2nd Sunday in Lent
March 5, 2023
Theme: Go and proclaim: Believing in Jesus is having everlasting life
First Reading: Genesis 12:1-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 33:6-8, 10-12,13-16,20-22
Second Reading: Romans 4:1-5
Gospel Reading: John 3:1-17
Homily by Fr. Romie-Jun Peñalosa
“Our days on earth are numbered.” Scriptures itself tells us that our life here has an end. Without realizing this truth, oftentimes we live our life recklessly. We do not take it seriously until such time we will meet the “dead-end”.
In his homily today, Father Jun emphasizes the weight of living life seriously. Realizing that our life is short and numbered, we should value the time and the ways that we live it. Wisdom teaches us to be careful with our life, for death is inevitable for everyone. It is not something to be afraid but anticipated. For when it comes, it is done, and we need to come home to our Father.
Like Nicodemus, we might also ask, “How then we can we have everlasting life?” Jesus replied, we need to be “born again”. And to be born again is to have eternal life. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless, you are born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God”, gives us the idea that we should be focus on the things of God; on the works of Jesus. For us who were baptized with water and Spirit, we should not be complacent, for the moment we have received these sacraments, we have to take life seriously. To be born again means a renewed life everyday proclaiming the goodness of God and Jesus as the source of eternal life. To be born again is a choice, a decision one should take seriously for Jesus himself attested that eternal life exist.
The season of Lent allows us to reflect more and understand deeper the love of God to humanity (John 3:16). It is not a season to delve on our sins, on our failures, on our weaknesses. Lent is a time of reflection, of meditating and securing in our mind the reality that God loves us so much, giving us Jesus, His only son, just to save us and the world. We might keep on sinning, on making mistakes but the realization that He loves us despite our iniquities gives us hope. Hope that nothing is permanent, that we can change because of His amazing love.
So, how we should respond to this love? By trusting God. Faith is love, therefore let us not confide this truth within us but profess it with our lives, every day.
Finally, Father Jun challenge us to spend the Lenten weeks in contemplating the love of God; urging us to withdraw from things that makes us too busy, to temporarily distance from people so that we can listen more to God and be focused on what He is saying to us.
Recap by:
MERCY DE LA CRUZ-ESPIRITU
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