Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 242
Lectionary: 242
“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.
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.
R. (see Hosea
6:6) 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.
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.
If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.
harden not your hearts.
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.”
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.”
Meditation: "God, be merciful to me a
sinner!"
How can we know if our prayer is pleasing to God or not? The
prophet Hosea, who spoke in God's name, said: "I desire steadfast love and
not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6). The prayers and sacrifices we make to God mean
nothing to him if they do not spring from a heart of love for God and for one's
neighbor. How can we expect God to hear our prayers if we do not approach him
with humility and with a contrite heart that seeks mercy and forgiveness? We
stand in constant need of God's grace and help. That is why Scripture tells us
that "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James
4:6; Proverbs 3:34).
Jesus reinforced this warning with a vivid story of two people
at prayer. Why did the Lord accept one person's prayer and reject the other's
prayer? Luke gives us a hint: despising one's neighbor closes the door to God's
heart. Expressing disdain and contempt for others is more than being
mean-minded. It springs from the assumption that one is qualified to sit in the
seat of judgment and to publicly shame those who do not conform to our
standards and religious practices. Jesus' story caused offense to the
religious-minded Pharisees who regarded "tax collectors" as unworthy
of God's grace and favor. How could Jesus put down a "religious
person" and raise up a "public sinner"?
Jesus' parable speaks about the nature of prayer and our
relationship with God. It does this by contrasting two very different attitudes
towards prayer. The Pharisee, who represented those who take pride in their
religious practices, exalted himself at the expense of others. Absorbed with
his own sense of self-satisfaction and self-congratulation, his boastful prayer
was centered on his good religious practices rather than on God's goodness,
grace, and pardon. Rather than humbling himself before God and asking for God's
mercy and help, this man praised himself while despising those he thought less
worthy. The Pharisee tried to justify himself before God and before those he
despised; but only God can justify us. The tax collector, who represented those
despised by religious-minded people, humbled himself before God and begged for
mercy. His prayer was heard by God because he had true sorrow for his
sins. He sought God with humility rather than with pride.
This parable presents both an opportunity and a warning. Pride
leads to self-deception and spiritual blindness. True humility helps us to see
ourselves as we really are in God's eyes and it inclines us to seek God's help
and mercy. God dwells with the humble of heart who recognize their own
sinfulness and who acknowledge God's mercy and saving grace. I dwell in
the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and humble
spirit (Isaiah 57:15). God cannot hear us if we boast in ourselves and
despise others. Do you humbly seek God's mercy and do you show mercy to others,
especially those you find difficult to love and to forgive?
"Lord Jesus, may your love and truth transform my life - my
inner thoughts, intentions, and attitudes, and my outward behavior, speech, and
actions. Where I lack charity, kindness, and forbearance, help me to embrace
your merciful love and to seek the good of my neighbor, even those who cause me
ill-favor or offense. May I always love as you have loved and forgive others as
you have forgiven."
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Into the Abyss of Our Unworthiness |
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March 14, 2015. Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
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Luke 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." Introductory Prayer: Lord, I believe in you. I believe that you have created me and redeemed me from sin. I believe that everything that is good in my life comes from you : my existence, my faith, my education, what virtues I have. I come to you today in prayer to place my life before you. I know that you are the source of all goodness in me. So often I wonder if I really know how to pray. I wonder how fruitful my prayer is. In the face of my misery I offer you the one thing I know I can offer: my humility before your majesty. Petition: Lord, help me to be humble when I approach you in prayer 1. Parallel Monologues, Not Conversation: The Pharisee went up to the Temple to pray. We can assume that his intention was to talk with God. As he stood there in the Temple, he thought he was praying: he was in the right place, he was facing the right direction, he seemed to be doing the right thing. But his prayer was contorted. In fact it was not prayer at all; it was a self-righteous discourse. If a friend were to ask him the next day if he had said his prayers, he would have said, “Yes.” Is my own prayer sometimes a false prayer like the Pharisee’s? Do I think I am praying, doing all of the right things, but in reality not praying at all and only justifying myself? 2. The Bare Minimum Does Not Satisfy: The poor Pharisee gets painted as the “bad guy” in this parable. But in reality he is not an outwardly evil person. He does not commit grave sins. He is honest, faithful to his wife, generous in his giving. But his pride blinds him to a much deeper relationship with God. He lives his religion as the bare minimum of not committing grave sins. His prayer is sterile. I must examine myself to make sure I am not doing the same, thinking I am doing all the right things but in reality barely living my faith. God does not ask us simply to avoid evil. He invites us to do good. True generosity is what brings peace and fulfillment to our lives. 3. Humility: An Essential Element of Prayer: The tax collector is justified not because he has done all of the right things, but because he has the humility to recognize his own sinfulness. Perhaps he even heard what the Pharisee was saying and it moved him all the more to plead for God’s mercy. One of the most important characteristics of our prayer is that it be humble. When we go to pray we must approach God recognizing our sinfulness and weakness and the fact that we have received everything good that we have from him. This is what makes our prayer fruitful. God loves a humble, contrite heart. Conversation with Christ: Dear Lord, grant me a humble, contrite heart. You know my misery. I offer you the misery of my sinfulness so that you can purify it and do with it as you will. I do not want to live my life merely avoiding the big sins. I want to have a deep and intimate relationship with you founded on substantial humility. Resolution: I will always make an act of humility at the beginning of my prayer. |
SATURDAY, MARCH 14, LUKE 18:9-14
Lenten Weekday
(Hosea 6:1-6; Psalm 51)
KEY VERSE: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (v 14).
TO KNOW: The Pharisees were a sect within Judaism who carefully observed the written law. In opposition to the Sadducees, the Pharisees also followed the traditional oral law, the 613 decrees beyond the Ten Commandments. Pharisees regarded themselves as the "separated ones" because of their staunch adherence of the law in contrast to what they assumed was the sinful behavior of the rest of humanity. Jesus tells the story of two individuals who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector (Publican). The arrogant Pharisee regarded himself as superior to others, especially the tax-collector whom he held in contempt. He smugly stated his virtues and did not ask pardon from God for his sins. The tax-collector, on the other hand, recognized his sinfulness, and humbly prayed that God would forgive him. Jesus pronounced the tax-collector justified before God because he repented of his sins and confessed his need for salvation.
TO LOVE: Pray the ancient Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
TO SERVE: Does my pride get in the way of acknowledging my sins?
With broken heart and contrite sigh, a trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. Thy pardoning grace is rich and free, O God, be merciful to me
Lenten Weekday
(Hosea 6:1-6; Psalm 51)
KEY VERSE: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted" (v 14).
TO KNOW: The Pharisees were a sect within Judaism who carefully observed the written law. In opposition to the Sadducees, the Pharisees also followed the traditional oral law, the 613 decrees beyond the Ten Commandments. Pharisees regarded themselves as the "separated ones" because of their staunch adherence of the law in contrast to what they assumed was the sinful behavior of the rest of humanity. Jesus tells the story of two individuals who went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax-collector (Publican). The arrogant Pharisee regarded himself as superior to others, especially the tax-collector whom he held in contempt. He smugly stated his virtues and did not ask pardon from God for his sins. The tax-collector, on the other hand, recognized his sinfulness, and humbly prayed that God would forgive him. Jesus pronounced the tax-collector justified before God because he repented of his sins and confessed his need for salvation.
TO LOVE: Pray the ancient Jesus Prayer: Lord Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
TO SERVE: Does my pride get in the way of acknowledging my sins?
With broken heart and contrite sigh, a trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. Thy pardoning grace is rich and free, O God, be merciful to me
Saturday 14 March 2015
Hosea 5:15 – 6:6. It is
steadfast love, not sacrifice, that God desires—Ps 50(51):3-4, 18-21. Luke
18:9-14.
It is steadfast love, not
sacrifice, that God desires.
The readings speak of
repentance and forgiveness, and of how God responds to our seeking of him. The
fact that God will come is as certain as the dawn, or like the springtime rains
coming to water the earth. Jesus tells us of the Pharisee and tax collector who
turn to God with very different dispositions. He commends the latter’s
simplicity in acknowledging his sinfulness.
Dear Jesus, while we are
utterly certain of our loving Father’s mercy, help us to know in the depths of
our being his faithful love which enables us too to be steadfast in loving.
MINUTE MEDITATIONS
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Source of Hope
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Jesus is our hope. Nothing—not even evil or death—is able to
separate us from the saving power of His love.
Saturday,
March 14, 2015
St. Maximilian
(d. 295)
St. Maximilian
(d. 295)
We have an early, precious, almost unembellished account of the
martyrdom of St. Maximilian in modern-day Algeria.
Brought
before the proconsul Dion, Maximilian refused enlistment in the Roman army
saying, "I cannot serve, I cannot do evil. I am a Christian."
Dion
replied: "You must serve or die."
Maximilian:
"I will never serve. You can cut off my head, but I will not be a soldier
of this world, for I am a soldier of Christ. My army is the army of God, and I
cannot fight for this world. I tell you I am a Christian."
Dion:
"There are Christian soldiers serving our rulers Diocletian and Maximian,
Constantius and Galerius."
Maximilian:
"That is their business. I also am a Christian, and I cannot serve."
Dion:
"But what harm do soldiers do?"
Maximilian:
"You know well enough."
Dion:
"If you will not do your service I shall condemn you to death for contempt
of the army."
Maximilian:
"I shall not die. If I go from this earth, my soul will live with Christ
my Lord."
Maximilian
was 21 years old when he gladly offered his life to God. His father went home
from the execution site joyful, thanking God that he had been able to offer
heaven such a gift.
LECTIO DIVINA:
LUKE 18,9-14
Lectio:
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Lent Time
1)
OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God,
you yourself remind us through your holy people
that all our religious practices,
even this eucharistic sacrifice,
are not worth anything
if we use them to bend you our way.
God, may we come to you
in humility and repentance,
ready to encounter you in love
and to turn your way.
Accept us as your sons and daughters,
together with Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
you yourself remind us through your holy people
that all our religious practices,
even this eucharistic sacrifice,
are not worth anything
if we use them to bend you our way.
God, may we come to you
in humility and repentance,
ready to encounter you in love
and to turn your way.
Accept us as your sons and daughters,
together with Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
2)
GOSPEL READING - LUKE 18,9-14
Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided
themselves on being upright and despised everyone else, 'Two men went up to the
Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself,
"I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like
everyone else, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I
fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get."
The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to
raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, "God, be
merciful to me, a sinner."
This man, I tell you, went home again justified; the other did
not. For everyone who raises himself up will be humbled, but anyone who humbles
himself will be raised up.'
3)
REFLECTION
• In today’s Gospel, Jesus, in order to teach us to pray, tells
the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. Jesus has a different way of
seeing things. He saw something positive in the tax collector, of whom
everybody said: “He does not know how to pray!” Jesus, through prayer, lived so
united to the Father that everything became an expression of prayer for him.
• The way of presenting the parable is very didactic. Luke gives
a brief introduction which serves as the key for reading. Then Jesus tells the
parable and at the end Jesus himself applies the parable to life.
• Luke 18, 9: The introduction. The parable is presented by the
following phrase: “He spoke the following parable to some people who prided
themselves on being upright and despised everyone else!” This phrase is Luke’s.
It refers to the time of Jesus. But it also refers to our own time. There are
always persons and groups of persons who consider themselves upright and
faithful and who despise others, considering them ignorant and unfaithful.
• Luke 18, 10-13: The Parable. Two men went up to the Temple to
pray: one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. According to the opinion of
people at that time, the tax collectors were not considered at all, and they
could not address themselves to God because they were impure persons. In the
parable, the Pharisee thanks God because he is better than others. His prayer
is nothing other than a praise of himself, an exaltation of his good qualities
and contempt for others and for the tax collector. The tax collector does not
even raise his eyes, but he beats his breast and says: “God, be merciful to me,
a sinner!” He places himself in his own place, that which belongs to him before
God.
• Luke 18, 14: The application. If Jesus would have allowed
people to express their opinion and say which of the two went home justified,
all would have answered: “the Pharisee!” Because at that time, this was the
common opinion. Jesus thinks in a different way. For him, the one who returns
home justified, in a good relationship with God, is not the Pharisee, but
rather the tax collector. Jesus turns all things upside down. It is certain
that the religious authority of that time was not pleased with the application
which he makes of the parable.
• Jesus prays. Luke informs us, especially, about the life of
prayer of Jesus. He presents Jesus in constant prayer. The following is a list
of texts of Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus appears in prayer: Lk 2, 46-50; 3.
21; 4, 1-12; 4, 16; 5, 16; 6, 12; 9, 16.18.28; 10, 21; 11, 1; 22, 32; 22, 7-14;
22, 40-46; 23, 34; 23, 46; 24, 30). In reading Luke’s Gospel you can find other
texts which speak about the prayer of Jesus. Jesus lived in contact with the
Father. To do the will of the Father was the breathing of his life (Jn 5, 19).
Jesus prayed very much and, insisted so that people and his disciples would do
the same, because from the union with God springs truth and the person is able
to discover and find self, in all reality and humility . In Jesus prayer was
intimately bound to concrete facts of life and to the decisions which he had to
take. In order to be faithful to the Father’s project, he sought to remain
alone with Him in order to listen to Him. Jesus prayed the Psalms. He did it
like any other pious Jew and he knew them by heart. Jesus even succeeded in
composing his own Psalm. It is the Our Father. His whole life was permanent
prayer: “By himself the Son can do nothing; he can do only what he sees the
Father doing!” (Jn 5, 19.30). To him can be applied what the Psalm says: “All I
can do is pray!” (Ps 109, 4).
4)
PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• Looking into the mirror of this parable, am I like the
Pharisee or like the tax collector?
• There are persons who say that they do not know how to pray,
but they speak with God all the time. Do you know any persons like this?
5)
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Have mercy on me, O God, in your faithful love,
in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
wash me clean from my guilt,
purify me from my sin. (Ps 51,1-2)
in your great tenderness wipe away my offences;
wash me clean from my guilt,
purify me from my sin. (Ps 51,1-2)
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