We learn from the failures of our ancestors

03-20-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. Arul Doss

Dear People of God,

Good morning to you all. We remember today (03-19-2022) St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a righteous , humble, hard working and responsible man in the Holy family of Jesus. May our mighty God bless all our families through the intercession of St. Joseph. On this third Sunday of Lent, our central theme today is repentance. Repentance is, feeling sorry for the sin we committed, and a firm resolve not to deliberately commit it again. Sincere repentance provokes God’s compassion, mercy and love.

The first reading tells us how God shows His mercy to His chosen people by giving them Moses as their leader and liberator. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob reveals Himself to Moses from the burning bush and assures Moses of His Divine presence with His people and of His awareness of their sufferings in Egypt. He declares His intention to use Moses as the leader who will rescue His enslaved people.

In today’s gospel, Jesus was very direct in his words when he said: “Unless you repent you will perish.” One might say that this is too harsh to come from Christ who is merciful and compassionate. The truth is that when Jesus speaks this way, it does not diminish his compassion and mercy. Rather, he does so because he actually cares for us and sees what we cannot see. He simply warns us of the negative consequences of living a sinful life and wants us to repent and live a better life.

The good news is that we are given the opportunity to learn from the failures of our ancestors and the consequences of their actions. We are given another opportunity to call upon the Lord who is “merciful, compassionate and love.” Jesus wants us to take a bold and positive step towards amending our way of life. This is a call to repentance for the times we neglected and failed both God and our neighbors; for the times we chose evil over good; and for those moments we despaired and displayed remarkable lack of faith in God.

Repentance attracts mercy, compassion, forgiveness and salvation. It brings about healing and restoration of hope for a better future. So, if we sincerely repent of our sins, God will not only forgive us, but He will heal us. He is aware of our enslavement by both habitual sins of omission and commission. He also knows the efforts we are making to live good lives and how we often fail. So, this Lent, Jesus is ready to suffer with us so that we might be free from the slavery of sin. Through our repentance, His compassion, mercy, and love we would be healed and restored to life this season and beyond.

Have a Happy and Blessed Sunday!

BACK TO LIST