Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Daniel 3:25, 34-43

Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness leads to Freedom

Dear brothers and sisters in christ jesus, the readings of the day focus on Prayer for Protection and Forgiveness.

1st reading:

The Context : Nebuchadenezzar, the king of Babylon, sets up a huge statue (Probably His or His Gods) in the centre of Babylon and orders everyone to bow down and worship and whosoever refuses to heed the command are punishable by death and will be thrown into the high voltage furnace blazing high.

But the Hebrews officials, especially  Shadrach, Meshach and Azariah refused to bow down and worship, then they were summoned before the king to give their account. The king was enraged with anger and ordered  them to be thrown into the furnace. Here in this context Azariah makes a wonderful prayer for God’s Mercy and Protection.

At the moment of their agony, they were content with one thing that they have been faithful to God and His call and never turned away from Him. Azariah prayed to God praising and thanking for all the blessings. He prayed for God’s will and pleaded for forgiveness for the times they were not able to worship as they were abandoned in Babylon without any leader. He prayed to receive them with their contrite heart and humble spirit. And thus placed their situation at the feet of the Lord’s mercy and protection. 

God heard their prayers and saved them, everyone along with Nebuchadenezzar witnessed the Presence of Living God.

 

Everytime we recite Our Father, (the Lord’s Prayer) we pray for forgiveness “forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.” it’s a courageous prayer, to be honest it’s not easy to forgive. It's a hard task indeed. Because the pain, the grief that arises from the offences,hurts and opinions of the others makes it even impossible to face.

Today in the Gospel, St. Peter asks how many times should I forgive my brother?, well he thought he was very generous with 7 times but Jesus multiplied it and places no limit to it. There is no quantity and there is no fixed quota, that we should forgive only these many times. But everytime one genuinely repents and returns, he has to accept, forgive and renew the relationship. God acts in the same way. 

An Example:

The act of forgiving: we are in controle. when we forgive we relieve another person’s debt and we are on the other hand released from the pain and can move. Therefore it’s a kind of freedom we experience at the moment.

The act of asking for forgiveness: we are at the mercy of Giver.

In the parable when the servant appears to be sincere and pleads for mercy and time,  the king was so generous that he forgave the total debt. He was freed.  But the same servant could not forgive his fellow servant who vowed only a little amount compared to him. Instead he seized, choked and demanded to be paid immediately. Unfortunately he was not sincere in his repentance, thus he lost the mercy of the King too. here:

The king represents God, He has forgiven completely and in return we are encouraged to forgive others. There is no “ifs and Buts” and there is no limit to forgiving. But if we try to hold it ourselves there is a risk of losing God’s mercy in our lives.

★      Forgiveness leads to freedom

★      Forgiveness renews relationships

★      Forgiveness consists of a “Give and Take” system.

★      Forgiveness is not turning blind eye to the wrong but restoring the broken one.

★      Forgiveness is to form an alliance with God

“with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received” (Daniel 3:39)

“forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12)

 

 FR. JAYARAJU MANTHENA OCD

 

 

 

 

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

2 Kings 5:1-15

Luke 4:24-30

Small yet Significant

(Pride & Prejudices to Submission)

 

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, at the preaching of Jesus in Synagogue many people were amazed at his teaching with authority but were not moved to faith. Looking at their impassive response Jesus says “No prophet is ever accepted in his own country”. He then goes on to give examples of two famous prophets, Elijah and Elisha. When the people disobeyed their message and later when there was a difficult situation in the nation the prophets were sent to bless non believers rather than Isralites. By this example Jesus added fuel to the fire, they were already angry and by this they felt insulted. So they wanted to kill him, throw him out of their town.

The people of Nazareth thought they knew everything, they were not ready to accept the Truth. They thought of Jesus as just Carpenter’s Son, so they could not conceive the words of Jesus for in their sight Jesus was an insignificant person (but not in reality). God speaks in various ways through various people, and can lead sometimes even through insignificant  people.

In the first reading, We have the two best examples of such people, small in their status but significant in character.

The context was Naman, valiant and victorious, the army commander from the king of Syria was a leper or suffering from some kind of skin disease. There are two characters who would play an important role in his healing.

1.    The Young Israelite girl: she was taken as captive when they invaded Israel and she became a maid to Naman’s wife. Though she was among strangers she did not leave her faith and always remembered that her God is faithful. Having learned of her master’s sickness she cared for him and  was compassionate. She was also a trusted servant.

She had faith in God, in the prophet of God, and in his ability to cure the ailment. This gave a new hope to Naaman and thus decided to go to Elisha with the permission of the King.

The Prophet Elisha : 

Naaman came to the prophet with a lot of wealth and gifts, thinking that he could buy good health with wealth. But not possible

When the prophet told him to wash seven times in River Jordan, he felt insulted and full of anger. He thought the prophet would magically wave his hand and cure him. Not the way he expected. His pride and prejudice concealed his reasoning and thus decided in haste to return home.

This is where the second character comes in to lead to healing.

2.    The Soldiers / Servants of Namaan: the solderies/ Servant reason with their Master, Naaman. They pleaded with him to listen to the prophet, it was a simple act of washing seven times. They were caring for their Master and trusting in the Prophet, so they made him rethink his decision. Thus when he buries his pride and does what he is told, he comes out healed physically and spiritually. Thus when he submits to the word he is healed.

 

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, there are times we miss the voice  and guidance of God through our pride and prejudices.

We can not buy health with wealth but only through submission to God’s word

People of Nazareth lacked the attitude of submitting and considering everyone is important thus missed out the blessings. Naaman was also in a similar situation but through servant girl and servants, though small, insignificant as per status but were significant for healing and blessing.

Let us during this lent, remove the obstacle of pride and prejudice and respect all. God speaks and works in various ways, small yet significant.

 

“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.” (2 Kings 5:15)

God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God. (1 Corinthians 1:27-29)

 FR. JAYARAJU MANTHENA OCD