CATHOLIC MEDITATION: Saturday - 5 March, 2022. Saturday after Ash Wednesday - Year C.

hey [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen greetings beloved of the lord and welcome you are listening to catholic meditation with me for the blessed today is saturday the 5th of march 2022 it is saturday after ash wednesday good morning and thanks for joining us let us pray almighty ever-living god look with compassion on our weakness and ensure us your protection by stretching forth the right hand of your majesty through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns within the unity of the holy spirit one god forever and ever amen the first reading is taken from the prophet isaiah chapter 58 verses 9 to 14. the responsorial psalm is taken from psalm 86 the response to the psalm is teach me o lord your way so that i may walk in your truth the gospel is taken from saint luke chapter 5 verses 27 32. i read from the gospel at that time jesus saw a tax collector named levi sitting at the tax office and he said to him follow me and he left everything and rose and followed him and levi made him a great feast in his house and there was a large company of tax collectors and others sitting at table with them and the pharisees and their scribes murmured against his disciples saying why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners and jesus answered them those who are well have no need of a doctor but those who are sick i have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance the gospel of the lord praise to you lord jesus christ [Music] [Applause] [Music] yes oh oh hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] the theme for today's meditation is [Applause] our god is a god for sinners our god is a god for sinners dearly beloved of the lord one reason in fact the main reason for which jesus came on earth was to reconcile fallen humankind back to its creator for this reason his message was repentance conversion believing god and a return to heaven all throughout the season of lent we talk lots about god's mercy god does not desire the death of the sinner rather that they change and return to him he is a god who is full of mercy length is a time that we return home to enjoy god's mercy we come back to him to tell him we are sorry for the sins we have committed and he is ready to forgive us and to give us a new beginning if god were not a merciful god could we have been here talking today if he were not a merciful god could we sinners have been able to talk lent would not have had any meaning but because god is a merciful god he always associated with sinners because his reason was to bring sinners back to the fold and not only are we to enjoy god's mercy we in turn have to extend this mercy to others those who have offended us if you are not ready to forgive them to be merciful to them then your lenten journey will not be fruitful those who have offended you those who have pushed you to the wall whatever they would have done against you beloved this is a time also to be merciful as our heavenly father is merciful dear friends if there had been no sin jesus would never have become man this is the point he makes in today's gospel i came not for the righteous but for sinners he told the people for it is the sick who need the doctor not the well in fact his very mission on earth was for sinners the people were getting offended especially the pharisees and the scribes why was he associating with sinners but jesus tells them this is the very reason for which i came how can you be accusing a footballer for playing football that is his profession how can you be accusing a doctor for attending to the sick that is what he was trained for how could you be accusing a priest for celebrating mass oh come on that is why he is a priest likewise how could the pharisees and the scribes be accusing jesus for associating with the sinners in fact that was why he came so he told them i came for sinners not for the righteous beloved if we were all righteous jesus would never have died on the cross but he came because we are sinners he said this because the people were accusing him of keeping the company of sinners and eating with them he had just called levi a tax collector to be his follower and later that day at levi's house out of gratitude for the convention that he had received out of gratitude that god had given him an opportunity levi threw a party and a table there were many other tax collectors sinners who came a table yes because jesus came for them let us look at the key figures that make up today's story jesus the first key figure he is welcoming he came to seek out the lost and so he would say that even if there were a hundred sheep and one street he would lift the 99 virtues and go in search of the lost one that was why he came god no want batman for die better he changed life and he stopped god does not desire the death of the sinner rather that he returns back to the lord changes from his evil way so this is jesus the one who is welcoming the one who is ready to give room for convention the next key figures of the story are the sinners the tax collectors beloved that god is always ready to show us mercy we should learn from the story of levi we should not relax and say after all god is always merciful he will always forgive no that would be also a wrong interpretation of it and a wrong understanding of god's mercy we should not take it for granted that god is ready to forgive we should be like levi we two should be ready to make a move he is ready to come to us which we should be ready to make a move to move towards him so we should not just sit back and relax in our weaknesses in our sins no we should acknowledge that we are sinners then make the move to move back to the lord look at what happened to levi the moment jesus called him the moment he received the grace of conversion beloved he did not hesitate immediately with a prompt response he made the move what about you you have been listening to god's word challenging you to confession what is keeping you back why are you holding yourself back from confession the next are the pharisees they claim a holier-than-thou attitude they think that they are not sinners and truly there are some of us like the pharisees modern day pharisees rather than look at ourselves rather than enjoy the convention that god is offering us we make ourselves holier than thou thinking we are perfect and condemning everyone else but look at the irony the levi whom the pharisees were angry that jesus was eaten with has become a saint that is matthew who was the tax collector and the pharisees rather than enjoy god's love and mercy they ended up making commentaries and what happened they lost beloved let us not become like modern day pharisees you sit back and begin to judge others and pass condemnation on them while sinners prostitutes and tax collectors are making their way into heaven some of us who think we are too holy we are gradually missing it this is what happened with the pharisees dear god's good people we are all sinners myself the first begin by acknowledging that you are a sinner in need of god's mercy then when you respond quickly and generously to his conversion give room also for others be open that others too may have room for change and for growth support and encourage others if the pharisees truly were holy they would have been happy oh what a great day look at levi the tax collector oh thank god finally he too has been converted rather they were judging and condemning if truly you are a holy person give room for others encourage them to be as holy as you would you be angry if you are well that a patient or sick person is going to the hospital of course not you would be happy that they want to be as well as you who is that person who is fine in health and is angry that a sick person is going to the hospital how can you be a holy person and you are not happy that a sinner is gaining confession so you see let us pray beloved that we may not have that kind of attitude of the pharisees rather that each and every one of us may see ourselves as sinners in need of god's mercy and pray if we have been converted that god's grace may also reach other sinners oh dear god thank you for your love and mercy thank you for always offering conversion to us for those of us who have responded but time to time fall again to sin we pray and beg you to give us the graces always and for those who have not yet responded to your call for confession o dear father we pray for them as we pray for ourselves that they too like levi and many other tax collectors and sinners may heed your call to convention amen we wish each and every one of you every happy weekend the lord be with you may the blessing of almighty god the father and the son and the holy spirit come down on you and remain with you forever amen [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Fr. BLESSED Ambang Njume

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Length: 15min 12sec (912 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 04 2022