Tuesday
of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 238
Lectionary: 238
Azariah
stood up in the fire and prayed aloud:
“For your name’s sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever,
or make void your covenant.
Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,
To whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.
For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our sins.
We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.
But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;
As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
or thousands of fat lambs,
So let our sacrifice be in your presence today
as we follow you unreservedly;
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
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.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”
“For your name’s sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever,
or make void your covenant.
Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,
To whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.
For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our sins.
We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.
But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;
As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
or thousands of fat lambs,
So let our sacrifice be in your presence today
as we follow you unreservedly;
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
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.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”
Responsorial
PsalmPS 25:4-5AB, 6 AND 7BC,
8-9
R.
(6a) Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O LORD, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O LORD,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O LORD.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the LORD;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R. Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Verse
Before The GospelJL 2:12-13
Even
now, says the LORD,
return to me with your whole heart;
for I am gracious and merciful.
return to me with your whole heart;
for I am gracious and merciful.
GospelMT 18:21-35
Peter
approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “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.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
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.”
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “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.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
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.”
Meditation: "How
often shall I forgive?"
Who doesn't have debts
they need to pay off! And who wouldn't be grateful to have someone release them
from their debts? But can we really expect mercy and pardon when we owe someone
a great deal? When the people of Israel sinned and rebelled against God, God
left them to their own devices until they repented and cried out to him for
mercy. The Book of Daniel in the Old Testament recounts the story of Daniel and
his three young friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who were sent into
exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. When the King of Babylon threw Daniel's three
friends into the fiery furnace, they cried out to God to have mercy not only on
themselves, but to have mercy upon all his people. "Do not put us to
shame, but deal with us in your forbearance and in your abundant mercy"
(Daniel 3:19-43).
The prophet Jeremiah
reminds us that God's "mercies never come to an end - they are new every
morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). God gives grace to the humble and he
shows mercy to those who turn to him for healing and pardon.
God's mercy towards each
one of us shows us the way that God wants each one of us to be merciful towards
one another. When Peter posed the question of forgiveness and showing mercy to
one's neighbor, he characteristically offered an answer he thought Jesus would
be pleased with. Why not forgive your neighbor seven times! How unthinkable for
Jesus to counter with the proposition that one must forgive seventy times that.
Jesus made it clear that there is no reckonable limit to mercy and pardon. And
he drove the lesson home with a parable about two very different kinds of
debts. The first man owed an enormous sum of money - millions in our currency.
In Jesus' time this amount was greater than the total revenue of a province -
more than it would cost to ransom a king! The man who was forgiven such an incredible
debt could not, however bring himself to forgive his neighbor a very small debt
which was about one- hundred-thousandth of his own debt. The contrast could not
have been greater!
Paul the Apostle tells
us that "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal
life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). There is no way we could
repay God the debt we owed him because of our sins and offenses. Only his mercy
and pardon could free us from such a debt. There is no offense our neighbor can
do to us that can compare with our debt to God! If God has forgiven each of us
our own debt, which was very great, we, too must forgive others the debt they
owe us.
Through Jesus' atoning
sacrifice for our sins on the cross, we have been forgiven a debt beyond all
reckoning. It cost God his very own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to ransom us
with the price of his blood. Jesus paid the price for us and won for us pardon
for our sins and freedom from slavery to our unruly desires and sinful habits.
God in his mercy offers us the grace and help of his Holy Spirit so we can love
as he loves, pardon as he pardons, and treat others with the same mercy and
kindness which he has shown to us. God has made his peace with us. Have you
made your peace with God? If you believe and accept God's love and and pardon
for you, then you likewise must choose to be merciful towards those who are in
debt to you. Are you ready to forgive and to make peace with your neighbor as
God has made peace with you?
"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where
there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury let me sow pardon. Where
there is doubt let me sow faith. Where there is despair let me give hope. Where
there is darkness let me give light. Where there is sadness let me give
joy." (Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226)
A Daily Quote for Lent: A daily remedy
for our sins, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Forgive us our
debts as we also forgive our debtors. Let us say this sentence with sincerity,
because it is an alms in itself. Sins that oppress and bury us cannot be termed
trifles! What is more minute than drops of rain? Yet they fill the rivers. What
is more minute than grains of wheat? Yet they fill the barns. You note the fact
that these sins are rather small, but you do not take note that there are many
of them. In any case, God has given us a daily remedy for them." (excerpt from Sermon
205,1)
TUESDAY, MARCH 1,
MATTHEW 18:21-35
Lenten Weekday
(Daniel 3:25, 34-43; Psalm 25)
Lenten Weekday
(Daniel 3:25, 34-43; Psalm 25)
KEY VERSE: "So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart" (v 25).
TO KNOW: It is important that the Church exercise discipline, but it is more important that the Church manifests the mercy of God. As a leader of the Christian community, Peter asked Jesus how often he must forgive a fellow disciple. In the Old Testament, Lamech, a descendant of Cain, exacted a "seventy-sevenfold" vengeance, meaning unlimited retaliation for injury (Gn 4:23-24). The rabbis of Jesus' time taught that forgiveness should be offered another person at least three times. Peter increased the number to seven (a biblical number meaning “complete”). However, Jesus told him that Christian forgiveness must be infinite ("seventy-seven times," Matt 18:22). He illustrated this with a parable in which a master forgave his servant a huge debt that he had no way of repaying. But later, when the man met a fellow servant who owed him a much smaller debt, he demanded immediate payment. When the debtor begged for mercy, the servant refused and cast him into prison. Jesus warned his followers that God's compassion toward us would correspond to our own willingness to extend mercy and forgiveness to others (Mt 6:14-15).
TO LOVE: Is there someone I need to forgive this Lent?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, grant me the grace to ask for forgiveness of those I have offended.
www.togetherwithgodsword.com
Tuesday March 1 2016
Tue 1st. Daniel 3:25,
34-43. Remember your mercies, O Lord—Ps 24(25):4-9. Matthew 18:21-35.
Forgiveness is often
tough.
When I first read this
gospel, I remember judging the man mentioned. After being granted such a
reprieve from his obligations, a forgiveness of his debts, how could he then
judge someone else so harshly? How could he not treat his fellow debtors with
the same grace that he had been shown? Our God is all seeing and all knowing.
He sees us as we really are: he hears our thoughts, knows our feelings and
witnesses our actions. He loves us in our imperfections and constantly forgives
our sins. When we fail to forgive people in our lives, we are just like the man
in this gospel. Dear Lord, help me to open my heart in forgiveness to those
around me and help me to be a vessel of your love.
MINUTE
MEDITATIONS
|
The Spirit and Prayer
|
We discover the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the words of
Scripture, and it is the Spirit within us who enables us to listen to him. It’s
a rather interesting concept but quite true. The Spirit is present in the Word;
the Spirit is present in us.
March
1
St. David of Wales
(d. 589?)
St. David of Wales
(d. 589?)
David
is the patron saint of Wales and perhaps the most famous of British saints.
Ironically, we have little reliable information about him.
It is
known that he became a priest, engaged in missionary work and founded many
monasteries, including his principal abbey in southwestern Wales. Many stories
and legends sprang up about David and his Welsh monks. Their austerity was
extreme. They worked in silence without the help of animals to till the soil.
Their food was limited to bread, vegetables and water.
In
about the year 550, David attended a synod where his eloquence impressed his
fellow monks to such a degree that he was elected primate of the region. The
episcopal see was moved to Mynyw, where he had his monastery (now called St.
David's). He ruled his diocese until he had reached a very old age. His last
words to his monks and subjects were: "Be joyful, brothers and sisters.
Keep your faith, and do the little things that you have seen and heard with
me."
St.
David is pictured standing on a mound with a dove on his shoulder. The legend
is that once while he was preaching a dove descended to his shoulder and the
earth rose to lift him high above the people so that he could be heard. Over 50
churches in South Wales were dedicated to him in pre-Reformation days.
Comment:
Were we restricted to hard manual labor and a diet of bread, vegetables and water, most of us would find little reason to rejoice. Yet joy is what David urged on his brothers as he lay dying. Perhaps he could say that to them—and to us—because he lived in and nurtured a constant awareness of God’s nearness. For, as someone once said, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” May his intercession bless us with the same awareness!
Were we restricted to hard manual labor and a diet of bread, vegetables and water, most of us would find little reason to rejoice. Yet joy is what David urged on his brothers as he lay dying. Perhaps he could say that to them—and to us—because he lived in and nurtured a constant awareness of God’s nearness. For, as someone once said, “Joy is the infallible sign of God’s presence.” May his intercession bless us with the same awareness!
Patron
Saint of:
Poets
Wales
Poets
Wales
LECTIO: MATTHEW 18,21-35
Lectio Divina:
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Lent Time
1) Opening prayer
Lord God,
you want us to live our faith
not so much as a set of rules and practices
but as a relationship from person to person
with you and with people.God, keep our hearts turned to you,
that we may live what we believe
and that we may express our love for you
in terms of service to those around us,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever.
you want us to live our faith
not so much as a set of rules and practices
but as a relationship from person to person
with you and with people.God, keep our hearts turned to you,
that we may live what we believe
and that we may express our love for you
in terms of service to those around us,
as Jesus did, your Son,
who lives with you and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever.
2) Gospel Reading - Matthew 18, 21-35
Then Peter went up to him and said,
'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven
times?' Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.
'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt.
Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me." His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'
'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt.
Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me." His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel speaks to us about the
need for pardon. It is not easy to forgive, because certain grief and pain
continue to burn the heart. There are persons who say: “I forgive, but I do not
forget!” Rancour, tensions, diverse opinions, insults, offences, provocations,
all this renders pardon and reconciliation difficult. Let us try to meditate on
the words of Jesus which speak about reconciliation (Mt 18, 21-22) and which
speak to us about the parable of pardon without limits (Mt 18, 23-35).
• Matthew 18, 21-22: To forgive seventy times seven! Jesus had spoken of the importance of pardon and of the need of knowing how to accept the brothers and sisters to help them to reconcile themselves with the community (Mt 18, 15-20) Before these words of Jesus, Peter asks: “How often should I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?” Number seven indicates perfection. In this case, it was synonymous of always. Jesus goes far beyond the proposal of Peter. He eliminates any possibility of limitation to pardon: “Not seven I tell you, but seventy seven times!” That is, seventy times always! Because there is no proportion between the pardon which we receive from God and the pardon which we should offer to the brother, as the parable of pardon without limit teaches us.
• The expression seventy seven times was a clear reference to the words of Lamech who said: “·I killed a man for wounding me, a boy for striking me. Sevenfold vengeance for Cain but seventy-sevenfold for Lamech” (Gen 4, 23-24). Jesus wants to invert the spiral of violence which entered the world because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, because of the killing of Abel by Cain and for the vengeance of Lamech. When uncontrolled violence invades life, everything goes wrong and life disintegrates itself. The Deluge arrived and the Tower of Babel appeared for universal dominion (Gen 2, 1 to 11, 32).
• Matthew 18, 23-35: The parable of pardon without limits. The debt of ten thousand talents was approximately around 164 tons of gold. The debt of one hundred denarii was worth about 30 grams of gold. There is no comparison between the two! Even if the debtor together with his wife and children set to work their whole life, they would never be capable to get 164 tons of gold. Before God’s love which forgives gratuitously our debt of 164 tons of gold, is more than just on our part to forgive gratuitously the debt of 30 grams of gold, seventy times always! The only limit to the gratuity of pardon of God is our incapacity to forgive our brother! (Mt 18,34; 6,15).
• The community, an alternative space of solidarity and of fraternity: the society of the Roman Empire was hard and without a heart, without any space for the little ones. They sought refuge for the heart and did not find it. The Synagogue was also demanding and did not offer them any place. And in the Christian communities, the rigor of some in the observance of the Law made life together difficult because they used the same criteria of the Synagogue. Besides this, toward the end of the first century, in the Christian communities began to appear the same divisions which existed in society between rich and poor (Jm 2, 1-9). Instead of making of the community a space of acceptance, they ran the risk of becoming a place of condemnation and conflict. Matthew wants to enlighten the communities, in such a way that these be an alternative space of solidarity and of fraternity. They should be Good News for the poor.
• Matthew 18, 21-22: To forgive seventy times seven! Jesus had spoken of the importance of pardon and of the need of knowing how to accept the brothers and sisters to help them to reconcile themselves with the community (Mt 18, 15-20) Before these words of Jesus, Peter asks: “How often should I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?” Number seven indicates perfection. In this case, it was synonymous of always. Jesus goes far beyond the proposal of Peter. He eliminates any possibility of limitation to pardon: “Not seven I tell you, but seventy seven times!” That is, seventy times always! Because there is no proportion between the pardon which we receive from God and the pardon which we should offer to the brother, as the parable of pardon without limit teaches us.
• The expression seventy seven times was a clear reference to the words of Lamech who said: “·I killed a man for wounding me, a boy for striking me. Sevenfold vengeance for Cain but seventy-sevenfold for Lamech” (Gen 4, 23-24). Jesus wants to invert the spiral of violence which entered the world because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, because of the killing of Abel by Cain and for the vengeance of Lamech. When uncontrolled violence invades life, everything goes wrong and life disintegrates itself. The Deluge arrived and the Tower of Babel appeared for universal dominion (Gen 2, 1 to 11, 32).
• Matthew 18, 23-35: The parable of pardon without limits. The debt of ten thousand talents was approximately around 164 tons of gold. The debt of one hundred denarii was worth about 30 grams of gold. There is no comparison between the two! Even if the debtor together with his wife and children set to work their whole life, they would never be capable to get 164 tons of gold. Before God’s love which forgives gratuitously our debt of 164 tons of gold, is more than just on our part to forgive gratuitously the debt of 30 grams of gold, seventy times always! The only limit to the gratuity of pardon of God is our incapacity to forgive our brother! (Mt 18,34; 6,15).
• The community, an alternative space of solidarity and of fraternity: the society of the Roman Empire was hard and without a heart, without any space for the little ones. They sought refuge for the heart and did not find it. The Synagogue was also demanding and did not offer them any place. And in the Christian communities, the rigor of some in the observance of the Law made life together difficult because they used the same criteria of the Synagogue. Besides this, toward the end of the first century, in the Christian communities began to appear the same divisions which existed in society between rich and poor (Jm 2, 1-9). Instead of making of the community a space of acceptance, they ran the risk of becoming a place of condemnation and conflict. Matthew wants to enlighten the communities, in such a way that these be an alternative space of solidarity and of fraternity. They should be Good News for the poor.
4) Personal questions
• Why is it so difficult to forgive?
• In our community is there a space for reconciliation? How?
• In our community is there a space for reconciliation? How?
5) Concluding Prayer
Direct me in your ways, Yahweh,
and teach me your paths.
Encourage me to walk in your truth
and teach me since you are the God who saves me.
For my hope is in you all day long. (Ps 25,4-5)
and teach me your paths.
Encourage me to walk in your truth
and teach me since you are the God who saves me.
For my hope is in you all day long. (Ps 25,4-5)
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