01
Mar
Mar
Reflection: Matthew 6:1-6
Today we enter the gracious season of Lent. The Word of God calls us to be intimately united with the Lord. This intimacy with the Lord should manifest an abundance of charity! And so, we hear: pray in private; give alms in secret; and fast with brightly anointed head. The Church encouragers us to live these three spiritual attitudes that mark the Lenten season in exclusive union with God. While the World is still reeling under the clutches of the Pandemic, human greed for power and superiority is pushing millions of lives into deaths, pains and miseries of war in Ukraine. Despite the international pressures and also a heartfelt appeal made by Pope Francis to “refrain from any action that would cause more suffering to the people, destabilizing coexistence between nations and bringing international law into disrepute,” Russia is waging a war against Ukraine. This is now the largest gathering of the military forces in Europe since World War II. “My heart aches greatly at the worsening situation in Ukraine,” Pope Francis remarked during his general audience on February 23. The Pope made a personal plea to political leaders, saying, “I would like to appeal to those with political responsibility to examine their consciences seriously before God, who is the God of peace and not of war; who is the Father of all, not just of some, who wants us to be brothers and not enemies.” The Pope has set this day – Ash Wednesday as a day of prayer and fasting for peace. Calling on all people, “believers and nonbelievers alike,” the pope said, “Jesus taught us that the diabolical senselessness of violence is answered with God’s weapons, with prayer and fasting.” “I encourage believers in a special way to dedicate themselves intensely to prayer and fasting on this day.” Lent invites us to give alms, and almsgiving must be a result of fasting! An act of mortification should help us to reaching out to those in need. The words of an Oblate Missionary, Father John Wotherspoon, who lived over a decade with the poor people in the street in Hong Kong, could be the message for our Lent this year: “Jesus said, if you help the poor people, see you upstairs; if you are unwilling to help the poor people, please press the down lift!” The plight of the homeless migrants and the poor on the streets in Hong Kong exhibits the sorry picture of our lack of concern for others and poses a challenge before us at the outset of the Season of Lent: The cry of the poor and the homeless cannot be ignored, because they too belong to us. Together with Pope Francis let us continue to pray: “May Mary Queen of Peace preserve the world from the madness of war.”