin and suffering. Eliphaz had long ago said to Job, “Who that was innocent ever perished?” (Jb.4:7).
This was a cruel and heartbreaking doctrine, That brand human suffering as punishment from God.
Jesus utterly denounced this religious cruelty and its insensitivity to victims of natural and human disasters especially demonizing them as sinners.
There is sin and its consequences for us, but that does not necessarily mean an individual or human suffering is punished due to sins.
Jesus calls for the repentance of Israel was a warning against national sin or rejection of God that would lead to national and personal suffering.
THE PARABLE OF MERCY AND GRACE PACK WITH WARNING
The parable of the unproductive fig tree is connected to the call to repentance. And a deep warning of the consequences of a wasted life, things to remember:
Sufferings and tragedies like sickness, accidents, misfortunes remind us of the shortness of life. There is a challenge for us to be prepared at all times.
Tragedies are moments of examining our own lives. It is also a moment to listen to God’s call to conversion and to a change of lifestyle
God does not seek our punishment through suffering, but some sufferings are consequences of our wrong choices.
The mercy and patience of God seek to restore us to grace, not destruction or prediction.
God creates us without our consent, and he will not save us without our cooperation to be productive and fruitful in life.
There is no room for a wasteful lifestyle in God, but there is room for second chances to grow and be profitable.
The mercy of God is infinite, but his justice is also demanding.
Repentance is an ongoing process in us. It is never a thing of once in a lifetime, but constant and gradual.
Are we nurturing our faith and trying to bear the kind of fruit God wants from us?
How prepared are we to admit to our faults and failings to receive the mercy and forgiveness of God through the sacrament of confession, especially this Lenten season?
THE LESSONS OF LIFE ACCORDING TO FR ANTHONY KADAVIL
(1) We need to live lives of repentance because (a) we never know when we will meet a tragedy of our own.
(2). Let us turn to Christ, acknowledge our faults and failings and receive from his mercy, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.
(3). There is no better way to take these words of Jesus to heart than to go to sacramental confession, and there is no better time to go to confession than during Lent.
(4) repentance helps us in life and in death. It helps us to live as forgiven people to face death without fear.
(5) We need to be fruitful trees in God’s orchard. Lent is an ideal time “to dig around and manure” the tree of our life so that it may bring forth fruits of repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and sensitivity to the feelings of others.
(6) We need to make the best use of the “second chances” God gives us. Our merciful Father always gives us second chances. During Lent, too, we are given another opportunity to repent and return to our Heavenly Father’s love.
OUR PRAYER
Lord Jesus Christ, Lent is a moment of grace, reconciliation, renewal and salvation. Help us never to waste such precious and amazing grace but to capitalize on it, to celebrate a glorious victory and resurrection of Christ in our Christian life over sins and death.
Lord, may we open our hearts to You and seek You with our whole heart and all our being. Help us take advantage of the grace, mercy and forgiveness of Lent. To repent sincerely and may no second chance opportunity pass us by. Amen
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