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Jesus wants to make us clean (Sunday, Week 6, Year B)

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  INTRODUCTION The first reading indirectly confronts us with the tragic reality of our common sickness (the sickness of sin which renders unclean). The gospel helps us understand that no situation is so terrible that we can’t rise from it. Jesus is ever ready to help us rise from our mess. Of course He wants to cleanse us and make us whole. In order to celebrate this mass worthily, let us then acknowledge our sins and then ask for God’s pardon and mercy… HOMILY PROPER Next Wednesday is Ash Wednesday which begins the Lenten Season. The readings of this mass may serve as a prelude to the season of Lent. We understand the season of Lent as that season which brings us face to face with the reality of sin. And this is very important because we live in a world that is fast losing the consciousness of sin. Pope Pius XII said that “The greatest sin of our time is the loss of the sense of sin”. We are living in a world that is gradually but forcefully reshaping our moral perspectives: thin...
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Gifts versus the Giver (Monday, Week 20, Year II)

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A gift, by the virtue of what it is, is given. In other words, there must be a giver. Gift can come or be in the form of a good friendship or relationship, material thing, good job, personal talent, and so on. Every cherished gift is the delight of our eyes, the pride of our power and the desire of our souls. The gifts that we possess should then remind us of the giver. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude when gifts are used without acknowledging or making reference to the giver. For the Jews, the Temple or Sanctuary was the delight of their eyes, the pride of their power and the desire of their souls. It was a precious gift which they jealously guarded. However, they adorned the Sanctuary but did not truly adore the One for whom the Sanctuary exists. They were too attached to the “gift” (sanctuary) but were completely detached from the Giver of the gift – from Yahweh. Ezekiel prophesied to them that this sanctuary which was their delight will be profaned and taken away from them. M...
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Love of God versus Love of the World (December 30)

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In 1 John 2:12-17, John addresses three groups of people (little children, fathers and young men) in which every one of us can perfectly fix himself or herself. On account of the revelation of God in and through Christ, St John strongly believes that we are now forgiven, that we can now claim a better knowledge of God, that we are now stronger, better equipped with God’s Word and are now victorious over the Evil One. From the above, we learn that the coming of Christ has brought about FORGIVENESS of sins, RECONCILIATION with God, FULL REVELATION of God’s face and ASSURANCE of victory over the Evil One. These are clear expressions of God’s special love for all of us. And on the basis of that special love, St John advises us not to love the world or the things of the “world”. Here, the “world” is a metaphor of anything that is UNGODLY, EVIL and UNRIGHTEOUS. So, to love the “world” is to hate God: “If any one loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (1 Jn. 2:15). Sometimes, we ...
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