Tag: abraham

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Thus says the LORD: More tortuous than all else is the human heart, beyond remedy; who can understand it? I, the LORD, alone probe the mind and test the heart, To reward everyone according to his ways, according to the merit of his deeds.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells a parable about a rich man who ignored the needs of a poor man named Lazarus, who lay at his gate begging for scraps. When both men died, the rich man found himself in torment, while Lazarus was comforted in the bosom of Abraham. The rich man begged Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers about the consequences of their actions, but Abraham told him that they had Moses and the prophets to guide them. In the first reading, Jeremiah voices the words of the LORD, warning against trusting in human strength and turning away from God, who alone can search and know our minds and hearts. Together, these two readings direct us to place our trust in God rather than in earthly things and prioritizing compassion and love for others over selfishness and greed.

God, help me understand the ways that I have been like the rich man in the parable. His hard-heartedness and indulgence in the things of this world ultimately led to his torment, while Lazarus’s faithfulness and trust in God led him to eternal reward. In his reliance on your providence, Lord, Abraham is like the woman Jesus encounters who begs him to heal her daughter. She says to Jesus: “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” God, give me the grace today to keep my eyes fixed on your hand and on the good gifts you provide me with. Let me trust you and help me be aware of it, be alert to it, and give witness to it.

From today’s entrance antiphon: “Test me, O God, and know my thoughts. See that my path is not wicked, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

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

Memorial of Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Quiet! Be still!” The wind ceased and there was great calm. Then he asked them, “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” They were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?”

In today’s Gospel reading, Mark describes a time in which Jesus and his disciples are out on a boat with other boats and a great storm comes upon them. The disciples are afraid and wake Jesus, asleep on a cushion, to save them. Jesus rebukes the wind and the waves, and the storm subsides. In response to Jesus’ question, “Do you not yet have faith?” they show amazement and awe at who this is that even wind and sea obey. In the first reading, Saint Paul describes the faith of Abraham when God called him to sojourn through a foreign country. He was able to do this, Paul says, not because he looked forward to his return home but because “he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.” In what ways today can I look forward to the things not seen that have their realization in God?

God, help me understand just as Abraham began his faith journey when called by God, the disciples began theirs through the astounding realization that Jesus, who calmed the storm, is the Son of God. As a sojourner, an alien, a pilgrim on this earth who hopes for the realization of things not seen, in faith I journey toward “the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God.”

Give me the grace, Lord, of seeing from afar the reward of faith, the place of everlasting life that you prepare for me. Let me remember throughout the day how you calmed the storm and spoke to the disciples: “Why are you terrified? Do you not yet have faith?” Lord, today when faith wavers and hope in the realization of the unseen flickers, give me more faith!

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