Talk TIMES

LENT WEEK 5 TUESDAY

WHAT MURMUR CAUSES

"Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this desert?" (Num. 21:5) complained the people. Their minds were clouded; their vision blurred. They failed to see that when God wants "to speak to our hearts" He leads us into the desert. He weans us to woo us.

In the desert nothing divides, nothing distracts, nothing dissipates us. There are neither alibis nor escapes. Just God and we! 'Desert days' are indeed a blessing! The temptation is to backtrack or to long for the flesh-pots of Egypt.

LENT WEEK 5 MONDAY

SIN NO MORE!

"Woman, has no one condemned you?... Neither do I. Go away, and do not sin any more" (Jn. 8:10-11).

Every saint has a past; every sinner, a future! That is why the saint lives in humility for he has experienced his own human frailty; that is why too the sinner must live in hope, for he trusts the goodness of God's infinite mercy.

Our God has a wonderful memory: He remembers the smallest good action we have done - even so little as a cup of water given to the needy - but forgets the most heinous crimes we have committed! For Love keeps no record of wrongs.

LENT WEEK 4 FRIDAY

TRUTH WALKS ALONE

To swim against the tide; to be a silent rebuke to others by a life that practices more than it preaches; to be that jarring off-beat in the free rhythm of a world that is far too immune to the spiritual and far too immersed in the material - that is the vocation of the Just Man.

Even as the eye is uncomfortable until it has ejected the foreign body that has entered it, so is the world ill at ease with and will do all it can to cast out of its midst the Just Man.

Truth is neither popular nor palatable. It always invites persecution. To stand for the Truth means having to walk alone: the path gets too narrow for company!

LENT WEEK 4 THURSDAY

DON'T FORGET THE GOD WHO SAVES YOU!

While God remains forever faithful, man is forever fickle. While God gives and forgives, man gets and forgets. Think of the graces that the Lord has showered on us; think of the blessings that have come out way; think of the wonders that He has wrought in our lives. Through thick and thin He has stood by us.

We suffer from spiritual amnesia. Our memory is short. We fail to remember the miracles of His saving love. This happened to me Israelites: they forgot the God who saved them and fashioned idols of their own making. This happens to us too. Even sacred history repeats itself! What are the idols in our life?

LENT WEEK 4 WEDNESDAY

FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS WORDS

"The Lord is kind and full of compassion..., faithful in all His words" (Ps. 144). God's faithfulness does not depend on our goodness; neither does His goodness depend on our faithfulness.

We may close our hearts to His goodness and live in misery; we may disbelieve His faithfulness and live in doubt. His goodness makes Him love us 100%. His faithfulness makes Him love us 100% always.

Neither the evil we commit can reduce His love to 99% nor the good we do increase it to 101%. This is the heart of the gospel - almost too good to be true!

LENT WEEK 4 TUESDAY

CAN I SAVE MYSELF?

"Do you want to be well again?" (Jn. 5:6) asks Jesus. What a question to ask a man suffering from infirmity for thirty-eight long years! But in that question is enshrined a simple yet important truth. Such is the delicacy of God's love, such the gentleness of His approach, such the respect He has for our freedom that even to do us good He seeks our consent.

Salvation begins when we realise our own helplessness and need for God; salvation begins when we let God step into our lives; salvation begins when we allow God to lift us.

We must stop trying to be our own saviours!

LENT WEEK 4 MONDAY

FAITH

The only prerequisite that Jesus demands for a miracle is faith. To believe in God is to surrender totally to Him; to fall into His hands. "It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31) - but it is also the safest! For there are no hands more secure and strong than God's.

Faith unlocks and unleashes God's power: the more we believe, the more shall we receive. Faith is never against reason but above reason: for when God asks us to believe, He wants us not to suppress reason but to surpass it.

Lord, we believe, help our unbelief!

LENT WEEK 3 SATURDAY

A HUMBLE SINNER OR A PROUD SAINT

The parable of the Pharisee and the Publican is indeed the 'Master Parable ', for it succinctly summarises man's basic stance before God. The Pharisee prayed with the focus on himself as though God needed him. The Publican prayed with the focus on God because he needed God!

While the former indulged in a proud exhibition of his external piety, the latter was engaged in a humble confession of his inner sinfulness. God resists the proud but gives His grace to the humble.

Better to be a humble sinner than a 'proud saint'!

LENT WEEK 3 FRIDAY

LOVE

Love of God and love of neighbour: this is the essence of the message of Jesus for it is the very heart of the gospel. Two-fold is the commandment; but one the love! For the acid test of our love for God is always the love we have for our neighbour. And the love with which we love our neighbour is the very love with which we love God.

Jesus says: "... you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength..." Then He adds: "You must love your neighbour as yourself" (Mk. 12:30-31).

Love is both the substance and the secret of human happiness and holiness.

LENT WEEK 3 THURSDAY

DON'T BE A MEDIOCRE CHRISTIAN

With Jesus we can never sit on the fence, play Jack or be neutral. We must decide either for Him or against Him. "He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters" (Lk. 11:23). In this sense surely Jesus is a radical. With Him there are no half measures but only wholeness; no fractions but only fullness. It is either everything or nothing.

If Christianity has lost its edge today, is it not because the gospel challenge has been so adulterated as to make us settle for and live with comfortable compromises?

Let me remind you, 'the absence of risk is a sign of mediocrity!'

LENT WEEK 3 WEDNESDAY

WHAT DO I DO WITH THE WORD LOVE: ABUSE OR USE

Love is a much used and abused word today. This is true even of our love for God. But the real test of our love for God is always obedience. "If you love me keep my commandment" (Jn. 14:15).

Our love for God must be proved by our readiness to do His will and in our obedience to His law. Jesus came not to abolish the law but to fulfil it; to animate it and make it come alive; to have it inscribed on the tablets of our hearts so that we do not merely observe it's letter grudgingly but live out its spirit generously.

LENT WEEK 3 TUESDAY

LEARN TO LOVE AND FORGIVE

To err is human; to forgive is divine. We resemble God most when we forgive. There are people who have hurt and harmed us; people who have damaged and destroyed our good name; people who have misjudged and maligned us. All these we must forgive. And forgive we must from the heart.

To love is to forgive and to forgive is to love. For we love those we forgive and we forgive those we love. That is why God forgives: He is love. His forgiveness has no limits because His love is limitless.

We who have received God's forgiveness must in turn forgive - not just seven times, but seventy times seven!