She has shown great love

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 7:36-50.
A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table.
Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner."
Jesus said to him in reply, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.
Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?"
Simon said in reply, "The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven." He said to him, "You have judged rightly."
Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment.
So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."
He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
The others at table said to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
But he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Commentary of the day
Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and Doctor of the Church
Sermon 7 on the Song of Songs

"She has shown great love"

"Let him kiss me," she says, "with the kiss of his mouth" (Sg 1,1). Who is speaking? The Bride. But why "Bride"? She is the soul which thirsts for God. And to whom does she speak. To her God... For no names can be found as sweet as those in which the Word and the soul exchange affections, as Bridegroom and Bride, for to such everything is common. Nothing is the property of one and not the other, nothing is held separately. They share one inheritance, one table, one house, one bed, one flesh. For this she leaves her father and her mother and clings to her husband and they two are one flesh (Gn 2,24)...

So then love especially and chiefly belongs to those who are married and it is not inappropriate to call the loving soul a Bride. For she who asks a kiss feels love. She does not ask for freedom or payment or an inheritance or learning, but for a kiss, in the manner of a most chaste bride, who sighs for holy love; and she cannot disguise the flame which is so evident...

She loves most chastely who seeks him whom she loves and not some other thing which belongs to him. She loves in a holy way, because she does not love in fleshly desire but in purity of spirit. She loves ardently, because she is drunk with love so that she cannot see his majesty. What? He it is "who looks on the earth and causes it to tremble" (Ps 103,32). And she asks him for a kiss? Is she drunk? Indeed she is drunk with love for God!... Oh, what force of love! What great confidence of spirit! What freedom! What is more evident than that perfect love casts out fear? (1Jn 4,18).


My Reflection:
Perfect love casts out fear. I can still remember when I was a little boy of about 10 years old, when I did something wrong to my parents or when they get angry with me, I easily find a way to make them smile.

What's my secret?

I do household chores. I sweep the floor, clean the dishes and a lot lot more.

I love my parents. Now I am 34 years old, even though I am married, my family and I make it a point to visit them every weekends just to help them do the household chores or even cook for their breakfast.

"Behold your Mother."

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 19:25-27.

Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son."
Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.

Commentary of the day
Rupert of Deutz (c.1075-1130), Benedictine monk
Commentary on Saint Johns Gospel, 13 ; PL 169, 789

"Behold, your mother."

Woman, this is your son. This is your mother.» By what right is the disciple whom Jesus loved the son of the Lord's mother? By what right is she his mother? By the fact that, without pain, she brought into the world the salvation of us all when she gave birth in the flesh to the God-man. But now she is in labor with great pain as she stands at the foot of the cross.

At the hour of his Passion, the Lord himself rightly compared the apostles to a woman in childbirth when he said: «When a woman is in labor she is in anguish because a child is born into the world» (cf. Jn 16,21). How much more, then, might such a son compare such a mother, the mother standing at the foot of his cross, to a woman in labor? What am I saying? «Compare»? She is indeed truly a woman and truly a mother and, at this hour, she is truly experiencing the pains of childbirth. When her son was born she did not experience the anguish of giving birth in pain as other women do; it is now that she is suffering, that she is crucified, that she experiences sorrow like a woman in labor, because her hour has come ( Jn 16,21; cf.13,1; 17,1)...

When this hour has passed, when the sword of sorrow has completely pierced her soul in labor (Lk 2,35), then no more shall she «remember the pain because a child has been born into the world» – the new man who renews the entire human race and reigns for ever over the whole world, truly born, beyond all suffering, immortal, the firstborn from the dead. If the Virgin has thus brought the salvation of us all into the world, in her son's Passion, then she is indeed the mother of us all.

My Reflection:
Today's gospel marks the celebration of Lady of Sorrows. Having a mother who gives me life and helped me see the beauty of creation is totally a blessing for me. My Mom's love is unconditional. She gave what is best for me. My mom is an example of a faithful servant. I really love my mom.

Mom, thank you for bringing me up in this world.

"For God so loved the world..."

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3:13-17.
No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man.
And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.


Commentary of the day
Pope Benedict XVI
Homily the Paschal Vigil, 07/04/2007 (©Libreria Editrice Vaticana)

"He gave himself up to death and by his resurrection he destroyed death and restored life" (Eucharistic Prayer IV)

In the Creed we say about Christ's journey that he «descended into hell»... The liturgy applies to Jesus' descent into the night of death the words of Psalm 23[24]: «Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up, O ancient doors!» The gates of death are closed, no one can return from there. There is no key for those iron doors. But Christ has the key. His Cross opens wide the gates of death, the stern doors. They are barred no longer. His Cross, his radical love, is the key that opens them. The love of the One who, though God, became man in order to die – this love has the power to open those doors. This love is stronger than death.

The Easter icons of the Oriental Church show how Christ enters the world of the dead. He is clothed with light, for God is light. «The night is bright as the day, the darkness is as light» (cf. Ps 138[139]12). Entering the world of the dead, Jesus bears the stigmata, the signs of his passion: his wounds, his suffering, have become power: they are love that conquers death. He meets Adam and all the men and women waiting in the night of death. As we look at them, we can hear an echo of the prayer of Jonah: «Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice» (Jon 2:2).

In the incarnation, the Son of God became one with human beings – with Adam. But only at this moment, when he accomplishes the supreme act of love by descending into the night of death, does he bring the journey of the incarnation to its completion. By his death he now clasps the hand of Adam, of every man and woman who awaits him, and brings them to the light.

My Reflection:
God really really loves mankind. But am I responding to His promise? How can I contribute to the society especially now that we are in the modern age of technology wherein people are so much focused on earthly things. I know that God has a special plans in my life. All I have to do is to die in myself so that others may live. Doing this blog makes me an instrument to propagate His Good news of salvation.

Will you follow Him also?
Pray for it...