whoever makes himself great shall be humbled

Today's Gospel (Mt 23:1-12) says: Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, «The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees sat on the seat of Moses.

So you shall do and observe all they say, but do not do as they do, for they do not do what they say. They tie up heavy burdens and load them on the shoulders of the people, but they do not even raise a finger to move them.

They do everything in order to be seen by people; so they wear very wide bands of the Law around their foreheads, and robes with large tassels. They enjoy the first place at feasts and reserved seats in the synagogues, and being greeted in the marketplace and being called "Master" by the people.

»But you, do not let yourselves

be called Master because you have only one Master, and all of you are brothers and sisters. Neither should you call anyone on earth Father, because you have only one Father, He who is in heaven.

Nor should you be called leader, because Christ is the only leader for you. Let the greatest among you be the servant of all. For whoever makes himself great shall be humbled, and whoever humbles himself shall be made great».

The authenticity of our life as Christ's apostles requires honesty, sincerity and humility in our intentions...

Strong words huh! They are. They are indeed very challenging words to us as we move along with our lives in the daily course of our days.

Today is the second day of the second week of Lent and it is good for us, monks, nuns, priests, pastors, deacons, lay ministers, seminarians and the laypeople to reflect together on what Lent invites us to do.

For me, Lent stands on three firm standpoints: - humility in prayer, sincerity in almsgiving, and honesty in fasting.

More than any other period of the year, we are asked to pray, to give alms and make fasting during this holy season.

Lent is a season of prayer. We do not mean that Lent is a season for more prayer, but it is actually a season for a better prayer. Lent is not an invitation to multiply Hail Mary’s nor Novenas.

You can do multiply them but that will not be in the spirit of lent. The spirit of Lent means better prayer, which means humility in prayer.

The question is not the quantity of our prayer but the quality of our prayer with the compunction of heart that is to be offered to God during this season of Lent.

A prayer that does not take root in our hearts with utmost humility will lead us nowhere. It will just massage our ego and convince us that we are so good. Thus, if prayer is done devoid of humbleness of heart, then there is no love in our heart and so it amounts to nothing. When was the last time you really experienced an intensed prayer with all your humbleness of heart to God?

The second point of Lent is sincere almsgiving. Almsgiving is not just simply giving something to the poor.

It is not simply taking a coin in your pocket and dropping it into a blind beggar’s outstretched palm or into the tin can of a street child.

Sincere almsgiving means thinking of other people. It means sharing time and effort with other people. It means giving selflessly by listening with not only with our ear but with our heart to someone who is in dire need of somebody who has the capacity of willingness to listen and give advice. When was the last time you gave your listening ear to someone who is in dire need of it?

Sincere almsgiving means accepting the apology of someone who has deliberately hurt you. Alms is a general term. It is not simply something that is given out of charity but it is doing selflessly for a neighbor.

The third is honesty in fasting. Fasting is not simply missing food. It is not simply dieting. The season of lent is a time for us to fast with integrity, that is, with honesty.

It is for us to impose on ourselves that discipline. It is craving for something but exercising restraint in giving in to it with all honesty.

It is an honest-to-oneself kind of conquering over our inner desire and passion for something that we want to do or to acquire in our act of giving ourselves to our God.

Thus, Lent brings to us three fruits...

Humble prayer encourages us to deepen our relationship with God.

Sincere almsgiving improves our relationship with each other.

Honesty in fasting and sacrifice enhances our self discipline.

Lent gives us an improved relationship with God, an improved relationship with other people, and a better awareness and control of oneself.

Let us ask God to keep the spirit in us to do these acts in this time of Lent.

Bless us all….