GOOD FRIDAY

4 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;

5 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.

6 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.

7 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.

ISAIAH 52: 4-7

'Life's not fair' is one of those general phrases we use constantly. Sometimes life is so painful that we look up to heaven and cry 'WHERE ARE YOU????' I went through a rough patch some years ago: my friends dumped me, my boyfriend and I broke up, I had health problems, I had to drop out of college due to money problems, all of it a midst a very complicated migratory status. And I was very angry with God for letting all that happen to me. I felt like He didn't care, like He had abandoned me. My heart filled with bitterness, sadness, and anger.

So yes, I get it, life isn't fair. 

Where was God in all those dark lonely nights of despair?
Where was God when you were in physical pain?
Where was God when your life was falling apart?

He was on the cross. 

He was on the cross without having to, without deserving to be there. He was watching you suffer from the cross and crying with you and hurting with you. He was pouring out His blood for you. Water and blood came out of His side to heal you and wash you clean. By His wounds we were healed. 

Bring all your sufferings, your worries, your loneliness to the foot of the Cross. Let the Lord of Sorrows take them up to be crucified with Him. 

Behold, behold the wood of the cross  

On which is hung our salvation.  

 O come, let us adore.

HOLY THURSDAY

'You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.'

JOHN 13:13-15


Here's the thing about Jesus: you might feel like He's constantly asking for too much of his followers (us), right? But everything He asks for He follows by His own example. Look here--the King of Kings, God incarnate, washing some guys' dirty feet! Remember back then they wore sandals everywhere and they had no pavement, so imagine the state of those feet. And He washed them, physically lowering Himself in an act of humility.

And He tells us 'if you love me, you would do as I do! If I am your teacher, then learn from me!'

How many times do we lower ourselves to do such a task? And I'm speaking symbolically here--not necessarily washing another person's feet (unless required) but lowering ourselves to the state of a servant who washes feet. St. Francis of Assisi, for example, used to treat lepers' wounds and hug and kiss them--rotting flesh and all!

Yes, that makes me shudder as well (in a bad way) because we're just not used to going out of our ways to such an extreme for people. But Jesus did it for love. And St. Francis did it for love (he asked Jesus to show Himself in the lepers' faces). What is your love sacrifice?

You can start small, at home, with your friends. But don't limit yourself to those you love--after all, didn't Jesus say that there people who do bad things also just love their loved ones?

I know this is very hard! We have this tendency to wanting to receive when we give and to want to feel all dignified, but humbling yourself at the service of others does not make you less of a person!

I once served in a youth conference where my job was solely to set up chairs and take out the trash. And it was a beautifully enriching experience to know that you are doing your part in God's mission!

And speaking of practice what you preach: what other proof do you need from Jesus? He humbled himself by dying the most horrible death even though He was innocent. But He also humbled himself to become a piece of bread and little bit of wine. In all his power and majesty  He could have just said "no, these people are not worthy of my inhabiting in them". Instead, He said "this is my body, this is my blood, eat me, drink me, so that I may dwell in you!"

The mystery of it all! That the God of all the universe can be chewed on and gulped in by us!!! Not even the angels have that privilege!

Today, meditate on the gift of the Eucharist and ask the Lord to transform you through His body and blood so that you can be that servant He needs you to be. And thank Him for the sacrifice you didn't deserve, and for His love. And you know what? Make sure you don't leave the church without telling Him how much you love Him.

HOLY WEEK--WEDNESDAY

'Lord Yahweh has given me a disciple's tongue, for me to know how to give a word of comfort to the weary. Morning by morning he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple.

Lord Yahweh has opened my ear and I have not resisted, I have not turned away.'

ISAIAH 50: 4-5

A disciple's tongue to comfort the weary. An ear that listens to God's voice. No resistance. This is what we are supposed to do! Be the disciplines God needs us to be! But it goes further than that:

'I have offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I have not turned my face away from insult and spitting. Lord Yahweh comes to my help, this is why insult has not touched me, this is why I have set my face like flint and know that I shall not be put to shame.'

ISAIAH 50:7-8

We have to be willing to go as far as Jesus went. Our discipleship must mirror the ministry of Jesus but also his Passion. Our 'yes' to God has to be absolute, and when things get rough, we have to remember that the Lord comes to our help!! 

Because if we die with Him, we shall rise with Him! This Lent, we have learned about the Lord's love and sacrifice for us and hopefully we have accepted Him in our hearts if we hadn't done so before. The next step in our discipleship is to open our ears to what God wants to do with our lives and to follow through with that mission--all the way, regardless of the consequences. What does the Lord want from you? Open your ear to His voice.

HOLY WEEK--TUESDAY

Simon Peter said, 'Lord, where are you going?' Jesus replied, 'Now you cannot follow me where I am going, but later you shall follow me.'

 Peter said to him, 'Why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.'

'Lay down your life for me?' answered Jesus. 'In all truth I tell you, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.'

JOHN 13: 36-38

Betrayal, betrayal, betrayal. You would think this is a soap opera. Today's Gospel reading features Jesus and a bunch of traitors--a.k.a. his disciples.

Yes, I am being really harsh. But you know what, these men knew Jesus, they lived with him, ate with him, witnessed all the marvels and miracles he did. And at the end of the day, they all turned their backs on Him.

and Peter, PETER!! The rock, the one upon whom the Church would be built-- He's all talk, telling Jesus that he's willing to die for Him. But Jesus knows what will happen: Peter, the coward, will deny Him three times.

Well, let me tell you... I am Peter. I am a traitor, a coward. I have a personal relationship with Christ yet constantly find myself denying Him through my actions (and sometimes even by my words). I tell Jesus that I love Him and that I surrender my life to Him but when the time comes, I chicken out. And so do you. If the apostles, who were to become the representatives of Christ on earth, were weak enough to leave him and flee when the time of hardness came, imagine how much at a disadvantage we are!!

We make such a big deal about Judas being such a traitor and we just hate on the guy all the time. Of course we have reason to be mad at him--but what is the difference between Judas and Peter, after all? Moreover.... what is the difference between Judas and I? At first, nothing really. BUT--

What Peter did that Judas didn't was to believe that the Jesus he had betrayed was the God of love and mercy and could forgive him if he repented from the heart. Judas, meanwhile, doubted that he could be forgiven, thus rejecting God's grace and separating himself eternally from God. 

Peter, the coward, the traitor, the broken man who had sworn and cursed when confronted about being a follower of Jesus, wept bitterly in contrition. And you know what? Ultimately, Peter (and the rest of the disciples) left all his fear and his doubts behind and surrendered himself to God to the point of losing his life for the Gospel.

So are you a Peter? Or a Judas?

Lord, I know I am like Peter: fearful, doubting, stubborn, and flawed. But You still love me and forgive me. I am so sorry for constantly denying you and for constantly crucifying you with my inequity. Wash me with Your most precious blood. Give me the grace and strength to offer my life up to you fully. Please put my weak heart inside your Sacred Heart. 

You're Peter, so? He can work with that. May you hear His voice in the silence of your heart, may you be forgiven, healed, and strengthened in Him.

HOLY WEEK--MONDAY

'Yahweh is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear? Yahweh is the fortress of my life, whom should I dread?

 When the wicked advance against me to eat me up, they, my opponents, my enemies, are the ones who stumble and fall.

Though an army pitch camp against me, my heart will not fear, though war break out against me, my trust will never be shaken.'

PSALM 27: 1-3

Do you at times feel crippled by fear and uncertainty? Do you feel like you are staring in the darkness and the void of tomorrow? Do you feel weak, tired, helpless about certain situations in your life? Yes, me too! But read this psalm aloud: tell yourself that the Lord is your rock, your fortress, your stronghold. Sometimes, when I feel overwhelmed by school, or work, or family problems, all there is left in me to say is: Jesus, I trust in You. Repeatedly. And you might feel like 'well, why would I say that if at that moment I don't feel it?!?!?!' Well, that small phrase is an act of surrender to the Lord--you are telling him that you trust in his promise and his plan for you and that it is He (and not yourself) who will get you through this difficult time. And, perhaps more importantly, you are reassuring yourself that there is a God who you trust and who you can rely on! You might be doubtful when you first say this, but, trust me, after repeating it to yourself several times, you will start believing it! The Holy Spirit will descend upon you and grant you peace in the midst of chaos.

Fear is a very human reaction. But we must not be crippled by it! Don't let the devil get a hold of you through fear. Ask Jesus to put your heart inside his heart and shelter it, to grant you strength, or patience, or joy, or whatever it is you need to get through the trial. He will not leave your side. In those difficult moments, Jesus is present and willing to help!  Cry out to Jesus!

DAY 40--PALM SUNDAY

'But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names; so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.'

PHILIPPIANS 2:7-11

It is the fortieth day of our countdown--but guess what? Lent ain't over yet! The best is yet to come! 

Today is Palm Sunday, also known as the mass with the longest Gospel reading ever. But in all seriousness, today we had the pleasure of living through Jesus' triumphant entrance to Jerusalem, being hailed as a king, only to be murdered a few days later in the most horrifying way, alone and forsaken by His followers. It is absolutely heart-wrenching, especially if you consider that the Christ is, throughout His passion, paying off for those sins we've committed. I sit there and think... 'Lord, when you were being spitted on, it was to pay off for my arrogance, and when you were being scourged it was because of all the times I've heard others with my words...' If we take a moment and analyse the passion we can see the punishment for our own personal sins being taken on by Jesus.

Since we will have another opportunity to meditate on the passion on Good Friday, I would like to concentrate instead on today's second reading (see above). Let's see if you can grasp the reality that God the Son, Jesus, chose to leave his comfortable spot to the right of the Father to become a human and therefore a slave to his own humanity (minus sin). This means that everything Jesus experienced in His passion hurt Him as much as it would have hurt us regular human beings. He LOWERED Himself not only to be human but to die on a cross (which, as we've said before, was the most humiliating and excruciating method of torture of the time). He didn't have to do it. Did He do it because we deserve it? Heck no. Now way. He did it because---drum-roll---He. Loves. Us. That. Much.

'God raised Him on high'---yes He did... high up in that cross. It is in that cross that Jesus wins the victory for us, so that's why at the name of JESUS every knee shall bow in heaven, on earth, and in the underworld (because even demons must bow down to Jesus) and declare that HE IS LORD!!!!!!

Is Jesus lord of your life?

If He is not... then you're missing out on the greatest love story there is. May He always sit on the throne of our hearts.

Day 39--The Blood of the Covenant

'They will no longer defile themselves with their foul idols, their horrors and any of their crimes. I shall save them from the acts of infidelity which they have committed and shall cleanse them; they will be my people and I shall be their God.'

EZEKIEL 37:23

The history of salvation consists on God making covenants with His people and His people going around and screwing up, only to suffer the consequences of their wrongs and ultimately turn back to God, who then establishes a new covenant. It's the same old, same old throughout the whole of the Old Testament. But here, God, through the prophet Ezekiel, is promising a kingdom in which His people will be cleansed and well, his once again... but this time forever. 

God would establish these covenants with men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, David, etc. But every time, His people would eventually turn away and break the alliance. So what did He do? Well, He became man. 

Jesus' blood is the new covenant, as we hear in mass everyday. His sacrifice is the covenant of covenants and we don't need another contract/agreement with God after this because His is the ultimate sacrifice. It is through the passion and resurrection that we may be God's people again, that we are purified, forgiven, brought back to life. 

Yet, isn't it confusing that, even after Jesus' sacrifice, we still sin, we still have idols (money, friends, fame, drugs) and we are still unfaithful to God? Yup, that's pretty messed up. But remember that God doesn't force us to anything. He might have died on the cross to redeem us, but sometimes we reject this redemption, this grace, by committing sins and putting other things before God. We still have our free-will, so the ultimate decision to be God's people is ours. God's invitation is there: 'Be mine, I love you, look what I've done so that we may be together'. How will you respond?

Our lives are a struggle to live up to the covenant--and we will fail every single day. But it's all about truly trying to be that holy people of God. Ask the Lord to give you a pure heart and to help you sin no more! We are all in this together, remember that.