1st Week of Lent (C) : Saturday 15th March 2025

During the Hebrews’ wandering, somehow God expressed His love through promise and covenants. When Moses proclaimed the laws which God had commanded, it was clear that fidelity to the statutes must be the proper response. God in turn would bless them. However, the people took for granted the covenants of God.

When Jesus entered the history of the Jews, He personified the Laws and Prophets. It means the love that was engraved as a covenant was now revealed in Him. What does ‘love’ mean here? The Gospel used agape. Agape is a unilateral way of loving by which, irrespective of the actions or attitudes of others, we desire their well-being. It is the love which God extends to every one of His creatures, irrespective of how they respond to Him. So, it is quite different from love which involves sharing a strong element of transactional giving. Loving is not liking. We are not asked to love our enemies with fondness. That would not make sense and even our enemies would not want it. But we are asked to reach out and pray for their well-being. This can be done when our concern is more on them than on ourselves as victims. Loving is recognizing that good is within all people. During Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan’s imprisonment in Vietnamese Communist rule, he made friends with the guards by teaching them Latin songs. God commands what is attainable.

Lord, open my eyes to see that every human crisis is an opportunity to love.