Saturday Third Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 13, 2010
First Reading: Hos 6:1-6;
Responsorial Psalm: 51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab ;
Gospel: Lk 18:9-14 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

First Reading:  Hos 6:1-6
“Come, let us return to the LORD,
it is he who has rent, but he will heal us;
he has struck us, but he will bind our wounds.
He will revive us after two days;
on the third day he will raise us up,
to live in his presence.
Let us know, let us strive to know the LORD;
as certain as the dawn is his coming,
and his judgment shines forth like the light of day!
He will come to us like the rain,
like spring rain that waters the earth.” What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your piety is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that early passes away.
For this reason I smote them through the prophets,
I slew them by the words of my mouth;
For it is love that I desire, not sacrifice,
and knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Responsorial Psalm  51:3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab
R.         It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
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.
R.        It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R.        It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.
Be bountiful, O LORD, to Zion in your kindness
by rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem;
Then shall you be pleased with due sacrifices,
burnt offerings and holocausts.
R.        It is mercy I desire, and not sacrifice.

Gospel   Lk 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable
to those who were convinced of their own righteousness
and despised everyone else.
“Two people went up to the temple area to pray;
one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this 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.’
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.’
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.”

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Commentary: The Gospel today always reminds me the story of the wooden beam in my own eye, and the splinter in the other man's eye. It also calls to mind some well formed words by Thomas Kempis in his book, Imitation of Christ - Book 2, chapter 4.

So, let me be quiet and work on myself. There is plenty of work to do.

Thursday, Third Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 11, 2010
First Reading: Jer 7:23-28;
Responsorial Psalm: 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 ;
Gospel: Lk 11:14-23 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

First Reading:  Jer 7:23-28
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
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.
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
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;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;

Responsorial Psalm  95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R.         If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R.        If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Gospel   Lk 11:14-23
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said 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?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
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.”

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Commentary: A few years ago, I was really annoyed with Jeremiah - I thought he was overbearing and just liked to get into people's faces. But years later, I read a section in Jeremiah,  chapter 20, v7 that helped me understand the kind of man Jeremiah was. In this passage, poor Jeremiah was having an interior crisis and he begins a lament to God, that basically says - You duped me and You are too strong for me, God. I try and be quiet, but I have no control and You, God compel me to speak. The poor prophet was just wired the way he was when God created him. Understanding that, it makes it a lot easier to listen to the words Jeremiah is trying to share to his countrymen. Jeremiah knows full well that his words will cause his friends to hate him, and the truth is, he loves them all very much, yet he has no choice but to speak the words. So, if you look at it another way, Jeremiah was only guilty of being the man God asked him to be. And that made me think about God and the box we all tend to want to put the divine in. God is bigger than my box.

I began to look at God in another way. I wondered if God was so big, the only way to see Him better, was to see Him in everything and everyone. And I thought of this everything/everyone as a giant jig-saw puzzle. I used to spend most of my time with people in my little part of the jig-saw puzzle, because it was more comfortable. I needed to branch out.

My final thought today - I am thankful for the people who give me hard words to hear, realizing that in virtually every case, they are only trying to help. And have something for me, a gift, words that I needed to hear.