Tag: Mass

Fourth Sunday of Lent

“Live as children of light,” Saint Paul says, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

“If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, worth reading and rereading because of its richness and majesty, Jesus heals a man who was born blind. John’s account of the story begins with Jesus and his disciples encountering the blind man, and the disciples asking whether the man’s blindness was caused by his own sin or that of his parents. Jesus responds that neither the man nor his parents sinned, but rather the man was born blind so that “the works of God might be made visible through him.” Jesus heals the man by spitting on the ground, making mud with the saliva, and spreading the mud over the man’s eyes. Jesus then instructs the man to wash his eyes in the pool of Siloam. The healing causes controversy among the Pharisees, who question the man and his parents about the healing. They are skeptical of the healing and accuse Jesus of being a sinner because he healed on the Sabbath, and they throw the man out of the synagogue. When Jesus hears about this, he approaches the man and Jesus asks if he believes that he is the Son of Man. The man says to Jesus, “I do believe, Lord,” and he worships him. Jesus tells him: “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” In this Gospel passage, the man’s physical blindness is lifted, allowing him to see the world around him. Greater yet, he gains spiritual insight into the truth of Jesus’ power and divinity and worships him. Compare this to the Pharisees who reject Jesus and his healing power remain in spiritual darkness, unable to see the truth of who Jesus is.

God, help me distinguish between blindness and sight. Keep me in your light, visible to you, and bring me to life through you. As Saint Paul says, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” When the man’s physical blindness is lifted, he comes to believe in you. Bring into the light the things that lie in darkness and lead to death so that I can reject them. From the Gospel acclamation: “I am the light of the world, says the Lord; whoever follows me will have the light of life.”

Lord, I want to live in the light of your truth. “Live as children of light,” Saint Paul says, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.” Keep me in your light, Lord!

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

Saturday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

“But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’”

Jesus tells the parable about those convinced of their own righteousness. He compares the prayers in the temple of two people: a Pharisee and a tax collector. The Pharisee took a position in the temple and spoke a prayer to himself: “O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity—greedy, dishonest, adulterous—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” Meanwhile, the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not raise his eyes to heaven. He beat his breast and prayed: “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus says of the tax collector and the sinner: “I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” How often have I been like the Pharisee who looks at others and says, “Thank God I am not like them”?

God, help me see the ways I have convinced myself of my own righteousness and release me from its bondage. Although I come to you at times humbled and in need of your compassion, at other times I am thankful for the position I have taken up in life and despise others for the choices they have made and the lives they lead. Be merciful, Lord; give me the grace to be merciful to others. Contrary to what the Pharisee believes, I am like the rest of humanity and in as much need of God’s mercy as those that through pride I fall into believing I am superior to. “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Make me a means of mercy to others.

From the Responsorial Psalm: “Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse 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.

Readings

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

In today’s Gospel, a scribe asks Jesus which is the first or greatest of the commandments. First among them, part of Mosaic law embodied in the Shema, or the Jewish profession of faith, is to love God above all else. The Shema was a daily prayer for ancient Israelites, still recited today by Jewish people. And then Jesus says, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no separating these two great commandments to love. As in the Lord’s Prayer, to forgive is to know God’s forgiveness; to love others is to experience the love of God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Those others God puts before us daily—whether strangers, friends, or family—are a humbling reminder of how demanding it is to put God first and love others.

God, help me understand that in forgiving others, I commend them to you and learn to love them. Without your grace, Lord, it is a weak and faltering love, tending toward collapse. With the first reading from Hosea, I see you present your mercy as a model: “I will heal their defection, says the LORD, I will love them freely; for my wrath is turned away from them.” How do I dare to say that I will love you with everything I have? Give me the grace, Lord, to obey your two great commandments.

From the Prayer after Communion: “May your strength be at work in us, O Lord, pervading our minds and bodies, that what we have received by participating in this Sacrament may bring us the fullness of redemption. Through Christ our Lord.”

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

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Jesus said to the crowds: “But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him, he takes away the armor on which he relied and distributes the spoils. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

In today’s Gospel, as Jesus drives out a demon from a mute man, some of the people in the crowds say of him: “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he drives out demons.” Others in the crowd ask Jesus for a sign. He knows their thoughts and says to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste and house will fall against house. And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” Similarly, in the first reading the LORD speaks to the Israelites through the prophet Jeremiah: “From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day, I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets. Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed.” The strong man Jesus refers to is Satan in all his forms—sin that takes possession of the person. Jesus is the stronger one, who attacks and overcomes Satan. His invitation to gather with him is a call to let go of what possesses us and follow him in obedience.

God, help me understand what takes place in my soul when you overthrow sin and I am able 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.” When I confess my sins in the sacrament of reconciliation and receive absolution, you take away the armor on which I relied and restore my wholehearted devotion to you; you remove the old armor and put on me the armor of light; you take away my stony heart and give me a natural heart; you distribute the spoils—every good gift you have given me—that I can be a light to others. Just as you sent prophets to the Israelites, you send me your Son so that I can hear your voice and receive your mercy.

Lord, remain with me today. Let me call to mind throughout the day what you announced through Jeremiah: “Listen to my voice; then I will be your God and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I command you, so that you may prosper.”

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

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

These words of Jesus refer to the law that the LORD commanded Moses to teach to the people of Israel. In the first reading, Moses said to the people: “Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.” Jesus came not to take the law away that the LORD had given Israel but to fulfill it. Just as the LORD told Moses to obey so that the Israelites may live, Jesus also came to give life—abundant life—so that we may enter the Kingdom of heaven. From the Gospel acclamation, we pray: “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.” In the natural order, life diminishes; each day is one less day on earth. But so that we may have life, as Jesus says in the Gospel according to John: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.”

Thank you, God, for the gift of your only Son. In his fulfillment, there is nothing in the law or the prophets to be forgotten or discarded. As Moses said to the Israelites, I can say of the fullness of my faith: “However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.” Give me the grace, Lord, to be obedient to the teachings of Christ and his bride, the Church.

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

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

In response to Peter’s question about forgiveness, Jesus tells the parable about a king and a great debt a servant owed him. Since he had no way of paying it back, the master of that servant ordered that his wife, children, and property be sold to pay for the debt. But the servant begged the master and said, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.” The master pitied him and forgave him all of his debt. When that servant encountered a fellow servant who owed him, he demanded that the other servant pay him what he owed. Falling to his knees, the fellow servant begged for mercy, saying, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.” But he denied him the request and had him put in jail. When word got back to the master, he summoned his servant and handed him over to torturers until he could pay back his debt. Jesus then says, “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” The shocking mention of torture is enveloped by the greater message of forgiveness and the consequence of failing to forgive. The same formula applies here as it does in the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

God, help me relate this back to the first part of today’s Gospel. Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who sins against him, and Jesus replies, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.” In your kingdom, Lord, there is mercy and forgiveness. What is alien to your kingdom is fallen human nature. That is why Jesus tells Peter to forgive constantly; in that kind of forgiveness is a reaching out for you, an attempt to be perfect just as you are perfect. The alternative is to suffer in self-torture through a failure to forgive. Help me forgive, Lord, any hurt I hold on to that keeps me from you.

Thank you, Lord, for your presence today. From the first reading, help me recall throughout the day: “And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.”

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

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth: “Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is in his hometown talking to people in the synagogue who must have been made up of family, neighbors, and friends. They would have known Jesus well as the carpenter’s son, the son of Joseph and Mary. How could they be expected to accept Jesus as the Messiah? That is exactly who he claimed to be. In the same chapter as today’s reading, Luke tells us that Jesus unrolled the scroll in the synagogue to these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.” He then said, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Among my family and neighbors and friends, how do I proclaim this good news, and is it accepted?

God, compared to the grandness of the Gospel, things that happen close to home seem mundane and no miracles ever seem to take place. Yet in the first reading, at Elisha’s bidding, Naaman washed in the Jordan seven times and his leprosy left him. His skin again became like the skin of a little child. Give me the grace today to see you amid the ordinary, among the mundane events of the day. Having been baptized and partaking of the sacraments, I can say as Jesus did: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” I can choose to be an instrument of his healing—to bring hope to the poor, to free others, and to bring light to the darkness. How is it that through the risen Christ I become Christ to others in my own native place? And how can I open my eyes to others—those closest to me—who have been Christ bringing glad tidings? Help me take all of this in.

Lord, be with me today in my own native place. Send forth your Spirit, O Lord!

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

Third Sunday of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”

In today’s Gospel for the third Sunday of Lent, Jesus encounters the woman at the well alone as the disciples go off to town to buy food. He asks the woman, a Samaritan, for a drink. She says, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” Jesus says to her in reply, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The woman’s eyes open to the realization that Jesus is a prophet and something greater. Her thirst for the living water grows as she sees that Jesus thirsts for her faith. When the disciples arrive, she leaves the well behind and returns to town, saying to the people: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Christ?” As a result, John tells us, many Samaritans from that town began to believe in Jesus because of the word of the woman who testified. With a little act of testifying, not even in full confidence, the woman brings Christ to the people. And after Jesus stayed with some of them, they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”

God, I want to take in the fullness of today’s readings. Help me understand that just as the Israelites thirsted for water in the desert, the woman at the well also thirsted. Moses struck the rock, and water flowed from it after the Israelites tested you, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?” And from the water that flowed, the Israelites would drink again and again. The woman at the well opened her eyes to Jesus’ divinity, testifying, “Could he possibly be the Christ?” I see in myself the same tentative faith as the woman at the well, I drink from the living water of your Son; through him, I drink from the spring of water welling up to eternal life. With the Gospel acclamation I pray, “Lord, you are truly the Savior of the world; give me living water, that I may never thirst again.” Strengthen my faith, God!

Thank you, Lord, for your presence in the desert of this life. In each new day, I thirst for many things that are not you and that slake my thirst for a while but leave me parched. Give me the gift today that is you—the peace of your presence in this life as only you can give. And sustain in me today and always the welling up of hope of eternal life with you.

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

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

“My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the well-known parable of the prodigal son, explaining to the scribes and Pharisees how tax collectors and sinners were coming to him to listen to him. The scribes and Pharisees believed Jesus and his disciples should not associate with such people. The parable of the prodigal son teaches that God’s mercy and forgiveness are available to all who repent and return to him, no matter how far they may have strayed. It also warns against jealousy and the danger of thinking that one’s own righteousness makes for superiority to others. To be able to return to the Father is to experience his great mercy.

God, help me understand the nature of your mercy and generosity expressed in this parable. The father rejoices in the return of the younger son—dead and come to life again—but he also affirms the older son’s place at home with him and the inheritance he will come into. For the father, the joy is doubled because the son who was lost returns and the faithful son has all that belongs to the father. That generosity extends beyond possession; the father has nothing he calls exclusively his own. Good Father in heaven, you take me back when I have been away and return, when I have been lost and again find my way to you, when I die to whatever is not you and through you come back to life.

Lord, help me receive your embrace today—the same way I have countless times in absolution after going to confession. From the first reading from Micha: “Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin for the remnant of his inheritance; Who does not persist in anger forever, but delights rather in clemency, And will again have compassion on us, treading underfoot our guilt?”

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

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Jesus said to them, “Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders of the people a parable about a landowner who planted a vineyard, built a fence around it, and leased it to tenants. When the landowner sent his servants to collect his share of the produce, the tenants beat, killed, and stoned them. Finally, the landowner sent his son, thinking the tenants would respect him, but they killed him too. Jesus then asked the chief priests and elders what the landowner would do to those wicked tenants, and they responded that he would put them to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants. Jesus quotes them Scripture, saying the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. They understand that Jesus is speaking about them, and they sought to arrest him, but they feared the crowds because they regarded Jesus as a prophet. I can’t help asking myself which figures in this parable I most closely resemble. Am I a good steward of God’s gifts, or do I expect the lion’s share and demand my inheritance?

God, help me slow down today and ask myself where all good gifts come from and whether I care for them properly. What will I do today with the gifts you give me—the gift of time, the gift of sunlight and fresh air, the gift of food, and the gift of relationships with others? The Gospel acclamation reminds me that the gift Jesus gave for his kingdom was the same as the son gave to his vineyard, his very life: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” Help me today, God, take joy in caring for the gifts you give me to produce fruit as I go to work, a tenant in your vineyard.

Lord, let me know you are near today. Keep me in your care and give me the grace to recognize the goodness of your gifts.

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