3rd Sunday of Lent - Year 2 Cycle C - March 20, 2022

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Now into the third week of the Season of Lent, our Sunday Gospel prepares us to hear Lent's call to conversion and repentance. Today's reading is found in the chapters of Luke's Gospel that describe Jesus' journey to Jerusalem. During this journey, Jesus teaches and heals. He must also respond to those who question and challenge his authority and actions. There is no parallel in Mark's or Matthew's Gospels for today's reading from Luke. While Mark and Matthew describe an incident in which Jesus curses the fig tree, today's reading makes the barren fig tree the subject of a parable.
Luke tells us that some among the crowds report to Jesus a massacre of Galileans by Pilate. The intention of the crowd seems to be to ask Jesus to explain why these people suffered. It was commonplace to render people's suffering as evidence of their sinfulness. Jesus challenges this interpretation. Those who were massacred were no more or less sinful than the ones who report the situation to Jesus. Jesus replies that even a fatal accident, a natural disaster, ought not to be interpreted as punishment for sin.
Jesus' words at first appear to have a fire-and-brimstone quality. Jesus says in essence, “Repent or perish as these people did; all are sinful before God and deserving of God's punishment.” The tone changes, however, in the parable that follows. The parable of the barren fig tree contrasts the patience and hopefulness of the gardener with the practicality of the property owner. When told to cut down the fig tree because it is not producing fruit, the gardener counsels patience. If properly tended, the barren fig tree may yet bear fruit.
Throughout his journey to Jerusalem, Jesus has been teaching about the Kingdom of God. In this parable, we find an image of God's patience and hopefulness as he prepares his Kingdom. God calls us to repent, and it is within his power to punish us for our failure to turn from our sinfulness. And yet God is merciful. He delays punishment and tends to us so that we may yet bear the fruit he desires from us.
This, then, is our reason for hope: Not only does God refuse to abandon us, he chooses to attend to us even when we show no evidence of his efforts. Next week's Gospel will give an even clearer picture of the kind of mercy that God shows to us.
 
Entrance:
1.      Tun-I Kami Ginoo
2.      Pasaylo, Ginoo
3.      Alay sa Kapwa (Esteban, Hontiveros) 
4.      Buksan ang aming puso (Tinio, Hontiveros) 
5.      Dinggin Mo (Esteban, Hontiveros)
6.      Hosea (Norbet)
First Reading                                   Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”
 
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers, “ he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But the LORD said,
“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt
and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,
so I know well what they are suffering.
Therefore I have come down to rescue them
from the hands of the Egyptians
and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.”
 
Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites:
I AM sent me to you.”
 
God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.
 
“This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”
 
Responsorial Psalm                      Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11.
R. (8a)  The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
            and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
            and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
            heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
            crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
            and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
            and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
            slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
            so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
 
Second Reading                         1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
that our ancestors were all under the cloud
and all passed through the sea,
and all of them were baptized into Moses
in the cloud and in the sea.
All ate the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink,
for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them,
and the rock was the Christ.
Yet God was not pleased with most of them,
for they were struck down in the desert.
 
These things happened as examples for us,
so that we might not desire evil things, as they did.
Do not grumble as some of them did,
and suffered death by the destroyer.
These things happened to them as an example,
and they have been written down as a warning to us,
upon whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure
should take care not to fall.
 
Verse Before the Gospel                Mt 4:17
Repent, says the Lord;
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
 
Gospel                                   Lk 13:1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
 

And he told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
Offertory:
1.      O Dios Dawata (Koro Viannista)
2.      Kini Mao Akong Lawas
3.      Alay Kapwa (Tinio & Hontiveros) 
4.      Kung ‘Yong nanaisin (Francisco) 
5.      Take and Receive
6.      Prayer of Rupert Mayer 
7.      One Bread, One Body
 
Communion:
1.      Balaan nga Gugma
2.      Dios Namo sa Kalooy
3.      Bawat Sandali
4.      Dakilang Pag-ibig
5.      Kaibigan, Kapanalig
6.      Anima Christi
7.      God of Silence
 
Recessional:
1.      Kinsa?
2.      Mag-awit Kita
3.      Natapos Na
4.      Pagbabasbas
5.      Pagmamahal sa Panginoon
6.      I am the Bread of Life (Toolan)
 

2nd Sunday of Lent - Year 2 Cycle C - March 13, 2022

 For the second Sunday of Lent, we move from Jesus’ retreat to the desert to his Transfiguration. Each year on the first Sunday of Lent, our Gospel tells the story of Jesus’ temptation in the desert. On the second Sunday of Lent each year, we hear the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration.
The story of Jesus’ Transfiguration is told in the three Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In each of those Gospels, the Transfiguration follows Jesus’ first prediction of his death and his teaching about the costs of discipleship. Jesus’ Transfiguration is a promise of Jesus’ glory, his Resurrection.
On a mountain in today’s reading, a voice affirms that Jesus is God’s Son in words reminiscent of the voice at Jesus’ baptism. In addition, the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the mountain connects this story with God’s relationship to the people of Israel. Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, respectively. Together with Jesus, they represent God’s complete Word.
The Transfiguration occurs in the presence of just three of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, James, and John. In Matthew’s Gospel, those disciples are among the first whom Jesus calls. The three men are identified as an “inner circle” among Jesus’ disciples when Jesus asks them to accompany him to the Garden of Gethsemane just before his arrest.
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ENTRANCE:
1. Tun-I Kami Ginoo
2. Pasaylo Ginoo
3. Alay sa Kapwa
4. Ang Tawag Niya
5. Buksan ang aming Puso
6. Bless the Lord, My Soul (Berthier)
7. God of Mercy and Compassion (Vaughn)
8. Hosea (Norbet)
9. Save Us, O Lord (Dufford)
 
First Reading Gn 15:5-12, 17-18
The Lord God took Abram outside and said,
“Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.
Just so,” he added, “shall your descendants be.”
Abram put his faith in the LORD,
who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
 
He then said to him,
“I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land as a possession.”
“O Lord GOD,” he asked,
“how am I to know that I shall possess it?”
He answered him,
“Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat,
a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
Abram brought him all these, split them in two,
and placed each half opposite the other;
but the birds he did not cut up.
Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses,
but Abram stayed with them.
As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,
and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.
 
When the sun had set and it was dark,
there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch,
which passed between those pieces.
It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram,
saying: “To your descendants I give this land,
from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates.”
 
Responsorial Psalm Ps 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.
R. (1a)  The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
   whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
   of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Hear, O LORD, the sound of my call;
   have pity on me, and answer me.
Of you my heart speaks; you my glance seeks.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Your presence, O LORD, I seek.
   Hide not your face from me;
do not in anger repel your servant.
   You are my helper: cast me not off.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
   in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
   be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
 
Second Reading Phil 3:17—4:1
Join with others in being imitators of me, brothers and sisters,
and observe those who thus conduct themselves
according to the model you have in us.
For many, as I have often told you
and now tell you even in tears,
conduct themselves as enemies of the cross of Christ.
Their end is destruction.
Their God is their stomach;
their glory is in their “shame.”
Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
 
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord.
 
or:
 
Phil 3:20—4:1
 
Brothers and sisters:
Our citizenship is in heaven,
and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body
to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also
to bring all things into subjection to himself.
 
Therefore, my brothers and sisters,
whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.
 
Verse Before the Gospel
Cf. Mt 17:5
From the shining cloud the Father’s voice is heard:
This is my beloved Son, hear him.
 
Gospel Lk 9:28b-36
Jesus took Peter, John, and James
and went up the mountain to pray.
While he was praying his face changed in appearance
and his clothing became dazzling white.
And behold, two men were conversing with him, Moses and Elijah,
who appeared in glory and spoke of his exodus
that he was going to accomplish in Jerusalem.
Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep,
but becoming fully awake,
they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
As they were about to part from him, Peter said to Jesus,

“Master, it is good that we are here;
let us make three tents,
one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
But he did not know what he was saying.
While he was still speaking,
a cloud came and cast a shadow over them,
and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.
Then from the cloud came a voice that said,
“This is my chosen Son; listen to him.”
After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.
They fell silent and did not at that time
tell anyone what they had seen.
 
OFFERTORY:
1. O Dios Dawata (Koro Viannista)
2. Kini Mao Akong Lawas
3. Isang Pagkain, Isang Katawan, Isang Bayan (San Pedro)
4. Narito Ako (San Andres)
5. Kung ‘Yong Nanaisin (Francisco)
6. Earthen Vessels (Foley) “Light has shown”
7. Prayer of Rupert Mayer (Francisco)
8. Take Our Bread (Wise)
9. To Be Your Bread (Haas)
10. To You, O Lord (Haugen)
11. We Remember (Haugen)
 
COMMUNION:
1. Misyon sa Tawo
2.  Ang Atong Tulubagon
3.  Ang Tawo Niining kalibutan
4.  O Krus Kaluwasan
5. Ama kong Mahal (Aquino)
6. Ang Biyaya ng Diyos (Judan, Hontiveros)
7. Huwag Kang Mangamba (Pagsanghan, Francisco)
8. Huwag Mangamba (Francisco)
9. Liwanag ng Aming Puso (Tagle, Hontiveros)
10. Liwanagan Mo, Hesus (Aquino)
11. Manalig Ka (Perez)
12. Panginoon, Aking Tanglaw (Ramirez)
13. Sa Piling Mo (Borres, Que)
14. Sa Iyong mga Yapak (Cerino)
15. Saan Kami Tutungo (Macalinao, Hontiveros)
16. Salmo 27 (Magnaye)
17. Be Not Afraid (Dufford)
18. Far Greater Love (Go, Francisco)
19. Now We Remain (Haas)
20. Only This I Want (Schutte)
21. Yahweh the Faithful One (Schutte) “Yahweh’s love” becomes “The Lord’s love”
22. On Eagle’s Wings (Joncas) “shine like the sun”
23. Prayer for Peace (Haas)
24. Empty Space (Go & Francisco)
 
RECESSIONAL:
1. Asin ug Kahayag
2. Kinsa?
3. Pananagutan (Hontiveros)
4. Sino’ng Makapaghihiwalay (Anunciata)
5. Brother to Brother (Hontiveros)
6. Service (Ceasar)
7. Time to Change (Jacinto)
8. What You Hear in the Dark (Schutte) Prioritize Stanzas 1 & 2.