MARCH 11, 2014 : TUESDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
Lectionary: 225

Reading 1IS 55:10-11

Thus says the LORD:
Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down
And do not return there
till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful,
Giving seed to the one who sows
and bread to the one who eats,
So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

Responsorial Psalm PS 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19

R. (18b) From all their distress God rescues the just.
Glorify the LORD with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
The LORD has eyes for the just,
and ears for their cry.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
R. From all their distress God rescues the just.

Gospel MT 6:7-15

Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“This is how you are to pray:

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

“If you forgive men their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”

www.usccb.org

Meditation: Your heavenly Father knows what you need

Do you believe that God's word has power to change and transform your life today? Isaiah says that God's word is like the rain and snow which makes the barren ground spring to life and become abundantly fertile (Isaiah 55:10-11). God's word has power to penetrate our dry barren hearts and make them springs of new life. If we let God's word take root in our heart it will transform us into the likeness of God himself and empower us to walk in his way of love and holiness. God wants his word to guide and shape the way we think, act, and pray. Ambrose, a fourth century church father, wrote that the reason we should devote time for reading scripture is to hear Christ speak to us. "Are you not occupied with Christ? Why do you not talk with him?  By reading the scriptures, we listen to Christ."

We can approach God confidently because he is waiting with arms wide open to receive his prodigal sons and daughters. That is why Jesus gave his disciples the perfect prayer that dares to call God, Our Father. This prayer teaches us how to ask God for the things we really need, the things that matter not only for the present but for eternity as well. We can approach God our Father with confidence and boldness because Christ has opened the way to heaven for us through his death and resurrection. When we ask God for help, he fortunately does not give us what we deserve. Instead, he responds with grace, mercy, and kindness. He is good and forgiving towards us, and he expects us to treat our neighbor the same. God has poured his love into our hearts through the gift of the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). And that love is like a refining fire - it purifies and burns away all prejudice, hatred, resentment, vengeance, and bitterness until there is nothing left but goodness and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief or harm.

Consider what John Cassian, an early church father who lived for several years with monks in Bethlehem and Egypt before founding a monastery in southern Gaul (360-435), wrote about the Lord's Prayer and the necessity of forgiving others from the heart:

"The mercy of God is beyond description. While he is offering us a model prayer he is teaching us a way of life whereby we can be pleasing in his sight. But that is not all. In this same prayer he gives us an easy method for attracting an indulgent and merciful judgment on our lives. He gives us the possibility of ourselves mitigating the sentence hanging over us and of compelling him to pardon us. What else could he do in the face of our generosity when we ask him to forgive us as we have forgiven our neighbor? If we are faithful in this prayer, each of us will ask forgiveness for our own failings after we have forgiven the sins of those who have sinned against us, not only those who have sinned against our Master. There is, in fact, in some of us a very bad habit. We treat our sins against God, however appalling, with gentle indulgence: but when by contrast it is a matter of sins against us ourselves, albeit very tiny ones, we exact reparation with ruthless severity. Anyone who has not forgiven from the bottom of the heart the brother or sister who has done him wrong will only obtain from this prayer his own condemnation, rather than any mercy."

Do you treat others as you think they deserve to be treated, or do you treat them as the Lord has treated you - with mercy, steadfast love, and kindness?

"Father in heaven, you have given me a mind to know you, a will to serve you, and a heart to love you. Give me today the grace and strength to embrace your holy will and fill my heart and mind with your truth and  love that all my intentions and actions may be pleasing to you. Help me to be kind and forgiving towards my neighbor as you have been towards me."

www.dailyscripture.net

TUESDAY, MARCH 11, MATTHEW 6:7-13
Lenten Weekday
(Isaiah 55:10-11; Psalm 34)

KEY VERSE: "This is how you are to pray..." (v 9).
READING: The pagans sought their god's approval by lengthy repetition in their prayers; however, Jesus taught his followers a simple prayer, which we call "The Lord's Prayer." Jesus told his disciples that they could approach God as "Father," a loving parent who was intimately present and already knew their needs. At the same time, they were to reverence God's name and obey the divine will of "Heaven" so that God's reign would be established "on earth." Just as Israel had to depend upon God's providential gift of manna during their wilderness journey (Ex 16:4, 15), Jesus' disciples were to put their trust in God for their daily bread as they journeyed to their eternal home. God's mercy is bestowed on sinners; therefore, Jesus' disciples must offer forgiveness to others. We should pray that we will not fail God in the final test.
REFLECTING: Do I pray the Lord's prayer with faith and trust in God's loving care?
PRAYING: Abba Father, help me to follow your Son each day.

www.togetherwithgodsword.com

MINUTE MEDITATIONS 

Beloved Child of God

Negative comments can bring us down, but prayer can help us turn down the volume on our internal bully and accuser. Only then can we hear the loving voice that arises out of silence: “You are my beloved. I delight in you.” That’s a message that needs to be written in our heart’s journal every day.

— from Startled By God 

 From all their afflictions God will deliver the just

We are to pray this way, says Jesus.
The Lord’s Prayer is not merely a formula to be repeated over and over, but a model for our prayer. The first three petitions look to God and his glory. God is given first place. The second three petitions are for our own needs, expressed in a marvellously wrought unity, based on the three time dimensions in which we live and move. First, we ask for the needs of our present daily lives, without which we cannot serve God. The second petition is for the forgiveness of sins, and brings the past into the presence of God. The third asks for help in the difficulties that are sure to come, and commends our future into the hands of God. ‘For yours, O Lord, are the kingdom and the power.’

www.pray.com.au

March 11
St. John Ogilvie
(c. 1579-1615)

John Ogilvie's noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending him to the continent to be educated. There John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture. Two texts particularly struck him: "God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," and "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you."

Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17.

John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. Ordained a priest in France in 1610, he met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be missioned there.

Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed, arrested and brought before the court.

His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm.

At his final trial, he assured his judges: "In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey."

Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland.

John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250.

Comment:

John came of age when neither Catholics nor Protestants were willing to tolerate one another. Turning to Scripture, he found words that enlarged his vision. Although he became a Catholic and died for his faith, he understood the meaning of “small-c catholic,” the wide range of believers who embrace Christianity. Even now he undoubtedly rejoices in the ecumenical spirit fostered by the Second Vatican Council and joins us in our prayer for unity with all believers.

www.americancatholic.org

LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW 6,7-15

Lectio: 

 Tuesday, March 11, 2014  

Lent Time

1) OPENING PRAYER

Lord God,
you speak your mighty word to us,
but we cannot hear it
unless it stirs our lives
and is spoken in human terms.
Keep speaking your word to us, Lord,
and open our hearts to it,
that it may bear fruit in us
when we do your will
and carry out what we are sent to do.
We ask you this through your living Word,
Jesus Christ our Lord.

2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW 6, 7-15

'In your prayers do not babble as the gentiles do, for they think that by using many words they will make themselves heard. Do not be like them; your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

So you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, may your name be held holy, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven those who are in debt to us. And do not put us to the test, but save us from the Evil One. 'Yes, if you forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours; but if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive your failings either.

3) REFLECTION

• There are two versions of the Our Father: Luke (Lk 11, 1-4) and Matthew (Mt 6, 7-13). In Luke the Our Father is shorter. Luke writes for the communities which came from Paganism. In Matthew the Our Father is found in the Discourse on the Mountain, in the part where Jesus orientates the disciples in the practice of the three works of piety: alms (Mt 6, 1-4), prayer (Mt 6, 5-15) and fasting (Mt6, 16-18). The Our Father forms part of a catechesis for the converted Jews. They were accustomed to pray, but had some vices which Matthew tries to correct.

• Matthew 6, 7-8: The faults to be corrected. Jesus criticizes the persons for whom prayer was a repetition of magic formulae, of strong words, addressed to God to oblige him to respond to our needs. The acceptance of our prayer by God does not depend on the repetition of words, but on God’s goodness, on God who is Love and Mercy. He wants our good and knows our needs even before we pray to him.

• Matthew 6, 9a: The first words: “Our Father” Abba Father, is the name which Jesus uses to address himself to God. It reveals the new relationship with God which should characterize the life of the communities (Ga 4, 6; Rm 8, 15). We say “Our Father” and not “My Father”. The adjective “our” places the accent on the awareness or knowledge that we all belong to the great human family of all races and creeds. To pray to the Father is to enter in intimacy with him, it also means to be sensitive to the cry of all the brothers and sisters who cry for their daily bread. It means to seek in the first place the Kingdom of God. The experience of God as our Father is the foundation of universal fraternity.

• Matthew 6, 9b-10: Three requests for the cause of God: The Name, the Kingdom, the Will. In the first part we ask that our relationship with God may be re-established again. To sanctify his Name: The name JAHVE means I am with you! God knows. In this NAME of God he makes himself known (Ex 3, 11-15). The name of God is sanctified when it is used with faith and not with magic; when it is used according to its true objective, that is not for oppression but for the liberty or freedom of the people and for the construction of the Kingdom. The coming of the Kingdom: The only Lord and King of life is God (Is 45, 21; 46, 9). The coming of the Kingdom is the fulfilment of all the hopes and promises. It is life in plenitude, the overcoming of frustration suffered with human kings and governments. This Kingdom will come when the Will of God will be fully accomplished. To do his Will: The will of God is expressed in his Law. His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. In Heaven the sun and the stars obey the laws of their orbit and create the order of the universe (Is 48, 12-13). The observance of the law of God will be a source of order and well-being for human life.

• Matthew 6, 11-13: Four petitions for the cause of the brothers: Bread, Pardon, Victory, Liberty. In the second part of the Our Father we ask that the relationship among persons may be restored. The four requests show how necessary it is to transform or change the structures of the community and of society in order that all the sons and daughters of God may have the same dignity. The daily bread. In Exodus the people received the manna in the desert every day (Ex 16, 35). Divine Providence passed through the fraternal organization, the sharing. Jesus invites us to live a new Exodus, a new fraternal way of living together which will guarantee the daily bread for all (Mt 6, 34-44; Jo 6, 48-51). Forgive us our debts: Every 50 years, the Jubilee Year obliged people to forgive their debts. It was a new beginning (Lv 25, 8-55). Jesus announces a new Jubilee Year, “a year of grace from the Lord” (Lk 4, 19). The Gospel wants to begin everything anew! Do not lead us into temptation, do not put us to the test: In Exodus, people were tempted and fell (Dt 9, 6-12). The people complained and wanted to go back (Ex 16, 3; 17, 3). In the new Exodus, the temptation will be overcome by the force which people receive from God (I Co 10, 12-13). Deliver us from evil: The Evil One is Satan, who draws away from God and is a cause of scandal. He succeeds in entering in Peter (Mt 16, 23) and to tempt Jesus in the desert. Jesus overcomes him (Mt 4, 1-11). He tells us: “Courage, I have conquered the world!” (Jn 16, 33).

• Matthew 6, 14-15: Anyone who does not forgive will not be forgiven. In praying the Our Father, we pronounce the phrase which condemns us or absolves us. We say: “Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass us” (Mt 6, 12). We offer God the measure of pardon that we want. If we forgive very much, He will forgive us very much. If we forgive little, he will forgive little. If we do not forgive, he will neither forgive us.

4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS

• Jesus prayer says “forgive our debts”. In some countries it is translated as “forgive our offenses”. What is easier to forgive, the offenses or to forgive the debts?

• Christian nations of the Northern Hemisphere (Europe and USA) pray everyday: “Forgive our debts as we forgive those who are in debt with us!” But they do not forgive the external debt of poor countries of the Third World. How can we explain this terrible contradiction, source of impoverishment of millions of persons?

5) CONCLUDING PRAYER

Proclaim with me the greatness of Yahweh,
let us acclaim his name together.
I seek Yahweh and he answers me,
frees me from all my fears. (Ps 34,3-4)

www.ocarm.org