Reading and meditation on the Word of God on Saturday of the first week of Lent, March 4, 2023

Delivered by Father Peter Tukan, SDB from Salesian Don Bosco Gerak in Labuan Bajo, Diocese of Ruteng, Indonesia. Deuteronomy 26: 16-19; Rs psalm 119: 1-2.4-5.7-8; Matthew 5: 43-48 BECOME PERFECT LIKE THE FATHER WHO IS PERFECT Our meditation today has the theme: Become Perfect Like the Father Who is Perfect. In the family, parents really hope that the child or their children reach the level of progress according to the standard they want. If a father or mother targets a score 10 and their children can achieve it, or even go beyond that, the parent's goal is achieved. So perfect parents really want their child or children to be as perfect as they are. But not all families experience this ideal. There are children who cannot meet their parents standard. Dialogue, compromise and openness with each other are to be made possible, so that good relations and living together can be maintained in love. When the words of Jesus Christ who ask us to be perfect like the heavenly Father who is perfect, become our concern in Lent, our situation is somehow the same as children who have not met the standard of their parents. Lent is indeed full of compromises and calculations so that we are able to realize what God and the Church want from us. One of the most important compromises or calculations is the act of love. When we love relatives or friends, this action is classified as normal love. In the family and school, a child is considered kind and sincere if he loves his siblings and friends. Among neighbors and members of the society, we always do acts of love, and this all makes us good friends or neighbors. Jesus wants to teach us more than just this normal and good thing. Although this is a teaching for all times, in Lent it is a discipline and penance, when we love, pray, help, and forgive those who do wrong to us. They are deliberately jealous, angry, and hating us. This kind of love will make us greater and can increase our standard as followers of Christ from the level of just good and normal believers. Through ordinary good works and added to them are our acts of love towards the enemies, Jesus gives us a very high price and high standard, which is to be perfect like the heavenly Father who is perfect. Moses had previously confirmed this teaching to the Israelites across the Jordan River, when they saw that God's promise was very clear to them. Everyone and the whole nation became a holy people to the God Almighty, who is the Lord of the worlds. Perfection like the Father conveyed by Moses required the people of God to obey God's commands with all their hearts and souls. The teachings of Moses were binding and demanding, but were later perfected by Jesus, who made himself the example of our perfection. We only need to obey and be loyal to Him. Let's pray. In the name of the Father ... O Good and kind Father, make us live in the fullness of Your love. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit ... In the name of the Father ...