Walk In the Spirit March 2018

SHARING ON PRAYER March 2018

“Let me know Your love O Lord.�

(Ps. 143/8)

Let me hear Your voice

Abba, Your voice is the Holy Spirit Who dwells within me. In the sound of His voice I shall recognize Your Word - I know that the Holy Spirit Who is with me and dwells within me is known in and through His activity only. He is the hidden God Whose presence is manifest by the sound of His voice. This voice is gentle and soft, though at times it can be as noisy and disturbing like the strong wind. The important thing is that I grow in my sense of awareness of His presence within me and beside me and all around me. I need to be alert to the sound of His voice.

Fr. Siri Oscar Abayaratne

SHARING ON PRAYER March 2018

“Let me know Your love O Lord.�

(Ps. 143/8)

Let me hear Your voice Abba, Your voice is the Holy Spirit Who dwells within me. In the sound of His voice I shall recognize Your Word - I know that the Holy Spirit Who is with me and dwells within me is known in and through His activity only. He is the hidden God Whose presence is manifest by the sound of His voice. This voice is gentle and soft, though at times it can be as noisy and disturbing like the strong wind. The important thing is that I grow in my sense of awareness of His presence within me and beside me and all around me. I need to be alert to the sound of His voice.

Fr. Siri Oscar Abayaratne

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Thursday 1st March 2018 Jeremiah:17/5-10 Psalm:1/1-4, 6 Luke:16/19-31 St. David Little is historically known about the life of this saint. The biography presented by the Welsh scholar Rhygfarch tells that he was born of St. Non who had been raped by a local chieftain. Sant. A native of southern Wales, David was educated at Henfynyw, Cardigan. He was made Abbot of Tygwyn monastery which he transferred to Menevia (today known as St. David's) then the principal port of embarkation for Ireland. Their austere life earned David and his monks the sobriquet, "acquaticus", i.e. "the water drinkers"! His missionary activities took him to the Holy Land where he was consecrated Archbishop by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 569, at the Synod of Victory over which he presided, the Pelegian heresy in Britain was defeated and his decrees for the regulation of the Welsh Church were formally ratified. He is the Patron of Wales. Said to have been canonized in 1120 by Pope Caliztus II. "Be joyful and keep the faith. Do these little things you have seen and heard from me." St. David.

The First Proclamation Thus says the Lord: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the Lord. They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat come and its leaves shall stay green in the year of drought it is not anxious, .....

Feast of St. David, Bishop The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse - who can understand it? I the Lord test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings.

Prayerful Awareness As citizens of the divine kingdom we must give priority to the divine values and principles. The destiny of the person who turns away from the Lord is likened to a bush that grows in the dry wilderness on salty ground. Such a person places his faith in temporal things and persons. God -given talents are misused or used for worldly matters only and not for God's glory. Isn't this a way of stealing, robbery, theft...? We are expected to use these talents for His glory alone. "Faith is first of all a personal adherence to God. At the same time, and inseparably, it is free ascent to the whole truth that God has revealed. A personal adherence to God and ascent to His truth, Christian faith differs from our faith in any human person. It is right and just to entrust oneself wholly to God and to believe absolutely what He says.

It would be futile and false to place such faith in a creature! (C.C.C. 150) And for those who go astray there is the ray of hope - "The Parable o the Merciful Father" - (Luke 15/11-32) The person who places his trust, faith in the Lord - "Like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do." (Ps.1:3).

The way we live and what we do count or has a say in the Lord's judgement "Man looks at the outward appearance, but I look at the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7). Our actions must match our inner resolve.

None can hide anything from the Almighty.

Prayer Starter Help us to do what we do, do well with the sole view to glorify Thee. Amen.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Friday 2nd March 2018 Genesis:37/3-4,12-13, 17-28 Psalm: 104/16-21 (105/16-21) Mathew:21/33-43, 4546 The First Proclamation of God’s Love Reading the first proclamation of God's love today, we see the tale of how Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other sons, being the son of his old age, and how his brothers, seeing how much more the father loved him in comparison to themselves, came to hate him and rejected and plotted against him. On one such opportunity where they were scheming to kill Joseph, for some reason one of the brothers Reuben, prevented the killing of Joseph; and another brother Judah proposed selling him to the Ishmaelites so as to not personally be involved in his death.

Fix your gaze on Jesus Great Lord, guide us in our journey of entering in to the truth; of being born again in to your heart and mind...

Joseph’s history is a preview of Christ; first the humbling and then the exaltation; but it necessitates for the person going through the circumstances to adhere to the correct mind-set!

The followers of Christ too must face the many tribulations of this world to enter into the kingdom of God-the sphere where Love Reigns! For it is always our choices that create our outer circumstances; we are the co-creators, the world- the stage for demonstrating / displaying the various outcomes derived from our choices. It is a test pad to study the workings of the human mind, both good and bad, and the singular providence of God in making

use of them for fulfilling his purposes.

Though Joseph was his father’s darling, yet he was not bred up in idleness.

Those do not truly love their children, who do not use them to business, and labour, and hardships. The fondling of children is with good reason called the spoiling of them. Those who are trained up to do nothing, are likely to be good for nothing. It was most likely that Jacob continued to made known his special love for Joseph because of his difference from the others, of responsiveness and dutifulness; look at how readily Joseph follows his father’s orders! Told to go to an identified place to help his brothers, and not finding them there, he sought them out, despite previous rejections experienced from them! Joseph abided in ‘Keep love in your heart’ commandment…. Joseph was a preview of Christ; for though he was the beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the Father sent him out of his bosom; for Joseph to help his brothers in attending to the flock, and for Jesus to love us in great humility and love…His own not only received him not, but crucified him.

This he submitted to, as a part of his design to redeem and save us; to be fruitful for the Father.

Do we, who are the branches of the vine, or the appointed keepers of the vineyard according to the Gospel reading today, receiving all the Lord's guidance, blessings and advantages, render fruit in due season, as a people, as a family, or as individual persons?

Let us search within….

Prayer Starter Dearest Lord, teach me to search for your will in an on-going basis, enabling me to unconditionally experience your love, and to reflect your love, mercy, kindness and divinity to the agonising world...

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Saturday 3rd March 2018 Micah:7/14-15,18-20 Psalm:102/1-4, 9-12 (103/1-4, 9-12) Luke:15/1-3, 11-32 The Gospel Proclamation Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So to them Jesus addressed this parable.

"A man had two sons, and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them. After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.

When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. .....

Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. .... So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.

His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.' But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast,

because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found......

Prayerful Awareness God our Loving Father has called all of us to inherit His Kingdom by living our lives as children of God guided by His Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:14), following all teachings of His Son our Saviour and Lord, Jesus Christ. But, every day we come across people who leave this offer and go after money and treasures and pleasures of this earth carrying out various unscrupulous and sinful acts destroying other lives and ultimately destroying their own lives, where some end up even committing suicide when they come to a stage they cannot control themselves and change. Still Lord calls them to change and come back to Him as Lord is waiting to forgive all sins for which we truly repent and ask forgiveness, to change and accept Lord as our Saviour and Lord. From Luke 25 to 32 we see how the older son got angry when he heard about the celebrations, to which the father said “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.� Lord loves everyone equally and it is His desire to save everyone without losing a single soul He has created, and He rejoices the WIN with everyone who change like the thief on the right side of Crucified Lord, who repented for his sins and accepted Lord’.

We can help Lord by helping sinners to change, as our rewards will be much greater in heaven.

Prayer Starter Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Saviour and Lord, Intercede for me and send to me the Holy Spirit from God our loving Father to guide me to live my life as a son/daughter of God, our ever loving Father, Amen

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Sunday 4th March 2018 Exodus:20/1-17 OR 20/1-3,7-8.12-17 Psalm: 18/8-11 (19/7-10) 1 Corinthians:1/22-25 John:2/13-25 The First Sunday in Lent God gave us the assurance that He would listen to us and rescue us when we call on Him. The Second Sunday we cry and He responds to us by sending His Son as His great gift of love. Now we are on the third Sunday.

We look at the Son and we see Him as the Wisdom of God And therefore we cry out to Him. "My eyes are fixed on You O Lord.

You release my feet from the snare. O look at me and be merciful for I am wretched and alone.

We shall begin our reflection this Sunday with the Second Proclamation from 1 Corinthians 1/22-25.

While the Jews demand miracles and the Greeks look for wisdom here are we preaching a crucified Christ; to the Jews an obstacle that they cannot get over, to the pagans madness, but to those who have been called, whether they are Jews or Greeks, a Christ who is the power and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

The followers of Christ are called upon to be wise in the wisdom of God. We are called upon to look at the foolishness of the Son Jesus and then be enraptured by the wisdom that He is. As we go

Third Sunday of Lent Ps.Wk.III

through the Scriptures, very specially those dealing with Jesus and His life, we cannot help but see the way He speaks, the way He preaches, extraordinarily different from ours.

One cannot fail to notice that he is not inclined to agree with the ways of the world. He is not satisfied by human reasoning or the accepted norms, the rectitude for good living.

He says "Take up your cross and follow me." He says "Sell all that you possess, give to the poor and come follow me.".He would walk to the Temple with a fearlessness that could hold one spellbound.

He could take a whip and drive out those in the Temple Let us read what John has got to say about Jesus' behaviour. (John 2/13-25) Making a whip out of some cord He drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over and said to the pigeon-sellers "Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father's House into a market." One would wonder how those who were chased out could keep silent, cow down and walk away. If we could only in the light of the Holy Spirit take a glance at the inner experience of Jesus we would agree with what St. John has got to say "Then His disciples remembered the words of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me" and He could confront the Jews who wanted a sign as to how He could justify what He had done. He would reply again with the wisdom that left the questioners inert. "Destroy

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up." This particular passage of scripture proclamation in the Gospel of the day closes with the words "He never needed evidence about any man. He could tell what a man had in him." What looks to the on-looker as foolhardy behaviour the Holy Spirit would lead us to say "Here is the wisdom of God Incarnate."

Let us pray: Father, help us to look at Jesus more constantly. Help us to see the wisdom that He is. Help us fashion our lives on the basis of the wisdom that Jesus reveals to us.

Now, our attention on the First Proclamation: Exodus 20/1-17 We have here the Ten Commandments of God that basically fashioned the lives of the Chosen People. Laws that were uncompromisingly direct, challenging and calling for free response.

1) I am the Lord your God 2) You shall have no gods ex cept me 3) You shall not make yourselves a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth, beneath or in the waters under the earth 4) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. Utter not the name of the Lord your God in vain and so on.

To a people uncouth and untutored, to a people who have been slaves under Egyptian rulers, God's wisdom comes to fashion them, to put them on God's ways, slowly

yet clearly in a way they could understand.

On this Third Sunday of Lent we are called upon as followers of Christ who touches the very peak of wisdom, to show us how we could live not merely as mere sons of man but as real sons of God. As St. Paul would say, God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

The Holy Spirit may lead us to stop for a while not once but several times during the course of the week to see whether it is God's wisdom in the light of the Holy Spirit that is leading us in our daily lives or the pragmatic success oriented wisdom of this world. The Beatitudes for instance would reveal to us the wide gap that exists between the ways of the world and God's ways, between Christ, the Way and the Truth and man's definition and his understanding of Truth. Who could fall in line with the wisdom of God revealing Jesus who would say "Blessed are the poor, blessed are those who mourn and blessed are those who are persecuted."

Let us bow or heads in prayer and implore for an outpouring of God's Wisdom on each and everyone of us.

We pray with the Psalmist: The law of the Lord is perfect, it revives the soul. The rule of the Lord is to be trusted, it gives wisdom to the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear; it gives light to the eyes.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Monday 5th March 2018 2 Kings: 5/1-15 Psalm:41/2,3; 42/3-4 Luke: 4/24-30 The First Proclamation Naaman, ... suffered from leprosy.

Now the Arameans ... had taken a young girl captive... and she served Naaman's wife. ..."If only my lord were with the prophet ... He would cure him of his leprosy." So Naaman went in and told his lord ..... When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, 'Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? .... But when Elisha ..... heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, ..... So Naaman came.... Elisha sent a messenger to him, ..., "Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored ...." But Naaman became angry and went away.... But his servants ... said to him, "Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? .... So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, ... his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

The Gospel Proclamation And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, ... and there was a severe famine over all the land, and, yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Sarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel ..., and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town .....

Gaze on Jesus The Spirit revealed the thinking of

the Jewish congregation of Jesus' home town. As a Man Jesus would have been deeply disappointed by their rejection of Him. But the Holy Spirit gave Him the courage to face and accept the rejection as the revelation dawned on Him that the Gospel will be accepted by only the ones chosen by His Father. And so He brought out the scriptural references to Elijah and the widow from Zarepahth, a Sidonite, and to Elisha and Naaman the Syrian.

The Jews were quick to catch on that salvation will be taken to the Gentiles, as they are refusing to accept the Messiah.

They are filled with anger and hatred and they want to kill Him by throwing Him down the hill-top.

Again He was calm as He was very much in the presence of God His Father.

The Spirit revealed the Father's mind to Him and He knew that this was not the time or the place to permit the Jews to kill Him. But did thoughts like 'Let them throw me headlong but I will defy gravity and stay suspended in air' go through His mind? If it did, it would have been His third temptation repeated (Luke 4/9-13).

But He was in tune with the Holy Spirit and simply walked away from the melee of confusion and hared. Thank You Lord Jesus for teaching me the importance of being in the presence of the Father at all times.

Gaze at my sonship Do I make an honest attempt to be in the presence of the Father 24 x 7? How many times a day do I become aware of the Holy Spirit who dwells with me and in me?

Prayer Starter Lord give me the grace to appropriate the promise You give in John 14/1617. I WILL pray the Father who WILL give you another Counsellor who WILL be in you. Amen.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Tuesday 6th March 2018 Daniel: 3/25, 34-43 Psalm:24/4-9 (25/4-9) Mathew:18/21-35 The Gospel Proclamation Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owned him ten thousand talents was brought to him, and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything'. And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave ... came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.' Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me; and I will pay you.' But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.

Prayerful Awareness The Rabbis taught that people should forgive those who offend them, but ONLY three times. Peter trying to be especially generous, asked Jesus if SEVEN the "perfect" number was enough times to FORGIVE someone. But Jesus answered, "Seventy seven times", meaning that we should not even keep track of how many times we forgive someone. We should always forgive those who are truely repentant, no matter how many times they ask.

In Bible times, serious consequences awaited those who could not pay their debts. A person lending money could seize the borrower, who could not pay and FORCE him or his family to work until the debt was paid. The debtor could also be thrown into PRISON or his family could be SOLD into slavery, to help pay off the debt. It was hoped that the debtor while in prison, would SELL off his landholdings or that relatives would pay the debt. If NOT, the debtor could REMAIN in prison for LIFE. Because God has forgiven ALL our sins, we should not withhold forgiveness from others. Realizing how completely Christ has forgiven us should produce a FREE and GENEROUS attitude of forgiveness towards others. When we do not forgive others, we are setting ourselves OUTSIDE and ABOVE Christ's law of LOVE. Our role is to spread His love, to all the earth, so that everyone may share His unconditional forgiveness and mercy with no boundaries or limits.

Prayer Starter Heavenly Father we thank You for erasing our debts completely through Jesus Christ. Your Son. We know that when God forgives He purifies us too.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Wednesday 7th March 2018 Deuteronomy:4/1,5-9 Psalm:147/12-13,15-16, 19-20 Mathew:5/17-19 Introduction Let us meditatively dwell on today’s Proclamations which are self-explanatory and describe the blessings that accrue to those who will carry out God’s Will and also teach and lead others to do the same!

First Proclamation ...... And indeed, what great nation has its gods as near as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we call to him? And what great nation has laws and customs as upright as the entirety of this Law which I am laying down for you today? 'But take care, as you value your lives! Do not forget the things which you yourselves have seen, or let them slip from your heart as long as you live; teach them, rather, to your children and to your children's children.

Song of Praise (extracts from Psalm 147) Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem, Zion, praise your God. For he gives strength to the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you,….He sends his word to the earth, his command runs quickly, he spreads the snow like flax, strews hoarfrost like ashes….He reveals his word to Jacob, his statutes and judgements to Israel. For no other nation has he done this, no other has known his judgements.

Prayerful Awareness We Christians believe Almighty God ‘I AM’ is the source of ‘All that Is’, material and spiritual, and all forms

of powers, forces, and energy. God is Energy/Love, and everything created is a manifestation of His Love! We believe Man is the pinnacle of Creation, created to receive and share His Love as God’s own children in one big and expanding family, higher than the Angels. A faction of Angels, led by the chief of the Angels, Lucifer, revolted against God’s Plan, and was expelled from Heaven to earth, and they are hell-bent on sabotaging God’s Plan, and deceived Man so that man earned the wages of sin which is death/separation from God. Sin is putting self before God and All that Is, which has resulted in the seven deadly sins of pride/ego, anger, wrath/jealousy, greed, avarice, lust, and sloth, which in turn manifests in all the problems the world is now accustomed to, like pollution, exploitation, etc. Knowing well that Man will abuse the gift of free-choice, God had in place a Plan for mankind’s redemption (to be restored to its original purpose) by Himself paying the price for Man’s Sin in the form of Word made flesh, Jesus (God Saves), whereby whosoever submits to His Plan willingly will receive the Glory when this Plan works out to its fullness at the end times! Until such time, God gave a set of rules to abide by, through Moses, referred to as ‘Laws & Customs’ in today’s First Proclamation. It is a fact that these have been very beneficial towards shaping man’s conduct with his neighbour to some extent, but our Lord Jesus Christ took it to a higher level and summarized them as two Commandments, i.e. ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength’, and ‘love your neighbour as you love yourselves’ which goes to fulfill the purpose of the Law than abolish it! And we believers have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help us to live by these lofty precepts!

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Thursday 8th March 2018 Jeremiah:7/23-28 Psalm:94/1-2, 6-9 (95/1-2, 6-9) Luke: 11/14-23 The Gospel Proclamation Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed.

But some of them said, "He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons." Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign from heaven.

But he knew what they were thinking and said to them. "Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? - for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Prayerful Awareness

from Christ" entrusted to the care of the apostles, is written "with the spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." The hymn 'Veni Creator Spiritus' invokes the Holy Spirit as the finger of the Father's right hand."

(C.C.C. 700). There are two powers - of evil and of God. Jesus sees and accepts life as a struggle between these two powers. When He saw the victim He did not waste time arguing where the evil came from, but acted in His own way, the way of the Father. His action was unique and full of power and authority. He also saw clearly the essential struggle between good and evil. This struggle is there at the heart of life and it is raging perennially in the world. Jesus not only dealt with it in the right manner but also gave His disciples power to do the right thing and to overcome evil. Defeating disease and conquering the evil one - Jesus regarded both equally important. His prime aim and desire were to save both souls and bodies. "God is infinitely good and all His works were good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures; and above all to the question of moral evil.

Where does evil come from? "I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution " said St. Augustine, and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For "the mystery of lawlessness" is clarified only in the light of the "mystery of our religion". The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace. We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on Him who alone is its conqueror. (C.C.C. 385) Prayer Starter

Jesus' enemies resorted to slander when they found that they were helpless in opposing Him by fair means. According to them, the power that emanated from Jesus was from the devil and not from God. "The finger". It is by the finger Thank You Lord, You help us with the of God that Jesus cast out demons". If God's law was written on tablets of stone victory You Yourself won. Amen. "by the finger of God", then the "letter

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Friday 9th March 2018 Hosea: 14/2-10 Psalm:80/6-11, 14, 17, (81/5-11, 13,16) Luke: 12/28-34 The First Proclamation

from them. Whom God loves, he loves freely; not because they deserve it, but of his own good pleasure. God will be all that they'll need. The graces of the Spirit are the hidden manna; the grace thus freely bestowed on them abundant.

They shall grow upward, and be more flourishing; growing as the lily. The lily, when blooming, is a lovely flower, They shall grow downward, and be more firm. With the flower of the lily shall be the strong root of the cedar of Lebanon. Spiritual growth consists most in the growth of the root, which is out of sight. They shall also spread as the vine, whose branches extend very widely. When believers abound in good works, then their branches spread. They shall be acceptable both to God and man. Holiness is the beauty of a soul.

God’s promises pertain only to those that attend on his wishes; not for those who flee to this shelter only in adversity, but all who dwell under it. When a soul is brought to God, all who dwell under his shadow fare the better. Sanctifying fruit shall appear in life. Thus believers grow up into the experience and fruitfulness of the gospel.

See also the power of Divine grace.

God works such a change, that he whom God touches, loathes the idols even more than he loved them before. See the benefit of sanctified afflictions. See the nature of repentance; it is a firm and fixed resolution to have no more to do with sin, the Lie standing exposed. The Lord meets penitents with mercy, as the father of the prodigal met his returning son, being for all true converts both a delight and a defense; they sit under his shadow with delight.

Prayer Starter

Israel, come back to Yahweh your God your guilt was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to Yahweh. Say to him, 'Take all guilt away and give us what is good, instead of bulls we will dedicate to you our lips. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, "Our God!" to our own handiwork, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.'

I shall cure them of their disloyalty, I shall love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned away from them. I shall fall like dew on Israel, he will bloom like the lily and thrust out roots like the cedar of Lebanon; he will put out new shoots, he will have the beauty of the olive tree and the fragrance of Lebanon. They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish.... What has Ephraim to do with idols any more when I hear him and watch over him?

I am like an evergreen cypress, you owe your fruitfulness to me. Let the wise understand these words, let the intelligent grasp their meaning, for Yahweh's ways are straight and the upright will walk in them...

Fix your gaze on Jesus Thank you Lord for your abiding love; turn us that we may abide therein....

Israel, which is namely the Chosen, I believe in your abiding abundant and in today's context translating to all Believers, seek God’s face; and they love Lord; let me experience this totally shall not seek it in vain. As the scriptures enveloping love by abiding in your comso aptly describe, His anger is turned mandments.... pray reveal Your Will...!

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Saturday 10th May 2018 Hosea: 6/1- 6 Psalm:50/3-4, 18-21 (51/1-2, 16-19) Luke: 18/9-14 The First Proclamation "Come, let us return to the Lord; for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us, he has struck down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord, his appearing is as sure as the dawn; he will come to us like the showers, like the spring rains that water the earth. What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes away early. Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets; I have killed them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light. For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

The Gospel Proclamation He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people, thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sin-

ner.' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Gaze on Jesus Through the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican Jesus strives to convey to us the importance of being humble and what God really expects of us. This is clear in the first proclamation, when He states "Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord, His giving forth is sure as dawn. He will come to us as showers, as the spring rains watering the earth". He also says "I desire steadfast love and not sacrifices, the knowledge of God more than offerings."

Prayerful Awareness As prophet Isaiah states "I have had enough of burnt offerings.

Bring no more offerings, incense is an abomination to me. All these are a burden to me. Wash yourselves clean. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Repent and turn from all transgressions (Isaiah 2/13, Ezekiel 18/30). As stated in the second proclamation, "Be humble. For everyone who humbles himself will be exalted." Jesus' parable, the Pharisee and the Publican clearly teaches us what God really desires from us is nothing but steadfast love and not offerings and sacrifices but to know God, His plans and Will for us.

Prayer Starter What is pleasing to God is not our offerings and sacrifices but a broken heart. O Lord fill us with Your Spirit and may the Holy Spirit lead and guide us to know God and to love and serve Him. Amen.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Sunday 11th March 2018 2 Chronicles:36/14-16, 19-23 Psalm: 136/1-6 (137/1-6) Ephesians:2/4-10John:3/14-21 Jesus is God's gift to those who cried for help and that's what we have seen in the First and Second Sunday of lent and the Third Sunday the gift of the Son was the Wisdom that would show us how to live a life of freedom as sons/daughters of God. And this Sunday Jesus , the Wisdom is seen as the One who gives eternal life, who saves us from being condemned. We are called upon to see Jesus as the real Redeemer and Saviour. God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that every one who believes may have eternal life. He sent His Son to the world not to condemn it but to save the world through Him. He came to give man light, to free him from the darkness that enveloped him.

The Gospel Proclamation And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

"Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Fourth Sunday of Lent Ps.Wk.1V Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. and this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." We could see God's wisdom revealing Jesus. He had to hang on a cross. The Father permits this to happen. He spares not His only Son. "God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son." The wisdom of God is more than what people could take in and in the First Proclamation from 2 Chronicles 36/14-16, 19-23, we could see how man adds infidelity to infidelity, indulges in shameful practices and defiles the Temple that is consecrated to Him. No law, no command, no persuasion could bring these people back to their senses. They preferred to remain tied down to their slaveries. God would send messengers, He would send them prophets who spoke His word and there was no other way other than what they had to face as reported in the First Proclamation of today.

The First Proclamation All the leading priests and the people also were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations, and they

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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polluted the house of the Lord that he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on this people and on his dwelling place; but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy.

They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had made up for its sabbath. All the days that it lay desolate it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years....

God in His infinite wisdom would not reject this people. He wants them back and this time it is not a prophet from among the chosen people but a pagan king, Cyrus of Persia. He fulfilled the word of the Lord that was spoken through Jeremiah.

God has His own ways. His wisdom may be not in line with our own concepts of rectitude and our ways of facing and tackling problems. God's use of a pagan King to achieve His own purpose stands out clearly as a signal that we need always to seek His wisdom and His Will in all we do and propose to do. We see whatever man and his behaviour is, be it ingratitude and utter lack of concern for God's

ways of doing things, His love that pursues us is available if only we are ready to listen to the sound of His footsteps.

The Second Proclamation But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ .... and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God - not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Prayerful Awareness Paul the strong Jew and law abiding Pharisee "turns around" with his encounter with Jesus, the Wisdom of God. He began to see the folly of mere human ways of doing things and God's wisdom. He was able to see the mystery of God's love revealed in the death of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection.

Prayer Starter Father of Peace, we are joyful in Your Word. Your Son Jesus Christ.

He reconciled us to You. He is our Redeemer. Help us to hasten towards Easter with the eagerness of faith and love.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Monday 12th March 2018 Isaiah:65/17-21 Psalm:29/2,4-6,11-13 (30/1, 3-5, 10-12) John:4/43-54 The Gospel Proclamation

the same village or town however much they may be living prayerful lives or perform signs of wonder are hardly honoured or respected. They are simply ignored or very often treated as people who act through the powers of Satan.

Jesus too was condemned as one who performed miracles through the powers of Beelzebul. That is why Jesus said "No man is recognized in his own town or village." This attitude was the reason why Jesus' Divinity and His teachings were treated with the least respect. Very often the scribes and the Pharisees were those who encouraged the common man to ignore Jesus' teachings or the great miracles He performed. This attitude of ignoring Jesus' greatness and power was present mostly in the lives of the Israelites who were of Jesus' origin.

But the Galileans or Gentiles welcomed Jesus and marveled at the miracles He performed, specially the changing of water into wine which He performed at the marriage feast in Cana. This was a Canaanite in Galilee whose son was at the point of death and this Galilean who had so much faith in Jesus that he did not beg Jesus to come to his home and to cure his son. He simply believed when Jesus only said "Go your son will live". The Galilean took Jesus at His word and believed. His great faith was enough, for at the very moment these words were uttered the boy who was dying, recovered fully.

The tremendous faith of the Galilean is a good example for us too, to believe in Jesus and in His word, for it is said "faith can move even mountains."

Prayer Starter

When the two days were over, he went from that place to Galilee (for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honour in the prophet's own country). When he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival; for they too had gone to the festival.

Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way.

As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." The father, realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this "So long as faith is kept alive, Nawas the second sign that Jesus did tions and people will survive after coming from Judea to Galilee.

God keeps them always everywhere.

Prayerful Awareness The Book, the place of Prayer" Even today, very often people of Anon

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Tuesday 13th March 2018 Ezekiel:47/1-9, 12 Psalm:45/2-3,5-6,8-9 (46/1-5,7-8 ) John:5/1-16

Please read today's proclamations reflectively.

Gaze on Jesus Jesus on His way to attend a religious festival sees the sick man.

Among the sick and the lame present at the pool, Jesus chose the sick man who had waited for over 30 years in anticipation to get in the pool. Jesus first allows the man to establish in himself the need for healing. Hence, the question "do you want to get well?" Once the man received healing Jesus still gives the choice to the man to claim and possess the healing given. Jesus says, "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk". The man chooses to walk on the word from Jesus.

When Jesus met the man again in the Temple, He says, "So stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

Our sonship The passage in Ezekiel 47:1-9 is a description of Prophet Ezekiel"s vision of the stream flowing from the temple. It describes the blessings of God flowing through nature. The description of the stream flowing from the temple to the Dead Sea, indicated that there is a predetermined inter-connectedness in everything created by God, which is in perfect harmony.

However, we have moved away from this perfect balance. Hence

we are heavy laden with our woes, and sicknesses. We are also heavily dependent on God's creation for help and healing without a proper relationship with the Creator. At times of trouble or sickness, we seek the help of our associates. We are over dependent on the creation for comfort and healing rather than the Creator.

Therefore, we are inclined to over accumulate wealth, good contacts in society, education etc.

Similarly, at the pool, water is a blessing, created by God. People used the occasional stirring of the water for healing. They were so self centered that they forgot to relate to each other, hence the sick man was left behind.

We are reminded through today's Gospel narrative that comfort received through the creation is momentary. A relationship with the Creator however is a passport to everlasting life. To attain this for us He offered up His own life in sacrifice.

We are however constantly led by our flesh, the world, and the Devil. We are prone to the seven deadly sins and also are prey to the five forces of sin and the driving forces of our particular personality type. Our decisions are influenced by all the above as also our past hurts and wounds. These influences spring up to prevent us from being effective people of God. Prayer Starter Come Holy Spirit of God, come and take me over and work in me a radical transformation. Help me identify the sins that overpower me.

Lead me to Jesus - the Divine healer who will make me worthy to be in God's presence.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Wednesday 14th March 2018 Isaiah:49/8-15 Psalm: 144/8-9,13-14, 17-18 (145/8-9,13-14,17,18) John: 5/17-30 Introduction Let us meditatively dwell on today’s Proclamations which is about the Mercy and Unconditional Love of Almighty God, our Abba Father, despite our sinfulness.

God created Man and the material universe/s to receive and share His Love as God’s own children in one big and expanding family. Knowing well that Man will abuse the gift of free-choice, God had in place a Plan for mankind’s redemption (to be restored to its original purpose) by Himself paying the price for Man’s Sin in the form of His Word made flesh, Jesus (God Saves), whereby whosoever accepts Jesus as Saviour and willingly submits to God’s Plan will receive the gift of God’s Son-ship through His Holy Spirit. In order to bring this Plan to fruition, God chose a people and a lineage for His Son to be born into the world. Let us see this elaborated in today’s Proclamations, or extracts of same. Parts of the Proclamations will see its fullness only at the end of times, but believers can receive God’s Son-ship and blessings in the here and now, which is the Good News we are asked to share with others!

First Proclamation …They will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind and sun will never plague them; for he who pities them will lead them, will guide them to springs of water……Can a woman forget her baby at the breast, feel

no pity for the child she has borne?

Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you.

Song of Praise (Psalm 145:8-9, 1314, 17-18) Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger, full of faithful love. Yahweh is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all his creatures. ..... Yahweh is trustworthy in all his words, and upright in all his deeds. Yahweh supports all who stumble, lifts up those who are bowed down. Upright in all that he does, Yahweh acts only in faithful love. He is close to all who call upon him, all who call on him from the heart.

Gospel Proclamation His answer to them was, 'My Father still goes on working, and I am at work, too.'…In all truth I tell you, by himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does, and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you. Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses; for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. … In all truth I tell you, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgement such a person has passed from death to life.…. By myself I can do nothing; I can judge only as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Thursday 15th March 2018

Feast of St. Loise De Marillac (Widow)

Exodus:32/7-14 Psalm:105/19-23 (106/19-23) John: 5/31-47 St. Louise De Marillac She was the daughter of a military courtier. Her mother was dead and as a young girl she was entrusted to an aunt, a religious at Poisy. She was married to Antoine and bore him a son, Michael. With pious Antoine's approval, she devoted a her free time to works of charity among the poor in Paris. She made acquaintance of St. Francis de Sales and St. Vincent de Paul. She masterminded a systematic training course for young country girls who came to Paris to assist the ladies of nobility. This is regarded as the real beginning of Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent de Paul helped and guided them.

Died: March 15, 1660, Beatified: May 09, 1920, Canonized - March 11, 1934

by Pope Pius XI. Named Patroness of all Christian Social Workers on February 10, 1960.

The Gospel Proclamation If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true.

You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not

believe him, whom he has sent. .... I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name and you do not accept me. .....

Prayerful Awareness Using the Rabbi's own methods, Jesus answers their queries. He starts by admitting the universal principle that an unsupported evidence of one person cannot be accepted as true or proof. "A man accused of murder may be found guilty and put death only on the evidence of two or more witnesses." (Numbers 35:30).

Jesus pays a tribute to John - he was the lamp. In the nature of things lamps burn themselves out. When it gives light it burns or consumes itself. As true witnesses to Christianity and as citizens of the divine kingdom are we ready to burn ourselves out for God? "There would be nothing arbitrary in the judgement which He will administer to men on the Last Day; the glorious words of mercy would be invested with judicial authority.

This foretelling of how all men would be judged by their attitude towards Him was because He was sent by God. His humanity began to be in time, and was of a lower order and rank than His divinity, which He shared with the Father.. Hence the rejection of Him in His human nature was the rejection of the Father Who sent Hm. But for the present, He came not to judge but to save the world." (Archbishop F.J.Sheen).

How do we read the Holy Bible? search for God in it with an open mind or a shut one; find clues to support our views, positions etc. Through the scripture let us go to Him who alone can give life to us.

Prayer Starter Though Your voice was stern, beneath it was that yearning love - burning with love for us. Amen.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Friday 16th March 2018 Wisdom: 2/1. 12-22 Psalm:33/17-21, 23 (34/16-20, 22) John: 7/1-2,10,25-30

Fix your gaze on Jesus

We recall Your proclamation Lord, ‘In the world you shall have tribulations....’, and this truly is the situation for those who go on the inner journey of becoming aware; of journeying towards and coming before the truth; of the unbreakable connection we have The First Proclamation with the Living God. For, once you And this is the false argument come to recognise the truth, you would they use, 'Our life is short and drea- stand thereby, and refuse steadfastly the ry, there is no remedy when our end falsehood / error that you entertained comes, no one is known to have come till then; of kneeling before the world back from Hades... Let us lay traps seeking solace. Lord, You faced persefor the upright man, since he annoys cution from those who were distressed us and opposes our way of life, re- / felt threatened due to admitting error proaches us for our sins against the falsehood in to their belief systems; and Law, and accuses us of sins against we too in turn must face the same test, our upbringing. He claims to have and overcome....by staying in the truth; knowledge of God, and calls himself by choosing to stay blessed...! a child of the Lord. We see him as a The situation repeats in the Gospel; reproof to our way of thinking, the Christ proclaimed, that they were in ervery sight of him weighs our spirits ror in their thoughts about His origin. He down; for his kind of life is not like was sent of God, who showed Himself other people's, and his ways are true to His promises. This declaration, quite different. In his opinion we are that they knew not God, with His claim counterfeit; he avoids our ways as he to peculiar knowledge, provoked the would filth; he proclaims the final end hearers; and they sought to take Him, of the upright as blessed and boasts of but God can tie men’s hands, though He having God for his father. Let us see does not turn their hearts. The peculiar if what he says is true, and test him to situation continues; when people difsee what sort of end he will have. For fered about His doctrine and miracles, if the upright man is God's son, God those who favoured the truth, dared not will help him and rescue him from openly avow their sentiments for fear of the clutches of his enemies. Let us test reproach and persecution. But those who him with cruelty and with torture, are contrary, they speak out! Isn’t this and thus explore this gentleness of his situation repeating in our nation today? and put his patience to the test. Let What will be your stand? Will you be a us condemn him to a shameful death prophet and stand up for truth, fairness, since God will rescue him -- or so he equality and justice? claims.' This is the way they reason, Prayer Starter but they are misled, since their malice In this world, we have trouble Lord, makes them blind. They do not know the hidden things of God, they do but, You overcame all, and we have this not hope for the reward of holiness, inheritance too....turn us now, that we they do not believe in a reward for may enter in to this wonderful strength and light; and experience the Truth that blameless souls. sets us free.....

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Saturday 17th March 2018 Jeremiah:11/18-20 Psalm:7/2-3,9-12 (7/1-2,8-11) John: 7/40-53 The Gospel Proclamation When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, "This is really the prophet". Others said, "This is the Messiah". But some asked, "Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? ..... So there was a division in the crowd because of him. |Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, "Why did you not arrest him?" The police answered, "Never has anyone spoken like this!"

Then the Pharisees replied, "Surely you have not been deceived too, have you." ..... Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus before, and who was one of them, asked, "Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?

They replied "Surely you are not also from Galilee are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee" Prayerful Awareness The crowds were asking questions about Jesus. Some believed, others were hostile and others disqualified Jesus as the MESSIAH because He was from Nazareth, not Bethlehem. but HE WS BORN in Bethlehem, although He grew up in Nazareth. If they had looked more carefully, they would not have jumped to the WRONG conclusions. When searching for God's TRUTH, we must make sure to look carefully and thoughtfully at the BIBLE with an open heart and mind, know more of what the Bible says, and not jump to conclusions.

Although the Romans ruled Pal-

estine, they gave the Jewish religious leaders authority over MINOR civil and religious affairs, and gave the officers power to arrest anyone causing a disturbance or breaking any of their ceremonial laws. These leaders had made HUNDREDS of TRIVIAL laws, it was impossible for anyone, even the leaders themselves, NOT to break, neglect or ignore at least a FEW of them. But these temple guards could not find ONE REASON to ARREST Jesus. They could not help hearing the WONDERFUL words He said (as they listened to e to try to find evidence).

The Jewish leaders saw themselves as an ELITE group and that they alone had the truth, and they resisted the TRUTH about Jesus Christ. God's truth is available to all - everyone. Pharisees had a self-centred, narrow attitude.

This passage offers additional INSIGHT into Nicodemus the Pharisee who visited Jesus at NIGHT. Apparently Nicodemus had become a SECRET believer. Other Pharisees hated Jesus, but Nicodemus RISKED his reputation and high position when he spoke up for Jesus.

His statement was BOLD, so immediately the Pharisees became suspicious. After Jesus' death, Nicodemus the Pharisee brought spices for His body. Nicodemus confronted the Pharisees with their failure to keep their own laws. They were losing ground. The temple guards were impressed by Jesus. Nicodemus was even defending Jesus. Pharisees ' hypocritical motives being exposed and their prestige slowly eroding, they began to move to protect themselves. PRIDE would interfere with their ability to REASON and soon they became obsessed with getting RID of Jesus, just to save face. What was GOOD and RIGHT no longer mattered.

Prayer Starter Lord help us to remember the proverb (16:18) that "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall." May we honour You in all we do and say.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Sunday 18th March 2018 Jeremiah:31/31-34 Psalm:50/3-4,12-15 (51/1-2,10-13) Hebrews:5/7-9 John: 12/20-33 The First Proclamation The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel a the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt - a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband,' says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

The Gospel Proclamation Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but it f it dies, it bears

Fifth Sunday of Lent Ps. Wk I much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

Now my soul is troubled. and what should I say - 'Father, save me from this hour." No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.'

Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder.

Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine.

Now is the judgment of this world, now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

The Second Proclamation In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, Prayerful Awareness Throughout the public ministry of Jesus, as it is reported in the Gospel of John, a tension is created for the reader as Jesus continually announces that, His hour 'has not yet come'. He rebukes His Mother at Cana by telling her that

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His hour has not yet come. (John 2:5, as He rebukes His brothers who want Him to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. At the Feast of Tabernacles His opponents try to take Him by force on two occasions, but He escapes, because His hour has not yet come. Jesus' life is moving forward, towards a moment in time, an 'hour' decided by His Father, which has not yet come.'

In today's Gospel Jesus proclaims, for the first time in the story, that the hour has come. The setting of the Gospel is Jerusalem and the Jewish feast of the Passover. But in this sacred place and time some people from outside Jerusalem, and from outside Judaism, announce 'We should like to see Jesus'. This desire has also been prepared for in earlier parts of the |Gospel. Describing Himself as the Good Shepherd, Jesus has earlier said that He was to lay down His life for His sheep, and that there were sheep not of the fold of Israel who would hear His voice so that there would be one flock, one shepherd. After Caiaphas told the people that one man must die for the nation, the story teller added, 'And not only for the nation, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.; These prophecies are about to be fulfilled as the wider world wishes to 'see Jesus'. He can now announce that His hour has come. He will be 'lifted up from the earth' and thus draw all to Himself. The hour of Jesus is intimately associated with His death. The death of Jesus on the Cross is the place where He is 'lifted up', both physically by being raised off the ground on a stake, and spiritually, lifted up in exaltation, showing us how much God loves us.

We can gaze upon Jesus lifted up, loving God and showing God's love for us.

Gaze at Jesus But the Cross is also a model for Jesus' disciples. As Jesus' death bore much fruit, we are invited to join Him in a similar self-sacrificing love. The famous words about the need for a seed to fall into the ground and die so that it might bear fruit applies to both the fruitful life and death of Jesus and to the possibilities for the lives of those who claim to be His followers.

Our Eucharistic celebration proves that Jesus' 'lifting up' and His falling into the ground in death has gathered the nations scattered across the world.

As we continue to proclaim His word and share in His broken body and spilt blood in memory of Him, His promise rings true. But our desire to 'bear much fruit' can only become a reality if, in our own way, we follow the way of Jesus. Wherever Jesus is, there His servant will also be.

Christians often make the mistake that it is only Jesus who, like a grain of wheat, falls into the ground and dies so that He might bear much fruit. It is as much a challenge for us to respond to the way of Jesus as generously as Jesus responded to the Will of His Father. In this way will we play our part in gathering the children of God, who are still so scattered.

Prayer Starter

Our God comes and does not keep silence, before him is a devouring fire, and a mighty tempest all around him.

He calls to the heavens above and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High. Call on me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Monday 19th March 2018 St.Joseph, Spouse of Blessed Virgin Mary 2 Samuel:7/4-5,12-14,16 Psalm: 88/2-5,27,29 (89/1-4,26,28) Romans:4/13,16-18,22 Mathew:1/16,18-21,24 OR Luke:2/41-51 Gospel Proclamation Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Messiah. Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.

Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Prayerful Awareness In Isaiah 7 : 14, it was said that “the virgin shall be with the child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel�.

This shows that God made all this happen according to His plan to bring Christ into this world. Mary was betrothed to marry Joseph, but according to their culture they had to wait for a period of around one year before they actually consummated the marriage.

God the Holy Spirit brings about the conception in Mary. Treating Mary as a

Holy person, Joseph decided to divorce her quietly. Then the angel from God reveals the mystery to Joseph and gives him the instructions, and all of this is for fulfillment of what God had prophesied hundreds of years earlier. Joseph was the ideal person to be as husband for Holy Mother. Here we see how God select the most suitable persons to carry out every function. Jewish genealogies followed the male line. Joseph, being Mary's husband, was the legal father of Jesus as regards rights and duties. Joseph took the full responsibility as the father of the family to support them, to nurture them as the head of the family appropriate to Jewish customs. This shows how God fearing and obliging person he was.

This fact provides a sound basis for recognizing St. Joseph as Patron of the whole Church, since he was chosen to play a very special role in God's plan for our salvation, With Joseph as his legal father, Jesus the Messiah has David as his successor. Since it was quite usual for people to marry within the same clan, from the Genealogy of Jesus given in Luke 3: 23 - 31, it is apparent that Mary also belonged to the house of David.

Even amongst us in this wicked, selfish world there could be few fathers who live their lives as True Witnesses of God, acting as Agents of God displaying love and care to every member of their families following the example of St. Joseph.

Prayer Starter Lord Jesus Christ, Grant to us the Holy Spirit You grant to all Your followers who accept You as the Saviour and Lord, and help us to follow all Your Commandments, and to show us all our sins how ever small they are and our weaknesses and help us to repent for them to receive Your Mercy to raise us to be sons and daughters of God the Father, to love and be kind like St. Joseph, Thank You Lord, Amen

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Tuesday 20th March 2018 Numbers:21/4-9 Psalm: 101/2-3,16-21 (102/1-2, 115-20) John: 8/21-30 The Gospel Proclamation So he said to them again: "I am going away, and you will search for me, and you will die in your sin. You cannot come where I am going."

So the Jews said: "Surely he is not going to kill himself, because he is saying: 'You cannot come where I am going'?" He said to them: "You are from below, but I am from above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. I said to you that you will die in your sins.

For if you will not believe that I am who I am, you will die in your sins."

They said to him: "Who are you?"

Jesus said to them: "Anything I am saying to you is only the beginning. I have many things to say about you, and many judgments to deliver on you; but he who sent me is true, and I speak to the world what I have heard from him." They did not know that it was about the Father that he was speaking to them. So Jesus said to them: "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am who I am, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but that I speak these things as the Father has taught me. And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do the things that are pleasing to him." As he said these things, many believed in him.

Prayerful Awareness In this Gospel Proclamation Jesus

tells us categorically that those who don’t believe in him will die in their sin. “For if you will not believe that I am who I am, you will die in your sins". The world is God’s creation and it was through the word that the world was made. It is the object of his love and the recipient of his greatest gift “God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son” Christ is sent by the Father with the cure. He brings forgiveness; he brings cleansing; he brings strength and grace to live as man ought and to make the world what it ought to be. But the world had gone blind. It did not/does not recognize the savior. The cause of this blindness is sin which separated the world from God; it is sin which blinds it to God; it is sin which is fundamentally hostile to God. Sin makes you not want God. God is a hindrance, a headache, a nuisance, to the easy, worldly way of life. It is much easier to go with the flow and happily sin and make excuses for your actions. In today’s sin infested world abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, gay marriages, pornography, and games and comedy mocking Jesus and mother Mary and many more despicable, disgusting things are coated over and accepted without a second thought. We all know that the cure for the individual soul and cure for the world is possible only through the acceptance of the Jesus Christ as savior and Lord of this world.

Prayer Starter Father You have given us so much to be thankful for, take away our blindness and the shackles that bind us and grant us the grace to recognize and accept Jesus Your Son as our Lord and Saviour in Jesus' Name I pray.

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Wednesday 21st March 2018 Daniel:3/14-20,91-92,95 Psalm:Daniel:3/52-56 (Daniel (Deut.):1/29-34) John: 8/31-42 The First Proclamation Nebuchadnezzar said to them, "Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? .....

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up .... He ordered the furnace heated up seven times more than was customary, and ordered some of the strongest guards in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and to throw them into the furnace of blazing fire.

Hearing them sing, and amazed at seeing them alive, King Nebuchadnezzar rose up quickly. He said to his counselors, "Was it not three men that we threw bound into the fire?" They answered the king, "True, O king." He replied, "But I see four men unbound, walking in the middle of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the fourth has the appearance of a god."

Nebuchadnezzar said, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angels and delivered his servants who trusted in him. .....

Prayerful Awareness

young men named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They were among the people without any defect, handsome, intelligent, who were taken to Babylon from Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, along with Daniel.

In the previous paragraphs, it is said how these three persons together with Daniel defied the king's orders and refused to eat food which were defiled on account of being offered to other gods.

Then, Daniel also was able to interpret the dream which was seen by the king. He was therefore appointed to a high position. Daniel in turn, appointed these three men as administrators of the kingdom.

Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, erected a statue and insisted that everyone worships it. But these three men defied the orders and therefore were given the punishment, to be burnt in a furnace.

The words expressed by these three men in verses 17, 18 imply that they did not have any doubt about God's ability to deliver them but were only not sure of God's Will, in this case. Their faith in the God they believed in, was not dead faith.

They took positive faith steps and were even ready to pay the supreme sacrifice for the sake of God. They were totally surrendered to God. And the God whom they believed in, saved them from being burnt to death.

God had responded to their lively faith.

God did not let them down. God did not let them be humiliated. This show of faith resulted in the conversion of the king of Babylon. Do I have such active faith in God? Can I take faith steps in my ordinary life situations?

Prayer Starter Blessed are You, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever ....... (Daniel 3/52 ....)

This narrative revolves around three

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Thursday 22nd March 2018 Genesis:17/3-9 Psalm:104/4-9 (105/4-9)

John:8/51-59 The Gospel Proclamation Very truly I tell you, whoever keeps my word will never see death."

The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, 'Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.'. Are you greater than our father Abraham who died?

The prophets also died. Who do you claim to be?" Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.

It is my Father who glorifies me, he of whom you say, 'He is our God,' though you do not know him. But I know him, if I would say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. .... Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am." ....

Prayerful Awareness John has been the most penetrating gaze into the eternal mysteries and the eternal truths and the very mind of God. Many people find themselves close to God and to Jesus Christ in John than in any other book in the world." (The New Daily Study Bible) What astonishing statements we have here, each one unique in its own way. Jesus' claims presented here are tremendous, each one more tremendous than the earlier one. About death Jesus claimed that anyone who kept His words will never know death. Is it physical death He is speaking of?

When one accepts Him or makes Him the Lord of one's life, death loses its finality. "Death gets its power to hurt from sin, and sin gets its power from

the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:56) "But at the same time, this truly human knowledge of God's Son expressed the divine life of His person. "The human nature of God's Son, not by itself but by its union with the Word, knew and showed forth in itself everything that pertains to God". Such is first of all the case with the intimate and immediate knowledge that the Son of God made man has of His Father. The Son in His human knowledge also showed the divine penetration He had into the secret thoughts of human hearts. (C.C.C.473) Jesus claims complete knowledge of God. It is unique. None has ever known God and ever will more than Jesus Christ. "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no one goes to the Father except through me." (John 4:6) None has or ever can speak like this. Was Jesus at loggerheads with the religious elite of His day? Yes, but not fully "He endorses some of the teachings imparted by this religious elite of God's people; the resurrection of the dead, certain forms of piety (almsgiving, fasting and prayer), the custom of addressing God as Father and the centrality of the commandment to love |God and neighbour."

(C.C.C.575). "Only the divine identity of Jesus' person can justify so absolute a claim as "He who is not with Me is against Me"; and His saying that there was in Him "something greater than Jonah ... greater than Solomon." something "greater than the temple"; His reminder that David has called the Messiah his Lord, and His affirmations, "Before Abraham was, I AM", and even "I and the Father are one." (.C.C. 590).

Prayer Starter Praise the Lord my soul! O Lord, my God, how great You are! You are clothed with majesty and glory. (Ps. 104/1-2)

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Friday 23rd March 2018 Jeremiah:20/10-13 Psalm:17/2-7 (18/1-6) John:10/31-42

The First Proclamation I heard so many disparaging me, 'Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let us denounce him!' All those who were on good terms with me watched for my downfall, 'Perhaps he will be seduced into error. Then we shall get the better of him and take our revenge!' But Yahweh is at my side like a mighty hero; my opponents will stumble, vanquished, confounded by their failure; everlasting, unforgettable disgrace will be theirs. Yahweh Sabaoth, you who test the upright, observer of motives and thoughts, I shall see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you. Sing to Yahweh, praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of one in need from the clutches of evil doers.

Fix your gaze on Jesus Holy Lord! King of the Universe, have mercy on us…..

The prophet speaks of the insult and injury he anticipates as a measure of him being true to the calling received. What is it that we have to fear? So long as we see ourselves abiding in the Word of God, and conform in the ways of the Lord, nothing shall prevail against us. It

is weakness and folly not to abide in His Word. When we meet with difficulties and discouragements, it is necessary for us to be strengthened

by His Word.

The prophet found the grace of God mightily within himself to keep him to his business, notwithstanding the temptation to throw it all up. Whatever injuries are done to us, we must leave them to God to whom vengeance belongs, and who has said, I will repay. So full was he of the comfort of God's presence, the Divine protection he was under, and the Divine promise he had to depend upon, that he stirred up himself and others to give God the glory.

In the Gospel reading, Jesus too confronts the persons who wanted to do injury to himself, and sets out the scriptural position pertinent to the perceived blasphemy.

Let us, the people of God open our cause before Him, and he will enable us to see deliverance. Shall we strengthen our resolve to follow this path steadfastly and realise the taste of life due to 'gods' ? The “Taste” that the Almighty Creator is “Eternally” with us? That in this non-ending MOMENT we call NOW, we are united and are ONE with our Creator!

Prayer Starter Let us awaken to this Eternal “Now” where we are LOVED and BLESSED!

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Saturday 24th March 2018 Ezekiel:37/21-28 Psalm:Jeremah:31/1013 John:11/45-56 The First Proclamation then say to them, Thus says the Lord God; I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. ....Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms. They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen, and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ....

The Gospel Proclamation Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what he had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the council, and said, "What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year said to them, "You know nothing at all! You do not understand that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed" He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from

that day on they planned to put him to death ....

Gaze on Jesus Jesus' demeanour, speech and behaviour were such that those who heard Him were thunderstruck, speechless and stood aghast for He spoke authoritatively and with power. Some were nonplussed, some humbly accepted what He said while some refuted His statements and reported Him to the Pharisees. The stance Jesus takes here declares and proclaims in no uncertain words the Will and Plan of Abba Father. All were contributory facts for His condemnation by the authorities.

Prayerful Awareness Jesus was a Man of action not only of words. He was One who practiced what He preached unlike the Pharisees who say one thing and do just the opposite. For Jesus was compelled on one occasion to vehemently condemn the Pharisees and exhort the people thus - "Do what the Pharisees tell you but do not do what they do." Truth prevails and the truth will make you free. Prophet Ezekiel giving out the Lord's word said, "I will save them from all disaster, cleanse, redeem them and bring them under one flock. They will be my people and I will be their God". Jesus who addressed the Jews said "Those who believed in Him will continue in my word and they will be my disciples."

You will know the truth and the truth will make you free and hence the word of the Lord comes to them. 'He who scattered Israel will gather them and bring them under one shepherd and one flock" Praise and glory be to the Lord.

Prayer Starter O Holy Spirit fill us with the grace and power to say "AMEN" to all incidents in our life, even the most unpalatable ones. Enlighten us to see the ray of light in the darkness and cry out with St. Paul "Thanks be to God for Jesus" Amen.

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Sunday 25th March 2018 Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord Ps Wk II (For procession) Mark:11/1-10 OR John:12/12-16 For Mass: Isaiah:50/4-7 Psalm:21/8-9,17-20, 23-24 Philippians:2/6-11 Mark:14/1-15/47 OR 15/1-39 The First Proclamation The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher; that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.

Morning by morning he wakens wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard. I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; The Gospel Proclamation As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.

Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you."

But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, .... Now a man called Barabbas was in prison ..... So the crowd came and began to

ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?".... They shouted back "Crucify him!" So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. .....

The Second Proclamation who though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Prayerful Awareness The first problem which the earliest Christians had to face, both for themselves and for their converts, was the problem of the cross. It was incredible to think that the man they believed to be the Messiah, and the Son of God, had been nailed to a cross in a terrible death.

Apart from the violence and humiliation which such a death entailed, it placed Jesus under the curse of the Law (see Deuteronomy 21:22-23 and Galatians 3:13). These facts made the preaching of the message of Christianity very difficult indeed. One of the earliest of all preachers, the apostle Paul, has stated the case well. 'For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly

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to Gentiles'. (1 Corinthians 1:22-23).

Despite this difficulty, the early Church had no desire to steer clear of the issue. One of the great realities of the life of Jesus of Nazareth was the way in which it ended, and there could be no avoiding that. To do so would be to preach someone else ... and not Jesus of Nazareth ... as the Christ. The cross was preached boldly, because it formed an essential part of the last days of Jesus. However, it is important to see that the cross only formed a part of the last days of Jesus. As the earliest preachers of Christianity went forth to make fools of themselves by preaching a crucified Christ, they did so burning with conviction that Jesus was no longer among the dead (see Luke 24:5; "And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?") Their preaching of the cross was dominated by the awareness of the living presence of the risen Lord (see Mt. 28:20; 'Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age'). The Church certainly had to preach the cross ....., but it was an empty cross!

The importance of the cross and resurrection stories in the earliest preaching is seen from two pieces of evidence which we can glean from the New Testament itself. First, Paul does not tell 'the story of Jesus'. His whole message is dominated by the 'new creation'. If we were dependent upon Paul for our knowledge of the historical Jesus, all we would know would be that He was 'born of a woman' (Gal. 4:4), that He celebrated a meal which looked forward to His oncoming death for its meaning (1 Cor. 11:23-25), and that He was crucified, buried, was raised and seen by a large number of witnesses (1 Cor. 15:3-8). Paul does not tell a story,.

His letters reflect his preaching that a new possibility is now ours.

Gaze at Jesus

daughters of God, the Father of Jesus, because of the death and resurrection of His Son (see, among many passages, Romans 3:21-26; 6:1-10;89:9-17; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Galatians 4:1-7;6:14-15). Paul says nothing of the birth, the ministry, or even the details of the suffering and death, but the cross and resurrection are the bedrock upon which his message is founded.

In the second place, it appears that the 'story' of the passion and resurrection of Jesus was the earliest piece of coherent storytelling used by the early Church in its preaching. The four Gospels differ in the way they tell the sequence of the events of Jesus' life, and each Gospel has some material which is unique to it. Yet, once they come to the account of the passion of Jesus, all four Gospels converge to tell the same basic story, from the plot to kill Jesus down to His death and resurrection. Not only do they tell the same basic story, but they tell the events largely in the same order. This evidence points to the fact that before there was ever a written passion narrative, the passion story, largely as we have it in the Gospels, was a fixed part of the storytelling tradition of the earliest Church.

From the earliest days the Church did not shrink from the horror of the Cross. Indeed, it was the earliest and longest coherent story from the life of Jesus which was told and re-told. Even though each Evangelist wrote the story in his own way, as each addressed his own situation with its problems, but all four look back to the same ancient tradition, enshrined in the earliest storytelling of the preaching Church.

Prayer Starter You who fear the Lord, praise him!

All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him; stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

For he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried We are able to become sons and to him.

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Monday 26th March 2018 Isaiah:42/1-7 Psalm: 26/1-3,13-14 (27/1-3,13-14)) John: 12/1-11 Gospel Proclamation Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, .... They prepared a dinner for him there, .... Lazarus was one of those who were sitting at the table with Jesus. Then Mary took half a liter of a very expensive perfume made of pure nard, poured it on Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. .... One of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot, the one who was going to betray him said, “why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 silver coins and the money given to the poor? .... But Jesus said, Leave her alone! Let her keep what she has for the day of my burial. You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me. A large number of people heard that Jesus was in Bethany, so they went there, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death. So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too, because on his account many Jews were rejecting them and believing in Jesus. The next day the large crowd that had come to the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

Gaze at Jesus Mary’s act of extravagance, exceeds human logic to the extent that it was considered wasteful to wash feet with such an expensive perfume.

However, her love for Jesus compelled her to give up an expensive perfume she possessed without holding back.

Jesus in return, understands the innermost feelings of Mary and accepts the love returned. The attention and reverence Jesus received from Mary and the crowds causes division between the chief priests and Jesus, which leads eventually to Jesus being crucified on the cross.

Our sonship Scripture in Isaiah reflects God’s love through Jesus and it is written as “I have filled him with my Spirit, and he will bring justice to every nation. He will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the street. He will not break off a bent reed nor put out a flickering lamp. He will bring lasting justice to all. He will not lose hope or courage. He will establish justice on earth. Distant lands eagerly wait for his teaching. God created the heavens and stretched them out. He fashioned the earth and all that lives there, he gave life and breath to all its people. And now the Lord God says to his servant, I the Lord, have called you and given you power to see that justice is done on earth. Through you I will bring light to the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind and set free those who sit in dark prisons.

Isaiah prophesied that God will enable justice, care and security to all mankind through His Son Jesus.

It is that love, that we see extended to Mary’s family and many others who were oppressed by the Chief Priests and the Pharisees. Love of Jesus is evident even today to all mankind who trust Him. Prayer Starter Therefore, let us thank and praise God, that we are included in His plan to know Jesus and have a relationship with Him.

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Tuesday 27th March 2018 Isaiah:49/1-6 Psalm: 70/1-6, 15, 17 (71/1-6,15-17) John: 13/21-33, 36-38

The Gospel Proclamation ... Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, "Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him, "Master, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it." So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, .... After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now none of those reclining at table realised why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, "Buy what we need for the feast," or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once.

And it was night. When he had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ..... My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come,' so now I say it to you." Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later." Peter said to him, "Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."

Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before

you deny me three times."

Prayerful Awareness Jesus was deeply troubled to know that one of His disciples who was with Him for three years, witnessing all what Jesus did, was going to betray Him for the greed of 30 pieces of silver. Judas valued money and the High priests (man) more than his Teacher. This betrayal of the Lord happens even today as some people go after money, wealth and relationships with men who could give earthly treasures, putting aside the connection with Lord Jesus Christ, breaking Lord’s commandments, destroying God’s creation, living unscrupulous lives to make their wealth grow at the expense of innocent humans who belong to Lord. When Saul was destroying and hurting Christians, it was Lord who was hurt (Acts 9.5). Now Lord asks us too, “Will you lay down your life for me?”. Peter who was very close to Jesus thought he could fight using his physical strength, but the real test showed that he was helpless against an army of soldiers, denying Jesus three times with fear for protection of his own life. Peter realized his weakness when Lord looked at him, which made him repent to receive forgiveness. Lord Jesus knows that we humans are weak, and this is why He sent the Holy Spirit, the Counselor and Advocate to be with us all the time to protect, guide and help us to live our lives pleasing to God. Prayer Starter Lord Jesus, I accept You as my Saviour and Lord. Intercede for me to receive the Holy Spirit to Raise me and strengthen me, to say “ I will lay down my life for You Lord, with the Help of the Holy Spirit”, to take the word of Your Gospel to everyone, to make them come to know You and Your Great Love, to accept You and receive Salvation”, Thank You Lord Jesus, Amen

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Wednesday 28th March 2018 Isaiah:50/4-9 Psalm: 68/8-10,21-22, 31,33-34 (69/7-9,20-21,30,32-33) Mathew: 26/14-25

The First Proclamation The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears; I have not been rebellious, I have not turned away. I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. .....

The Gospel Proclamation

Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” ....

Prayerful Awareness

In today’s readings, we find two directly opposed figures: the Lord’s obedient Servant (Isaiah 50), and Judas Iscariot the Betrayer (Matthew 26).

In the gospel proclamation, we see the darkness and futility that lies in sin. Judas become a slave to money when he seeks out a price to finally betray Jesus for 30 silver coins. He loses sight of the Lord entirely as his vision becomes eclipsed by Satan. Despite living three years by Jesus' side, Jesus’ imminent persecution by the leaders of the law ultimately becomes put into motion by Judas’ betrayal. Jesus prophesies, Judas’ final chapter of life is saturated in greed and cowardice.

Yet in the First Proclamation, we see the strength and courage that overflows in the symbolic figure of the Lord’s obedient servant, even in the face of persecution and suffering. Isaiah puts forward the figure of the Lord’s servant as a symbol of hope and strength that the exiled Israelists could aspire towards; to show them that dignity and purpose is still attainable when you keep your eyes on the Lord, no matter the hopelessness of your present circumstances.

The symbolic became manifest in Jesus Christ, who now lives and walks with us and in us.

Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. .... the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” He replied, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.’” ....When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while they Prayer Starter were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.” They were Dear Lord, Help me to be strong and very sad and began to say to him one courageous, for You Yourself go with me. after the other, “Surely you don’t mean You will not forsake me. me, Lord?”

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Thursday 29th March 2018 Exodus:12/1-8, 11-14 Psalm:115/12-13,15-18 (116/12-13, 15-18) 1 Corinthians:11/23-26 John:13/1-15 The Paschal Triduum Christ accomplished the work of redemption and the perfect glorification of God principally through His Paschal mystery, in which dying He destroyed our death and rising He restored our life.

Hence the sacred Easter Triduum of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection shines forth as the culmination of the whole liturgical year.

By the celebration of the Easter Triduum, that is, of the death, burial and resurrection of her spouse, the Church means to make present and to fulfil the mystery of the Passover, the passing of the Lord from this world to the Father.

In accordance with the tradition of the early Church the sacred fast should be celebrated on Good Friday of the Lord's Passion and even as suitable, extended to Holy Saturday, so that the joys of the Lord's Resurrection may be arrived at, with an alert and open mind.

The Gospel Proclamation

.... Jesus ..., took off his outer robe and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, ...

"Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"

Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Peter said ... "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." ... "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" ....

Holy Thursday ..."Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord - and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet......

Prayerful Awareness

How often do we categorize work as - respectable, menial. Sweeping, dusting, washing, husking and scraping a coconut, grinding, mopping .... These are considered to be menial by many. How often have we done these on the sly? Here we have the Son of God washing His disciples'' feet. Jesus was aware that all things had been given to Him. Also He knew that the awaited hour of humiliation and the hour of glory were near. Instead of being filled with pride He was filled with love. Instead of utmost pride He had utmost humility.

Here we see the Supreme Master stooping down to the rock bottom of humility and washing His disciples' feet.

"The hour of departure is always an hour of quickened affection. When the husband leaves the wife for a long journey, there are more tender acts of devotion shown than in the continuing presence in the home. Often our Blessed Lord had addressed His disciples with the words "My brethren", "My sheep", "My friends", "Mine", but in this hour He called them His "Own" as if to imply the dearest kind of a relationship. He was about to leave the world, but His apostles were to stay in it to preach His Gospel and establish His Church. His affection for them was such that not all the glories of heaven in the act of opening to receive Him could for a moment disturb His warm and compassionate love for them. (Archbishop F.J.Sheen)

Prayer Starter

Purify us O Lord! Though the towel is around the waist we cannot bend down.

(Pubudu Hymn 250)

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Friday 30th March 2018

Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord

Isaiah:52/13-53/12, Psalm: 30/2,6,12-13, 15-17,25 (31/1,5,11-12,14-16,24) Hebrews:4/14-16; 5/7-9 John:18/1-19, 42 The First Proclamation Look, my servant will prosper, will grow great, will rise to great heights. As many people were aghast at him -- he was so inhumanly disfigured that he no longer looked like a man- so many nations will be astonished and kings will stay tightlipped before him, seeing what had never been told them, learning what they had not heard before.... he was despised, the lowest of men, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering, one from whom, as it were, we averted our gaze, despised, for whom we had no regard. Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and we have been healed by his bruises. We had all gone astray like sheep, each taking his own way, and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of all of us to bear on him. Ill-treated and afflicted, he never opened his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb before its shearers he never opened his mouth....

Fix your gaze on Jesus O Lord Most Loving, bring to us a comprehension of the Joy and the

Agony of Your Passion….

Here begins that wonderful, minute, and faithful description of the office, character, and glory of the Messiah, which has struck conviction to many of the most hardened unbelievers.

Christ is Wisdom itself; perfectly grounded, and is the foundation of this creation; simple to understand that, as it is the Living Word that manifested / caused the Creation to Be! He is the Linchpin on that which every blessed thing rests.

In the work of our redemption, the appearing of God in a way that enabled us (humanity) to see is the wisdom of God; it is a mystery, and yet is perfectly revealed! He came to give Sight to the Blind; to liberate those Enslaved....

Those that saw him said, Surely never has man looked so miserable: never was sorrow like unto his sorrow.

But God highly exalted him. And the power of Christ once shedding his blood for sinners still continues....

May all opposers see the wisdom of ceasing their opposition, and choose to be made partakers of the blood of sprinkling, and the baptism of the Holy Ghost; obeying him, and praising his salvation. We were His purpose; giving sight to us and redeeming us His objective; and this purpose shall be fulfilled… Do we want to go along?

Choose that which is good and liberating for ourselves….

Prayer Starter Thank You blessed Lord for your magnanimity and wisdom; may we be given the anointing to open up to Your Love, Your Acceptance of ourselves As-We-Are, and turn again to you.…

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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Saturday 31st March 2018 1.Gen.1/1-2/2 OR 1/1, 26-31 Psalm:103/1-2,5,6, 10,12-14,24,35 OR Psalm:32/4-7,12-13, 20,22 2.Gen.22/1-18 OR 22/1-2,9,10-13,15-18 Psalm:15/5,8-11 3.Exodus:14/15-15/1 Psalm:Exodus:15/1-6,17-18 4.Isaiah:54/5-14 Ps:29/2,4-6,11-13 5.Isaiah:55/1-11 Ps:12/2-6 6.Baruch:3/9-15,32, 4/4 Ps:18/8-11 7.Ezekiel:36/16-28 Ps.41/3; 42/3,4 8.Romans:6/3-11 Ps:117/1-2,16-17,22-23 9.Mark:16/1-7 The Gospel Proclamation “.... Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices to go and anoint his body.

Very early in the morning, .... they went to the tomb. ... They looked up and they saw that the stone had been rolled away, .... And they went into the tomb, and they saw a young man sitting ... They were utterly amazed. He said to them, "Do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen. ....

Prayerful Awareness This Gospel Proclamation implies that there had not been time to render the last services to the body of Jesus. The Sabbath had intervened and the women who wished to anoint the body had not been able to do so. As early as possible after the Sabbath had passed, they set out to

Holy Saturday perform this sad task. The attitude of the women was that they had come to pay the last tribute to a dead body. The attitude of the disciples was that everything had finished in tragedy.But this night, Holy Saturday, is the time in between death and resurrection. It is the valley of grief and unknowing-- they, didn’t know what the future will bring.Unlike the hosannas of Palm Sunday and the glory of Easter day that we yearn for, this day, speaks most directly to the daily reality of our lives. After the shock of death or words that bring despair--and we enter the dark void of unknowing.This is where many of us live, from time to time. Yes, there are times when we experience the stark gut-wrenching pain of Good Friday, and there are times when we know the jubilation of Easter. But this night, is the time in between death and resurrection. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep..."how many times will we find ourselves in that dark place? A place where any ray of hope is extinguished in the vacuum of fear, of not knowing, of total emptiness. That is the time to wait for God's intervention. "Then God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.... God called the light Day and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day "Darkness and light are halves of every day, ever since that first day. It is an essential part of our lives. And when we find ourselves in that dark, desolate, lonely place, we must remind ourselves of the truth that there will always be light in the midst of the darkness."This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.This is the night when Christ broke the bonds of death and hell, and rose victorious from the grave. How blessed is this night, when earth and heaven are joined and we are reconciled to God." Prayer Starter Bless the Lord O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

"Reveal Your Holy Will to us O Lord!"

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