Lenten reflection 3 : Second Chance

4 March 2017

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Second Chance

Through the reading of Is 58: 9b - we get a glimpse of the rewards that await us when we obey God's laws and live a life of righteousness and of charity. Whenever we delight our Lord, He will always be there for us, to guide us in our daily lives, renew our strength, lift up our gloom and provide us with plenty.  

Hence the Psalmist aptly sings "Teach us your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth".                                                 (a perfect prayer for us each day when we wake up) 

In the Gospel of Lk 5:27-32, Jesus showed us that everyone is welcomed to be his disciples when he invited Levi, a tax collector to follow him. Tax collectors of those days were considered a miscreant in society, corrupt in their work ethics. Needless to say,  Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for eating and mixing with sinners like Levi. In admonishing them, Jesus' answer was that he had "not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." 

Lent is a good time for us to reflect on all our wrong-doings (all that we have done wrong and all that we have failed to do) and ask God for mercy and forgiveness. Like wise, we should reflect on how and why we should forgive our brothers and sisters for whatever wrongs they have done to us. God always gives us a second chance, just like Levi when Jesus invited him to follow him. Levi as we know, became the great writer, Matthew of the Gospel, witnessing to Jesus' life and teachings. 

Oh, the power of conversion! Isn't it great that our God is a God of second chances and new beginnings?  

                            Most people have no idea what God would make of them
                            if they would only place themselves as His disposal.

                                                                         - St. Ignatius of Loyola -