Little Brother Avi Bala Bitra OFM Cap.

  FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32     little brother avi bala bitra                                                March  27, 2022 We are initiated into the life of Christ who is the light of the world. Once baptized in Christ we become his new creation, the members of God’s own family.   On this fourth Sunday of Lent, when the Church already rejoices in the coming feast of Easter, singing “Laetare Jerusalem”, “Rejoice, O Jerusalem”, it is the Gospel of the return of the prodigal son that is proposed to us as today’s reading. And this is indeed a Gospel of joy and peace, for it concerns a truly profound and lasting conversion: that of a son who returns to his father and throws himself at his feet, asking for his forgiveness for having squandered his entire inheritance.   Here we...

  ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD Is 7:10-14;8:10   Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38   little brother avi bala bitra                                                March  25, 2022 “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you” – the feast we celebrate today gets its name from this greeting of Archangel Gabriel to Mary. There is an unthinkable and unimaginable project of God on the one side, and on the other, there is in the world a humble girl whose ‘yes’ was highly expected. The solemnity commemorates a highpoint in the history of salvation: the entrance of God as man into our human family. And how does it happen? As we   read in the first reading, Isaiah prophesied it 700 years before the birth of Christ. God was preparing to send his son from eternity. Did Isaiah know how his words about the Messiah would come true? Most probably not. And when it ac...

  THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,1-12; Luke 13:1-9   little brother avi bala bitra                                                March  20, 2022 The liturgy of the Third Sunday of Lent begins by acknowledging God´s holiness and his claim on us that we belong to him.   It recognizes that we are his own people, and must live in a way that reflects his holiness. God offers us the gift of faith as our path towards holiness. Today the church invites us to reflect on the urgency of repentance in an attempt to enhance our Christian lives.   For us Christians lent is a time for serious, disciplined self-examination, a time spent in intensive prayer and repentance before the cross of Calvary.   During this time of Lent, there is an invitation to examine our lives and change for the better through a proce...

  ST. JOSEPH – A LOVING FATHER Marking the 150th anniversary of St. Joseph being declared patron of the universal church by Blessed Pope Pius IX , Pope Francis proclaimed a special “Year of St. Joseph,” beginning on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception 2020 and extending to the same feast in 2021. This will be a yearlong celebration dedicated to the foster father of Jesus. In his apostolic letter which was released on 8 th  December 2020, “ Patris Corde ” ( “With a father’s heart” ), Pope Francis describes Saint Joseph as a beloved father , a tender and loving father , an obedient father , an accepting father ; a father who is creatively courageous , a working father , a father in the shadows .   Christians can discover in St. Joseph, who often goes unnoticed, “an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of trouble.”   He further went on to say that, “St. Joseph reminds us that those who appear hidden or in the shadows can play an incomparable role in t...

  SOLEMNITY – ST. JOSEPH, Spouse of B V M   The person of Joseph is depicted in the Gospels as a just and upright man. It is not simply a complement given to him, but a fact verified by different instances narrated in the Gospels. Being the father of a small family, Joseph’s character was proven in the context of his family life.   First, his character was put to test in a shocking manner when he realized that Mary was pregnant without his knowledge. We read in the gospel according to St. Matthew: “Her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly” (Mt 1:19).   Joseph went through a very crucial experience of his life when he had to doubt the faithfulness of his wife. He did not know the divine plan for him and his family. Seeing from a purely human perspective, he had all the reasons to be bitterly angry with Mary.   He was entitled to take revenge. Nobody would blame him, if he exposed her t...

  SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36   God’s call is an invitation to enter into his holiness with an attitude of faith and total trust in the Divine.   We encounter a God who speaks to us and we are called upon to listen to him and respond to him.   During the season of Lent, he invites us to convert ourselves and become like him as he prepared himself for the mission of his Father.     As we now enter the Second Week of Lent, our task is to continue to examine our hearts and change ourselves in order to be worthy of his glorious paschal mystery.   We are called to continue to examine our hearts and to repent in order to prepare ourselves for the glorious resurrection of Christ.     God tells us that our thoughts are not like his thoughts and our ways are not similar to those of his choice. As human beings, we do not like change and we resist any change as much as we can.  However...

  FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Romans 10:8-13; Luke 4:1-13        We are pilgrims on this Earth. During the season of Lent, the church invites us to examine our lives. The purpose of Lent is to provide that purification by weaning human persons from sin and selfishness through self-denial and prayer, by creating in them the desire to do God’s will and to make his kingdom alive by making it first come into their hearts.    The real aim of Lent above all else is to prepare Christians for the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The better the preparation for this day, the more effective the celebration will be. One can effectively relive the mystery only with a purified mind and heart. The Church invites all to repent from evil ways and return to the Lord who is eagerly waiting for each one to come to him.   In the First Reading Moses speaks to the Israelites at the end of their forty years wandering ...

  LENT - ASH WEDNESDAY Joel. 2:12-18; 2 Cor. 5:20-6:2; Mt. 6:1-6, 16-18   little brother avi bala bitra                                                March  02, 2022      Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. It is a time of fasting, prayer, and penance which leads us through the forty days to Jesus’ resurrection. Symbolically the forty days remind us of Jesus spending forty days in the desert praying and fasting.   By observing prayerfully the days of lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days and at the same time contemplating his suffering, death, and resurrection.   While sprinkling the ashes the priest or the deacon says “Remember, Man is dust, and unto dust, you shall return.”     Ashes are a symbol of penance made sacramental by the b...