17 February 2024 – 1st Sunday of Lent (Year B)

by Fr Anthony Liew

Have I experienced God’s love? Have you experienced God’s love?

It is important really for us to really ask ourselves. Have I experienced God’s love honestly?

Our church tells us that God is love. And the whole Bible can be summarised as God loves us. Whether in the Old Testament, God loves us through the prophets, many prophets whom He sent, or in the New Testament, through Jesus himself and later on the Apostles. And nowadays, in this modern time, through the church and through all of us, one another as the church of God.

God continues to share the Good News that God loves us. Yet, do I experience God’s love?

This is really up to you individually to ask yourself. Is this teaching of the church merely a myth? Or mere thought that our church tries to put into our mind that God is love until some time we are brainwashed and think: Yes, God is love. But do you really feel God’s love? Do you really experience God’s love in your life?

Many of us whenever we are facing challenges, we really ask this question, as what just now the Praise & Worship who said that: ‘Where are you, Lord? Are you really with me? In all these ups and downs, where are you?”

If we truly experience God’s love, do we still ask this question? Do we? Maybe yes. But our experience of God’s love can assure us that God is still with us.

We have just begun our Lenten Season. Lenten Season is a time when we heed the calling of God. As in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus said: The time has come and the kingdom is close at hand. Repent and believe the Good News.

It is a call for conversion and more so a call for a relationship with God where we live in the kingdom of God, we experience His love, we feel His presence. The time has come indeed. Unless and until we open up ourselves, this Lenten Season may be still another Lenten Season in the past years. No effect on us. Nothing. Just merely another ordinary days.

As compared to the whole liturgical year, Lenten Season indeed is a Season of Love which should be able to help us experience God’s love vividly in our lives.

In this Lenten Season, we focus on Jesus’ suffering, who willingly suffer grievously and eventually die on the cross in order for us to have new life through His resurrection. Going this Passion of Christ is not easy. Some people, including our Catholics until this very day, dare not to watch the movie ‘The Passion of Christ’ because it was too painful, to bloody. But if we see the love of God throughout the movie, if we truly experience how much God loves us in all our ups and downs, we know that we are not alone. God went through it for us and with us.

It was really tough to go through the whole way of the cross. Jesus was scourged, He bled a lot. He was denied, betrayed, and had fell down not once, not twice but three times. If not because of the love that He has for us, I guess Jesus would have given up. He knew that it is necessary for Him to go through all this. He had all of us in mind when He went through all these stations of the cross. It was tough indeed.

That is why the night before He was caught, in the Garden of Gethsemane, as a human being like you and me He prayed to the God our Father: If it is possible, if it is possible take this chalice away.

If you put ourselves into His shoes, we can feel that how stressful He was at that time. He sweat like blood dripping on the ground. It was too stressful for Him for He foresaw what lies ahead of Him. Yet, He went through it for you and me, for all the world because of His love.

And these very days, do we count our blessings that God continues to carry the cross with us and for us? 

When you are grumbling that: God where are you? Why people betray me? Jesus Himself was betrayed.

When you were asking God: Why my cross is so heavy? God carried our cross with us before and He continues to carry our cross with us and for us now.

If only we know that He is with us always until the end of time as He promised us before He ascended into heaven.

That is why Lenten Season indeed is a time where we experience God’s love vividly. We would not be able to experience someone’s love for us unless we feel it with our hearts. If your spouse tells you that ‘I love you, I love you’, will you feel it? No. But if your spouse makes something to let you feel that he really loves you, and when you open your hearts, you really feel that.

So our challenge is that not so much whether God loves us or not. Whether do we open our hearts throughout the Lenten Season to experience God’s love. Whatever we do throughout the Lenten Season, be it our church’s traditional Lenten observances: fasting, almsgiving and praying, do we do this in order to experience God’s love?

You know the reading for Ash Wednesday (if you came), it was something to really prepare ourselves to start our Lenten Season at the very good intention. In that Gospel Reading, Jesus said that: Whatever you do, let not be doing it for self-glorification, let people see, blow the trumpet, etc.

All these we do, should help us to feel the love of God and the love that we have for one another in returning for God’s love.  That is why it is important for us to check ourselves. What is the intention of us doing whatever we plan to do throughout the Lenten Season (that is provided you plan to do something)?

If you wish to fast, what is the intention of me fasting? If you think that I want to fast because I want to keep fit (especially after Chinese New Year eating so much), that is the wrong intention. Have you ever fasted until you feel the pain of hunger? You worry when will be the next meal. Do you feel for those who have nothing to eat?

Fasting is to help us to feel the hunger, the worry that those who do not have anything to eat and how blessed we are that we don’t have to worry about food. Those who have experienced hunger, real hunger before, would be able to emphatise with those who have nothing to eat. Only then whenever we see any beggar, we will give money to help. And we will never question whether the person is cheating or not.

Almsgiving is to share whatever blessings. God has blessed us so much and we give whatever God has blessed us with with others so that we may count our blessings. Do you know that those who do not share normally are those who feel that we have not enough. Only those who share with others will feel that how blessed we are that we still have the blessings to share with others.

I still remember one incident that I myself experienced that. Do you beg before? Begging money before?

I remember when I was studying in one place and I have very limited money only. And at that time, I used my last whatever amount that I have to buy my food knowing that I already have my bus ticket with me on my way going back home. It took about maybe 8 hours. After I have my bus ticket checked at the counter, accidentally I lost my ticket.

I have no more money to buy this extra ticket and I asked the counter: You saw my ticket. I had the ticket with me. And that was the only seat that no one occupied. Can I go in?

The counter said: No. You need to buy a new one.

And there was almost time already. I went around to beg. Many people feel that I was cheating. They didn’t give. And one person willing to give me but only 50%. And I told him even if you give me 50%, I cannot buy the ticket.

That incident helped me to feel for others. To put myself into others’ shoes that whenever we are hungry, even though the person may be cheating, I would rather help the person than judging the person as long as I still can help. As long as my conscience is still clear.

I guess without that incident, that experience, I would not know how blessed I was even the little that I had. 

So Lenten Season indeed is a time that we count our blessings, sharing our gifts with others and more so a time for us to spend with God, in prayers.

Many of us do not feel God’s presence when we pray. Do you, at this very moment that we are here for Mass, do you feel God’s presence and love? Let us honestly ask ourselves: Do we?

We say Mass is the source and summit of a Christian living. All the 7 Sacraments, Mass is the highest because at the Last Supper, before Jesus Himself died, He gave us the Last Supper, the Mass. In order to be with us until the end of time. He gave us His own body in order to empower us whenever we are weak, in our sinfulness, in facing all our challenges. Yet, do we treasure this?

Do we feel God’s presence each time whenever I come for Mass?

If we truly experience God’s love, especially during the Mass, and receive the Body of Christ, the real Body of Christ and not a wafer, we would never ask: Where are you, Lord? Are You with us?

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, that is why before the Mass, I normally try to keep quiet. Because I need to prepare myself to experience God’s love myself first before I can share with others. I cannot give whatever I don’t have. If I don’t have RM10, I can’t give you RM10. Likewise, if I can’t experience God’s love during the Mass, I can’t share Christ with you.

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us honestly ask ourselves: Do I experience God’s love? Or maybe rather do I long to feel God’s love?

Without that longing, we may not open our hearts. Without that longing, we may never prepare ourselves wholeheartedly throughout the Mass.

God loves us that He gave His only Son so that none of us can perish. Do you know how blessed we are to have God who can understand us as a human being? For He went through it Himself and He can also emphatise with us. That is why He gave us all the sacraments in order to be with us. That is why through our church, the wisdom of our church, we have this Lenten Season to help us to feel God’s love vividly in our lives, even to die for us.

So my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, is this Lenten Season be another Lenten Season for you which do not have any impact at all? You have a choice.

Do you want to experience God’s love? Open your hearts to Him then.

Make good use of these 40 days. It is not long. 40 days is not long. Make good use of these 40 days, for the kingdom is close at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel and more so make this as God’s gracious moment to help us to feel God’s love again so that that love that we experience may bring us closer to God.

Let us now pause a moment to pray for these intentions.

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