Cycle A 4th Sunday of Lent

 1 Sam. 16.1b, 6-7, 10-13a; Eph. 5:8-14; Jn. 9:1-41 or 9:1, 13-17, 34-38

Today's First Reading [1 Sam. 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13] gave us the account of the anointing of David as the king of Israel. Now Samuel was commissioned to go to Jesse of Bethlehem to anoint God's newly chosen king. [1 Sam. 16:1] As we heard, all the sons of Jesse who were present in the household passed before Samuel. None of them were chosen by God. While Samuel would have chosen one of them because of his appearance, Samuel was reminded by God that a calling is not based on one's outward appearance. God looks on the heart of the person. [1 Sam. 16:7]

Consequently, Samuel asked Jesse if all of his sons were present. He quickly learned that the youngest one was missing. He was keeping the sheep. Samuel immediately sent for him. [1 Sam. 16:11]

Cycle A 3rd Sunday of Lent

Ex. 17:3-7; Rom. 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn. 4:5-42

There is no more fundamental resource than water, the basis of all life. Water had been a source conflict from the ancient past. Individuals, clans and nations fought for water. Water technologies were developed by a number of ancient civilizations, from Mesopotamia and the Indus valley to later societies such as the Mycenaeans, Minoans, Persians, and the ancient Egyptians. 

 

When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war on Jerusalem, Hezekiah developed a plan to deny the Assyrians water while maintaining a water supply for the fortified city of Jerusalem. He did this by first blocking all the springs and wells around Jerusalem and then by diverting water from the Gihon Spring via a tunnel to the Pool of Siloam inside the walls. (2 Kings 20:20)

 

Water is fast becoming a key issue in today’s world, too. In 1985 Egypt's then minister of state for foreign affairs; Boutros Boutros-Ghali warned that 'the next war in the middle east will be fought over water, not politics.' This chilling prediction is

Cycle A 2nd Sunday of Lent

 Gen 12:1-4; Tim 1:8-10; Mt 17:1-9 

At the bottom of a pond some little grub larvae of dragonflies are crawling around in the mud. They wonder what happens to their members who climb up the stem of the water lily and never come back. They agree among themselves that the next one who is called to the surface will come back and tell them what happened. The next grub worm that finds itself drawn to the surface by nature, crawls out on a lily leaf and emerges from its last molting skin as a beautiful adult dragonfly. It has been dark and murky down below, but the dragonfly sees that everything is bright and sunny in the upper world. Suddenly something begins to happen. The transformed grub spreads out two huge beautiful coloured wings and flies back and forth across the pond to convey the glad tiding of its transfiguration to its friends. It can see the other grubs in the pond below, but they can’t see him. He also realizes that he cannot dive into the pond to convey the glad tidings of his great transformation.  A similar transfiguration takes place in human life too.  When man meets God, his life is transformed. 

 

The common theme of today’s readings is metamorphosis or transformation.  The reading from Genesis explains how blind