Wednesday 4 March 2015

Lenten Reflections - Week 2, Mar 4 Wed

by Kenny Soosai


Readings: Jer 18:18-20, Mt 20:17-2

Gospel: As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve disciples aside by themselves, and said to them on the way, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached Jesus with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.” Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the chalice that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”

He replied, “My chalice you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left, this is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.” When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers. But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt.

But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave. Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Reflection: In the Gospel today, we see James and John jostle for a position of power with the ministry of Jesus. The actions of the 2 brothers causes unrest and dissention among the Apostles. Jesus had to hold a meeting to refocus their attention on serving the community. He had earlier predicted His own death and crucifixion but instead of supporting their leader, the brothers were too busy thinking of their own position.

We can see this sometimes in the workplace and even in our modern church communities. There are those who would readily serve themselves first and the team/community later. Some people ‘lord their power’ over people. But as Christians, our true purpose is to serve. The irony is, the true leaders are the ones who loved and were respected by their community. These are the one who lead like Jesus. They don’t ‘need’ a position to lead but when they speak, people will follow.


A Step to Consider: If you are a leader in your community or workplace today, ask yourself what value you are bringing to the lives of your community/team. If you are a follower, how can you help ease the load of your leader. Can you lead with love?

Tuesday 3 March 2015

Lenten Reflections - Week 2, Mar 3 Tues


by Kenny Soosai


Readings: Jere 2:1-13, Rom 1:16-25, John 4:43-54

Gospel: After the two days, he left there for Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his native place. When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves had gone to the feast.

Then he returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was near death. Jesus said to him, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe."

The royal official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies." Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son will live." The man believed what Jesus said to him and left. While he was on his way back, his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.

He asked them when he began to recover. They told him, "The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon." The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live," and he and his whole household came to believe. (Now) this was the second sign Jesus did when he came to Galilee from Judea.

Reflection: As Jesus returns to Cana, he is pursued by an official who needs his help. This official travels about 25km on a dusty road to meet Jesus in a desperate attempt to save his dying son.

Jesus’ response seems harsh as he retorts by saying that the people around him will not believe unless they see a sign. Nonetheless, Jesus heals the official’s son and he does it by just speaking. This is unusual as the prophets were often required to lay their hands or to be at least within earshot of the people they were going to heal.

Here, Jesus heals from a distance and demonstrates that he is no ordinary prophet. The signs that he performs point to the legitimacy of his ministry and to the truth of his teachings.

A Step to Consider: If today you are desperate for help, you can find Jesus today still truly present in the Tabernacle in any Catholic church. The answer you get might be quite unexpected, but whoever believes may receive the same rewards as the official.

Monday 2 March 2015

Lenten Reflections - Week 2, Mar 2 Mon


by Kenny Soosai


Readings: Jere 1:11-19, Rom 1:1-15, John 4:27-42

Gospel:  At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking with her?" The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?"

They went out of the town and came to him. Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.

Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.

For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work." Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done."

When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."

Reflection: As Jesus’ disciple return, they are amazed to find their teacher talking with a woman. Yet they trusted Jesus and knew by now that he had his reasons for talking to the Samaritan woman, as unconventional as it may seem. The woman in turn leaves her jar behind and starts to evangelize to the rest of the town. Instead of being scorned, the people become curious and come to meet Jesus.

As they approach Jesus, he sees them as a great harvest that God has granted and rejoices. Jesus is no longer affected by hunger and is filled with joy knowing that his message will be accepted here. Age old conflicts are forgotten and old enemies are now friends.

A Step to Consider: Do we have any prejudices against anyone or a group of people? Do we judge others because of their different religious beliefs, a different Christian denomination, cultural background or sexual orientation?

Take time to examine the example that Jesus sets here.

Sunday 1 March 2015

Lenten Reflections - Week 1, Feb 28 Sat


by Kenny Soosai


Readings: Deut 11:18-28, Heb 5:1-10, John 4:1-26

Gospel: Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, just his disciples), he left Judea and returned to Galilee.

He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."

His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." (The woman) said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?

Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back."

The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true." The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking with you."


Reflection: Jesus was travelling from the South of Israel to the North. He passed through Samaria, a shortcut. Jews will usually avoided Samaria and would go the long way along the river Jordan to get to Judea. The Jews despised the Samaritans even though the two are closely related. Once Israel was one kingdom but split into the Northern and Southern Kingdoms shortly after King Solomon’s death. The Northern Kingdom was called Israel and consisted of 10 tribes while the Southern Kingdom was called Judah (that is where we get the name Jews) and was made up of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin & Levi. The Northern Kingdom was eventually captured by the Assyrians and the 10 tribes of Israel were mostly exiled. In their place, the Assyrians brought in foreign people who intermarried with the locals, effectively wiping out the 10 tribes. So the Jews saw the Samaritans as half-breeds whose customs were mixed with foreign religion. As the Samaritans had their holy mountain on Mount Gerizim where they sacrificed on, the Jews also saw them as competitors to the Temple in Jerusalem.

For Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi to be asking for water from a Samaritan woman in the middle of the afternoon was breaking Jewish protocol on many levels. Women normally collected water in the cool of the morning or the evening and were usually never alone. This women, who came out alone in the afternoon suggests that she is shunned by her own community.

Jesus asks the woman for a drink, inviting her into a conversation. Along the conversation, the roles reverse and the woman asks Jesus for ‘living water’. Jesus then asks her to bring her husband to him and in the process, reveals her adultery.

The woman then recognizes that Jesus is a prophet. As Jesus reveals more spiritual truths to her, the Samaritan woman accepts that Jesus is the Messiah. With one conversation with Jesus in the afternoon and this Samaritan woman who is an adulteress has the spiritual insight to see that He is the Messiah.

Earlier in chapter 2, Jesus also has a conversation with Nicodemus who is a Pharisee and a religious scholar. Even as Jesus reveals spiritual truths to Nicodemus, this so called learned man cannot ‘see’ who is speaking to him and the Pharisees can’t even recognize Jesus as a prophet.

Here we see how the wisdom of God can sometimes escape the ‘learned’ and elevated but can be appreciated by the simple and those we deem unworthy.

A Step to Consider: Have you come to Jesus to listen to his voice this Lent? Or do you already know all there is to know about Lent? Sometimes even when we haven’t fulfilled our Lenten or even Christian obligations, Jesus is still willing and waiting to talk us. If we hear him, He is still willing to offer us ‘living water’ and perhaps even more.