Arulvakku

19.02.2024 — Emptying of Love

Posted under Reflections on February 18th, 2024 by

1st week in Lent, Monday – 19th February 2024 – Leviticus 19,1-2.11-18; Mt 25,31-46

Emptying of Love

The first reading presents to us part of the Holiness Code that demands holy actions. It details and teaches the Israelites how to be holy in their daily life, with obvious links to the Ten Commandments. Every Israelite was called to be holy for the Lord God is holy. Apparently, the measure of our holiness is that of God himself. Israel’s call to divine holiness meant separating themselves from sin and uncleanliness and dedicating or consecrating themselves to God. While it commands many things that we should not do, the passage concludes with something that we should do and what Jesus declared as the second greatest commandment: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”.

In the context within Leviticus, “neighbour” means a fellow Jew, but for Jesus, James and Paul in their letters, it would mean to embrace every single person. Strict Pharisees interpreted “loving the neighbour” should include “hate the enemy”. But for those who understood Jesus’ invitation to “love our neighbour”, it should extend to those who want to harm us.  Today’s gospel makes it clear that the neighbour is particularly to be identified with any person who is in need of any kind. Later, Jesus pushed this command further to love each other, not in as much as we love ourselves, but to the degree that he loved us – by ‘emptying’ himself and giving his life for everyone. Therefore, “love your neighbour” is an invitation, not something to be even remotely achieved in our lifetime; rather, it is an ideal to be constantly aimed at as we continually try to raise our focus towards God.

17.02.2024 — To Enjoy Spiritual Health

Posted under Reflections on February 17th, 2024 by

Saturday after Ash Wednesday – 17th February 2024 – Isaiah 58,9b-14; Lk 5,27-32

To Enjoy Spiritual Health

The first reading from Isaiah gives a prescription of what we should do to maintain our spiritual health. The prophet touches on some of the things we need to leave behind. These include things like seeking ourselves, making false accusations, and engaging in malicious speech. We cannot follow God’s way if we are solely focused on following our own ways. We cannot live in the truth if we are filled with falsehood. We cannot enjoy divine blessings if our hearts are full of malice. The prophet reminds us that if we turn away from evil ways, then God will renew and restore us. When we have God in our lives, light will conquer the darkness. The Lord will guide and renew our strength with His grace. And so, both sinners and righteous people need God in different ways. Sinners need to repent from sin and God heals and restores them with His grace. The righteous need to persevere in righteousness and then God will continue to nourish and flourish them with His grace.

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