Tag: Solomon

Wednesday of the First Week in Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

“This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah. Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus refers to the first reading from Jonah, who traveled throughout Nineveh, announcing that in forty days the city would be destroyed. But when the king of Nineveh heard Jonah’s announcement, he called for man and beast alike to be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God, turning from evil and renouncing violence. Their faith in God’s mercy saved them: “When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,” Jonah says, “he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.” Jesus compares himself to Jonah, but as Jesus says of himself as the savior of all through his death and resurrection, “there is something greater than Jonah here.”

God, open my eyes to the meaning of the Gospel as it relates to this day. No sign will be given this generation, says Jesus, except the sign of Jonah. Jesus’ sign as the Son of God would mean that through his Passion, death, and resurrection, repentance would lead not only to a new life in him but in everlasting life. Father in heaven, your Son is your final word. He is what he points to: the God of the living. The invitation to share in eternal life with the Father begins through repentance and recognizing the need to return to you. From the Gospel acclamation: “Even now, says the LORD, return to me with your whole heart for I am gracious and merciful.”

Thank you, Lord, for your loving presence. Let me rest in that today and make a place for it in my heart. “A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://youtu.be/2W-KSOPWWBY

Readings

Monday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Give me the grace today to hear you; yours is the voice that leads me to the blessed freedom of resting in you.

At the judgment  the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.

Today’s reading from Luke follows the one from last week when a woman in the crowd called out and said, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.” He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” The crowd surrounding Jesus would have known the story of how the Queen of Sheba came from far away to visit Solomon because she heard of his great wisdom and sought him out. Here, Jesus tells the crowd that in him there is something greater than Solomon.

God, help me understand limited and limiting human wisdom and the primacy of your divine will. Everywhere, every day, just as the crowd did in Jesus’ time, I seek signs. How do I look to you instead, Lord, for direction? In that, there is true freedom. As Saint Paul says in the first reading, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” To begin, let me consider yesterday’s Gospel reading, where one of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed returned to him, falling to the feet of Jesus to thank him. Lord, how do I begin to recognize throughout the day that all longing—all of my needs—flow from you and return to you?

Jesus, teach me to live in the true freedom of your divine will, which brings healing in this life and everlasting life to come. Thank you for the gift of free will, being able to choose you as the end to which all signs point. “For freedom Christ set us free,” Saint Paul says. Give me the grace today to hear you; yours is the voice that leads me to the blessed freedom of resting in you. “Blessed be the name of the LORD,” the Psalms from today say, “both now and forever.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings