Category: Lenten Reflection

Once again, we come to Palm Sunday, the last Sunday in Lent, when we hear two impactful stories: the first, that of Jesus’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem; the second, that of His crucifixion.

This Solidarity Sunday, we are called to Stand for the Land through a joint expression of faith and almsgiving.

In today’s readings from 1 Samuel, Ephesians, and John’s Gospel, we are challenged to see in new ways. As David is anointed instead of his older brothers, we are told that God does not judge based on the appearance of a person, but rather he sees into the heart. Jesus heals the blind man and with his new sight he is unrecognizable to those who had known him before. “I am the [same] man,” he is forced to assert. In Ephesians, we find the powerful contrast between dark and light representing death and life, truth and error. To see by the light of God is to be a witness to the truth and to recognize the difference between the forces of life and death.

On this 3rd Sunday of Lent, the Gospel recounts the story about a conversation between a man (Jesus) and a Samaritan woman at a place that is important to the citizens of Samaria in Palestine.

Today’s readings show us men who courageously left their lives behind, answering the Voice from the heavens that called them to a new life, a new way of being, a new nation, a new world order.

Readings: Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalms 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24; Philippians 2:6-11 and 2:8-9; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49 I am about to do a new thing;

Solidarity Sunday Readings: Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalms 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Philippians 3:8-14; John 8:1-11 I am about to do a new thing; now it springs

Readings: Joshua 5:9A, 10-12; Psalms 34: 2-3,4-5,6-7; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:18; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother