Sunday, March 24, 2019
The Third Sunday of Lent, Year C
Click for reflection when readings for Year A are used
“Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” Luke 13:8-9
Every gardener knows that good fruit is, in part, dependent upon the presence of good soil. But other factors are also important in the production of good fruit. The plant must be free of disease, receive water and sun, be planted in a warm environment, be properly pruned, and have space enough to grow. When all factors are present, good fruit is guaranteed.
Gayundin ang ating buhay. Ang lupang dapat nating pagtamnan ay ang awa ng Diyos. At ito ang pinakamatabang lupang maaaring matagpuan upang tumubo ang mga birtud sa ating buhay. Ipinagkakaloob din ng Diyos ang araw, ang ulan, at ang init na kailangan para sa ating paglago. Ngunit, sa diwa ng paghahambing na ito, kailangan nating hayaang pungusan tayo. Kailangan din nating hayaang patabain at bungkalin ang lupa sa iba’t ibang paraan. Bagaman si Hesus ang Hardinero ng ating buhay, masasabi ring tayo ay mga hardinero sapagkat kailangan nating makipagtulungan sa ating Panginoon, na umaasa sa mga tulong na higit sa likas na ipinagkakaloob ng Maylikha upang matiyak ang malusog na paglago ng ating buhay espirituwal at upang mamunga sa ating buhay ang mabuting bunga ng birtud.
Ang sipi sa itaas ang wakas ng Talinghaga ng Puno ng Igos. Bago ang siping ito, ipinag-utos ng may-ari ng ubasan, ang Diyos Ama, na putulin ang hindi namumungang puno ng igos upang hindi na nito maubos ang sustansiya ng lupa. Ngunit ang ating maawaing Panginoon, na isinugo ng Ama upang bungkalin ang lupa ng ating buhay, ay naghahangad na magbigay ng isa pang pagkakataon, at pumapayag ang Ama dahil sa pag-ibig. Ang buhay na ito ang “taon” kung kailan masigasig na gumagawa ang ating Panginoon upang bungkalin ang lupa sa ating paligid. Kailangan nating makipagtulungan sa pamamagitan ng araw-araw na panalangin, katapatan sa Kanyang mga utos, mga sakripisyong bunga ng pag-ibig, at pagpapaubaya sa Kanyang pagkalinga. Sa huli, kung hahayaan natin ang ating Panginoon na gawin ang lahat ng Kanyang ninanais, magbubunga ng mabuti ang ating buhay.
Ngunit sa kabilang banda, huwag magkamali tungkol sa katotohanang, kung hindi magbubunga ng mabuti ang ating buhay, tayo ay “puputulin.” Ang pamumunga ng mabuti ay hindi isang opsiyon; ito ay kinakailangan. Ito ay malinaw na tanda ng ating kalusugang espirituwal at magiging sukatan ng ating walang-hanggang gantimpala o walang-hanggang kamatayan. Huwag matakot sa gayong matitinding pananalita ng ating Panginoon. Sinabi Niya ang mga ito nang may pag-ibig upang malaman natin ang mabigat nating tungkuling magbunga ng mabuti sa ating buhay.
Pagnilayan ngayon ang mga panlabas na tanda ng iyong panloob na kalusugang espirituwal. Nakikita mo bang sumisibol ang mga birtud sa iyong buhay? Namamalayan mo ba ang gawaing ninanais ng Diyos na isakatuparan sa iyong kaluluwa upang bungkalin ito at patabain ng biyaya at awa? Sabihin mo sa Kanya ang iyong “Oo” sa araw na ito at hayaang magbunga nang sagana ng mabuti ang biyayang iyon.
Lord, I invite You into my soul to cultivate it and to fertilize it with Your grace. Please prune my sins and help me to sink my roots deeply into the nourishment of Your mercy. I am sorry for the ways that I have failed to bear fruit in my life. I now entrust myself to You so that Your care will remedy all my ills and weaknesses. Jesus, I trust in You.
40 Days at the Foot of the Cross – Reflection Eighteen – “This is My Body…This is My Blood”
Higit pang mga Pagninilay sa Ebanghelyo
Mga Pagninilay sa Inaawit na Awa ng Diyos
(Note: This Gospel is optional for Years B & C with Scrutinies)
Quenching Your Thirst with Living Water
The Third Sunday of Lent, Year A
“Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” John 4:29
This is the story of a woman who encountered Jesus at the well. She comes to the well in the middle of the noonday heat so as to avoid the other women of her town for fear of encountering their judgment upon her, for she was a sinful woman. At the well she encounters Jesus. Jesus speaks with her for a while and she is deeply touched by this casual but transforming conversation.
The first thing to note is that the very fact of Jesus speaking to her touched her. She was a Samaritan woman and Jesus was a Jewish man. Jewish men did not speak to Samaritan women. But there was something more that Jesus said that deeply affected her. As the woman herself tells us, He “told me everything I have done.”
She wasn’t only impressed that Jesus knew all about her past as if He were a mind reader or magician. There is more to this encounter than the simple fact that Jesus told her all about her past sins. What truly seemed to touch her was that within the context of Jesus knowing all about her, all the sins of her past life and her broken relationships, He still treated her with the greatest respect and dignity. This was a new experience for her!
We can be certain that she would have daily experienced a sort of community shame. The way she lived in the past and the way she was living at the present was not an acceptable lifestyle. And she felt the shame of it which, as mentioned above, was the reason she came to the well in the middle of the day. She was avoiding others.
But here was Jesus. He knew all about her but wanted to give her Living Water nonetheless. He wanted to satiate the thirst that she was feeling in her soul. As He spoke to her, and as she experienced His gentleness and acceptance, that thirst began to be quenched. It began to be quenched because what she really needed, what we all need, is this perfect love and acceptance that Jesus offers. He offered it to her, and He offers it to us.
Interestingly, the woman went away and “left her water jar” by the well. She never actually got the water she came for. Or did she? Symbolically, this act of leaving the water jar at the well is a sign that her thirst was quenched by this encounter with Jesus. She was no longer thirsty, at least spiritually speaking. Jesus, the Living Water, satiated.
Reflect, today, upon the undeniable thirst that is within you. Once you are aware of it, make the conscious choice to let Jesus satiate it with Living Water. If you do this, you too will leave the many “jars” behind that never satisfy for very long.
Lord, You are the Living Water that my soul needs. May I meet You in the heat of my day, in the trials of life, and in my shame and guilt. May I encounter Your love, gentleness and acceptance in these moments, and may that Love become the source of my new life in You. Jesus, I trust in You.
40 Days at the Foot of the Cross – Reflection Eighteen – “This is My Body…This is My Blood”
Higit pang mga Pagninilay sa Ebanghelyo
Mga Pagninilay sa Inaawit na Awa ng Diyos
