Beginning from the third Sunday of Lent the themes of the liturgy have been related to conversion and repentance. "Unless you repent, you shall perish" was the message of the third Sunday. In the fourth Sunday of Lent, the theme of joy at a sinner's return was highlighted. There, the prodigal son returned home after realizing that it is better to be with the Father than away from Him. This fifth Sunday, we are given the image of a woman caught in adultery and the people who use her to entrap the Lord. To both the women and the men, the Lord stood as the Truth that reveals the malice in the hearts of the men on the one hand, and the Truth who frees the woman from her life of sin.

"Almsgiving" is one of the pious practices that we have inherited from Judaism. In English, we give it the name "charity" and therefore make it one of the instances where love is shown to another. In the tradition of the Church, "almsgiving" does not only mean giving alms to the poor. Because of the etymology of the word, which derives from the word "mercy", "to show mercy", it also came to mean, under the preaching of the Fathers of the Church, "being merciful to others, forgiving". The parable of the Merciful Father gives us hints as to how "showing mercy, forgiving" is practised.

Read the relevant article here and use the following as your reflection guide.

The third Sunday of Lent puts before us the idea of repentance and conversion. During Ash Wednesday, we were reminded of our mortality when the mark of the ashen cross was traced on our foreheads: "Remember, O man, from dust thou art to dust thou shall return." We know however that our baptism has empowered us to become immortal, to live the divine life here and now. We have been called from death to life. Our Lenten journey -- a journey of conversion and repentance -- is a journey away from death towards life in Christ through union with Him.

Peter, James and John were chosen by the Lord to be witnesses to the Transfiguration. The three privileged disciples saw three things that day: Jesus transformed into glory, Moses and Elijah speaking with him, and the Shekinah enveloping them. They also heard the Voice from the cloud that commanded them to listen to Jesus, the Chosen One. Read the relevant article here and use the following as a guide for your reflections.

The first Sunday of Lent reminds us of a victory in the Desert. That victory is a defining moment in Christ's life and ours. The Lucan narrative of the Temptation in the Desert underscores Jesus' identity as Son of God. In this narrative, the "Shema Yisrael" is used by Jesus as the New Israel who has entered the Devil's realm in order to win a battle that the Old Israel lost many centuries before. Read the relevant article here and use the following as your guide.

This year, the 6th Sunday of OT (C) is the Sunday immediately preceding Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. It is providential that the gospel reading about the beatitudes and woes of the Sermon on the Plain is presented to us for meditation. It is a reminder that the Christian life is an immersion in the suffering and death of the Lord in view of the Resurrection. Read the relevant article here and use the following as a guide for reflection.

In Luke's account of the call of Simon Peter, we find the evangelist presenting the event within the context of an experience of Jesus as Lord. It is Jesus experienced as Lord, the Holy One of God, who invades the boat of Simon, calls and associates him to his work. The Lord entered Simon's life by invading his boat, and from there, drew the fisherman to himself. Read the relevant article here and use the following as your reflection guide.

The fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C) highlights the prophetic office of the Christian. When we were baptized began to share in the three-fold office of Christ, the kingly, priestly and prophetic office. The prophetic office has to do with the way we witness to Christ: as Christ the Prophet gave expression to the inner life of the Father, so we too are to give expression by our life to the continuing presence of Christ in human history. The Church calls this "evangelization" -- the proclamation of the Good News, the constitutive element of which is Christ Himself, God's Amen to all human longings, the Father's "Yes" to all human quest for Truth and Happiness.

Read the relevant article here and use the following as your guide.

The third Sunday of Ordinary Time C coincides this year with the conclusion of the National Bible Week celebration the aim of which is to help Christian families read the Scriptures as what it is, the Book of the Church. Quite appropriately, the gospel theme for the third Sunday is Jesus' proclamation of the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah about the Year of the Lord's Favor. It is Christ who gives meaning to the words of Scriptures, the Word Incarnate that is echoed in many words of men. Read the relevant article here and use the following as your guide.

The feast of the Sto. Niño is not and should not become a devotion to "cuteness." The image of the Sto. Niño is patterned after Isaiah 9, about the babe upon whose shoulders the hope of a darkened world depends. The birth of the Christ-child represented in the image of the Sto. Niño when contemplated under the aspect of Augustine's idea of the "Totus Christus" should remind us Filipinos that though we are still relatively young as a Church, we are already invited to participate in the work of our Head. The reading for today's feast about Jesus who tells his parents that he is supposed to be about "the Father's business" is a reminder that being a child of God means sharing in His concerns. Read the relevant article here and use the following as your guide for reflection.