Morning Voice

April 10, 2022 Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion. Readings: Lk 19:28-40; Is 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20,23-24; Phil 2:6-11; Lk 22:14—23:56. “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and glory in the highest.” (Lk 19:38) “Crucify him!   Crucify him!” (Lk 23:21) A Russian proverb says: “After a storm fair weather, after sorrow joy.” And a Moroccan proverb adds: “Some will learn through pain and sorrow, others through joy and laughter, so it is written.” Human life is a succession of mysteries, things we can hardly explain to ourselves, and harder, to others. We travel from joy to sadness, from glory to sorrows, from acclamations to rejections. And only God knows how we face those realities of life. On this day our Mother Church invites us to recall the triumphant entrance of Jesus Christ our Lord into Jerusalem to accomplish his Paschal Mystery. According to memories and the record given by the Evangelists, this entrance of the Lord in th...

April 3, 2022 Fifth Sunday of Lent - Year C. Readings: Is 43:16-21; Ps 126:1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 6; Phil 3:8-14;Jn 8:1-11. “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8:7) A Cameroonian proverb says: “The darkness of night cannot stop the light of morning.” And a Burundian proverb adds: “Where there is love there is no darkness.” Darkness can never conceal the light. Despite the heaviness of the night, a new day always comes. It is the new dawn of hope, the new day of life built on love. While nearing the hour of the Lord's passion, death, and resurrection, today's liturgy reminds us that a new day is about to come. That the sufferings and death of the Lord will be the rising of a new dawn, the sign of a new creation. The Catechism summarizes well what we are about to live in the coming days and sees in it the necessary way to newness. It says: “It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that...

March 27, 2022 Fourth Sunday of Lent – Lætare - Year C. Readings: Jos 5:9a, 10-12; Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7; 2 Cor5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.” (Lk 15:18) A Danish proverb says: “Every life has its joy, every joy its law.” And a Persian proverb adds: “If you really have to sin, then choose a sin that you enjoy.” There is always a great and indescribable joy in repentance. This joy is not only that of the repentant sinner but most specifically, the joy of God, the Father of Mercy. The Lord Jesus himself, more than once said it, talking of our relationship with God. "Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." (Lk 15:7.10) This gives us to foresee that Heaven is a place of celebrations and rejoicing – a place of great JOY. So, if one wants to increase his joy, he must aim at heavenly realities, that is giving up the ear...

March 25, 2022 Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord. Readings: Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11; Heb10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38. “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.” (Lk 1:31) An Albanian proverb says: “A proof of faith is obedience.” And a Spanish proverb adds: “God is a good worker but He loves to be helped.” We are today nine months from Christmas, and we celebrate something special and unique, the mystery of God's love, the mystery of the Incarnation. This feast fills our hearts with joy and gratitude, as we contemplate how much God loves us. We rejoice also to see, how through Mary, the lowly woman, God makes of our humanity, an instrument of human salvation. He associates man to man’s salvation. The Apostle John says in the prologue of his Gospel: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Begotten Son...” (Jn 3,16) In mythology, the Greeks believed that their gods - especially Zeus- mate with mortals to prod...

March 20, 2022 Third Sunday of Lent - Year C. READINGS: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15; Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11; 1Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Lk 13:1-9. “I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:3) A Chinese proverb says: “Those who sacrifice their conscience to ambition burn a priceless painting to obtain ashes.” And a Spanish proverb adds: “Conscience is what tells you not to do what you have just done.” When God created man, he gave him something special that could differentiate him from any other being and animal, his conscience. In simple, conscience is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior. By definition, it is the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together. When one loses his conscience, he no longer is responsible for his actions, and not only so, he also loses the right discernment or judgment between good and bad, right and wrong. It g...

March 19, 2022 Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. READINGS: 2 Sm 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29;Rom 4:13, 16-18, 22; Mt 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Lk 2:41-51a. “Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.” A Swahili proverb says: “A husband of a mother is a father.” And an Ivorian proverb adds: “A father never resembles his son, it's the son that resembles the father.” St. Joseph or Joseph of Nazareth is one of the most emblematic, mythic, and mystic characters in the Gospels. He is never mentioned for himself, but in relation, either with Jesus or with Mary his wife and mother of Jesus and for the mission that was entrusted to him. Not only is he the most silent character in the Scriptures passages that refer to him but also he disappears without any notice once his mission is over. What image comes to mind when we think of St. Joseph? Here is the question that comes to us today, while celebrating his Solemnity. We could get some be...

March 13, 2022 Second Sunday of Lent – C. READINGS: Gn 15:5-12, 17-18; Ps 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14; Phil3:17—4:1; Lk 9:28b-36. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my chosen Son; listen to him.” Luke 9:35 A Filipino Proverb says: “There’s no glory without sacrifice.” And an Akan proverb adds: “Ears that do not listen, accompany the head when it is chopped off.” The Lenten Season is the best time for renewal of oneself, for a genuine return to the Lord, and transformation of life. In that sense, it opens us to a new covenant or a renewal of our promises, to a growth in faith, and a new kind of intimacy with the Lord. Lent is a time for a genuine reform of oneself that can happen only if we seize the opportunity for conversion. It is good to see this dimension of Lent as the time of a new covenant sealed in faith. Therefore, Lent leads us to the most Christian attitude, that is, to listen to God and let Him transform us from within. Christianity is a religion of li...