A SHARING DURING HOLY HOUR on the FEAST OF ANNUNCIATION
by Sr. Regina Ho, fmm
Good Evening, + Peace and Shalom, my good people.
LENT as you know is a period of 40 days
starting from ASH Wednesday. It is a time of INTENSIVE preparation for the
celebration of the Paschal Mystery of Christ at EASTER, through prayer, fasting
and almsgiving. How can we avoid mere routine and ritualistic Lenten practice
so that we can grow to the fullness of Christ?
KNOWLEDGE AND ART OF DISCERNMENT is
vital.
To start with, I like to emphasize the
great NEED of drawing special
nourishment from the WORD OF GOD by
reading, reflecting and praying the
scriptures on a daily basis, not occasionally. This will help us to make
Scripture come alive as well as making Scripture to become our WAY OF LIFE.
Let us learn DISCERNMENT from JESUS.
How? By reading and reflecting on the Scripture readings, for example,
Let’s take the Gospel Readings from the First
three Sundays of Lent.
+ 1st Sunday of Lent. The Gospel reading was on the Temptations of
Jesus. (Matthew 4:1-11)
The Gospel describes the INNER
STRUGGLES of Jesus in the desert and How He uses Scripture as his guide.
·
“Man does not
live on bread alone, but on every world that comes from the mouth of God” (v.4)
·
“You must not put
the Lord your God to the test” (v.7)
·
“Your must
worship the Lord your God and serve Him alone” (v.10)
It is a clear indication that one can discover
direction and discernment of the course of our action in life through Scripture.
+2nd
Sunday of Lent. The
Transfiguration (Matthew 17: 1-9)
Jesus led Peter, James and John up a high
mountain where they could be alone. But Peter got distracted... “It is
wonderful for us to be here... I will make 3 tents here.”
But a voice from the cloud said to Peter:
“This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him”
(Don’t cling
on to your comfort zone. Learn to listen to the VOICE of Jesus...)
Here we see how Jesus was teaching His
disciples on true Discipleship. In
following Jesus, don’t be busy running around, ‘building tents’! ...but rather
we are to sit quietly and LISTEN to Jesus.
+3rd
Sunday of Lent: The Samaritan Woman (John 4: 5-42)
The enlightening conversation between Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the
well.
At the beginning, the woman has no idea who
Jesus is. Let us see how Jesus leads her in her faith journey:
·
At first she was
rather annoyed and rude... “What? You are a Jew and you ask me a Samaritan, for a drink?” (v.9)
·
After Jesus
offers her living water, she answered, “You have no bucket, Sir,..... and the well is deep; how would you get this living water?”
(v.11)
·
When Jesus
touches her personal life, saying: “Go and call your husband. ..” (v.16) she
realizes that Jesus is a Prophet.
·
Then she wanted
to know more about worship and the coming of the Messiah. (v. 24)
·
After Jesus
explains to her, she put down her water jar and rushes back to her town to
share the Good News of her personal encounter with the Saviour of the world.
From Jew to Sir, Prophet, Messiah,
Saviour..., note how the Samaritan Woman grows in her Faith and relationship
with Jesus through this ENCOUNTER!
SAINTS
Besides the Scriptures, we have the
examples of Saints. We can learn much
from Mother Mary and the Saints on HOW to DISCERN the WILL OF GOD in daily life.
·
Today is the Feast of Annunciation. What are we
celebrating?
We are
celebrating the Great Day of Decision: Mary’s
acceptance of the role that God has chosen for her in His plan of
redemption.
A young lady
struggling to accept God’s plan for her. What an enormous mission to be the
Mother of the Son of God! She responded with a prayerful and discerning heart:
“YES, Lord, May your Will be done!” (Gospel Reading: Luke 1:26-38)
·
Last Wednesday,
19th March was the Feast of
St. Joseph. He too went through discernment to take Mary home as his wife under unusual
and mysterious circumstances. Later, Joseph had to make another drastic
decision: to take the infant Jesus and Mary and escape to Egypt in the night!
Decisions
are not to be made/taken according to whims and fancies, but through prayer and discernment
·
ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI
A fun-loving
youngster was deeply touched one day by the Gospel reading at Mass, where Jesus
sent His disciples , instructing them: “Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you
go, proclaim the Good News: “ The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”. Cure the sick,
raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without
payment, give without payment. Take no gold or silver..” (Matthew 10:6 –ff)
Francis then
consulted his parish priest and soon after, he changed his wild luxurious
lifestyle to live in simplicity and poverty for the rest of his life!
IMPORTANCE OF SCRIPTURES (= WORD OF GOD and WORD OF LIFE)
The Word of
God is a cornerstone of our Catholic Faith. It nourishes and governs the whole
of Christian life.
The Gospels
in particular, are the principle sources of life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
St. Jerome once exclaimed, “ Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ!”
So how can I
make the Word of God, “a lamp to my feet and a light to my path?” (Psalm
119:105) and how can I cherish and relish the Word of God as the “joy and
delight of my heart? (Jeremiah 15:11)
The only way
is to Read, Reflect and Pray
Lent is a
Time for a great spiritual Experience.
GUIDELINES ON DISCERNMENT AS A WAY OF LIFE
In summary,
here are a few guidelines on Discernment as a way of life. You need to:
1.
Have Deep faith in God’s active involvement
in your unique history from Day One
of my life. He desires to communicate with you very personally.
2.
Pray for special Freedom from unhealthy
attachments to enable us always to choose what is right and good according to
God’s Will.
3.
Spent ‘quiet time’ with God regularly.
4.
Keep your hidden/ulterior motives in check.
5.
Look for a wise
and prayerful Spiritual guide to
journey with you.
(The above sharing was delivered by
Sr. Regina Ho, fmm at the beginning of Holy Hour on the evening of the Feast of
The Annunciation 2014 at our Lady of Fatima Church Kota Bharu)
