Wednesday
of the Third Week of Lent
Lectionary: 239
Lectionary: 239
Moses spoke to the
people and said:
“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.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?
“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.”
“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.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?
“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.”
Responsorial
PsalmPS 147:12-13, 15-16,
19-20
R. (12a) Praise
the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Verse Before The
GospelSEE JN 6:63C, 68C
Your words, Lord,
are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
you have the words of everlasting life.
GospelMT 5:17-19
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.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
Meditation: "Whoever
relaxes one of the commandments "
Do you view God's law
negatively or positively? Jesus' attitude towards the law of God can be summed
up in the great prayer of Psalm 119: "Oh, how I love your law! It is my
meditation all the day." For the people of Israel the "law"
could refer to the ten commandments or to the five Books of Moses, called the
Pentateuch, which explain the commandments and ordinances of God for his
people. The "law" also referred to the whole teaching or way of life
which God gave to his people. The Jews in Jesus' time also used it as a
description of the oral or scribal law. Needless to say, the scribes added many
more things to the law than God intended. That is why Jesus often condemned the
scribal law. It placed burdens on people which God had not intended. Jesus,
however, made it very clear that the essence of God's law - his commandments
and way of life, must be fulfilled.
Jesus taught reverence
for God's law - reverence for God himself, for the Lord's Day, reverence or
respect for parents, respect for life, for property, for another person's good
name, respect for oneself and for one's neighbor lest wrong or hurtful desires
master us. Reverence and respect for God's commandments teach us the way of
love - love of God and love of neighbor.
The transforming work of
the Holy Spirit
What is impossible to men and women is possible to God and those who put their faith and trust in God. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit the Lord transforms us and makes us like himself. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) because "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). God gives us the grace to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, to think as he thinks, and to act as he acts.
What is impossible to men and women is possible to God and those who put their faith and trust in God. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit the Lord transforms us and makes us like himself. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) because "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). God gives us the grace to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, to think as he thinks, and to act as he acts.
The Lord loves justice
and goodness and he hates every form of wickedness and sin. He wants to set us
free from our unruly desires and sinful habits, so that we can choose to live
each day in the peace, joy, and righteousness of his Holy Spirit (Romans 14:
17). To renounce sin is to turn away from what is harmful and destructive for
our minds and hearts, and our very lives. As his followers we must love and
respect his commandments and hate every form of sin. Do you love and revere the
commands of the Lord?
"Lord Jesus, grant
this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts and bodies, so
that all our thoughts, words and deeds may be according to your Father's law
and thus may we be saved and protected through your mighty help."
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2,
MATTHEW 5:17-19
Lenten Weekday
(Deuteronomy 41, 5-9; Psalm 147)
Lenten Weekday
(Deuteronomy 41, 5-9; Psalm 147)
KEY VERSE: "But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (v 19b).
TO KNOW: Like Moses, Jesus taught his followers that the law of God had lasting validity and must be obeyed. Jesus emphasized the permanency of God's law by saying that not even smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet (Hb. yod, Grk iota) or the tiniest flourish of the pen would pass from the law until its fulfillment in the final age. Jesus' dispute with the religious leaders was not with the Mosaic Law itself, but with their legalistic interpretation. Jesus deepened the meaning of the law through his words and works. He said that those who taught others that justice and charity was the true purpose of God's law, and practiced it by loving God and one another, would inherit a place in God's kingdom. Those who willfully disregarded God's law would be excluded from God's reign.
TO LOVE: Do I give good example by my respect for God's law?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to be guided by your law in all I do.
Tuesday 2 February 2016
Tue 2nd.. The Presentation of the Lord. Malachi 3:1-4.
Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!—Ps 23(24):7-10. Hebrews 2:14-18.Luke
2:22-40.
How
did they feel?
We might wonder how Mary and Joseph feel when
confronted in the temple by Simeon, a man unknown to them, who makes
extraordinary claims about their son.
Simeon, a holy man, is reminiscent of a 21st century
talent scout who recognises someone of extraordinary giftedness, bound for ‘the
big time’. He has found in the child Jesus the true Messiah who he has yearned
to see before death.
Simeon recognises too that Mary will feel the pain of
her son leaving and the challenges he will face in his ministry. For although a
child may sense the excitement of future dreams, adults know that real life is
a bittersweet mixture of joy and sorrow, success and failure, love and loathing.
Lord, as we embrace the love of family, grateful for the times we share, be
with us in our sorrowful goodbyes.
MINUTE
MEDITATIONS
|
Discerning Scripture
|
Everybody can read the words in the Bible, but only some discover
there the Word of God and the meaning of that Word. And only the Spirit enables
us to discover that in the Scriptures, God is speaking to us, and to discover
what it is that God is saying to us in Scripture.
March
2
St. Agnes of Bohemia
(1205-1282)
St. Agnes of Bohemia
(1205-1282)
Agnes had no children of her own but was
certainly life-giving for all who knew her.
Agnes was the daughter of Queen Constance and King
Ottokar I of Bohemia. At the age of three, she was betrothed to the Duke of
Silesia, who died three years later. As she grew up, she decided she wanted to
enter the religious life.
After declining marriages to King Henry VII of Germany
and Henry III of England, Agnes was faced with a proposal from Frederick II,
the Holy Roman Emperor. She appealed to Pope Gregory IX for help. The pope was
persuasive; Frederick magnanimously said that he could not be offended if Agnes
preferred the King of Heaven to him.
After Agnes built a hospital for the poor and a
residence for the friars, she financed the construction of a Poor Clare
monastery in Prague. In 1236, she and seven other noblewomen entered this
monastery. St. Clare sent five sisters from San Damiano to join them, and wrote
Agnes four letters advising her on the beauty of her vocation and her duties as
abbess.
Agnes became known for prayer, obedience and
mortification. Papal pressure forced her to accept her election as abbess;
nevertheless, the title she preferred was "senior sister." Her
position did not prevent her from cooking for the other sisters and mending the
clothes of lepers. The sisters found her kind but very strict regarding the
observance of poverty; she declined her royal brother’s offer to set up an
endowment for the monastery.
Devotion to Agnes arose soon after her death on March
6, 1282. She was canonized in 1989.
Comment:
Agnes spent at least 45 years in a Poor Clare monastery. Such a life requires a great deal of patience and charity. The temptation to selfishness certainly didn’t vanish when Agnes walked into the monastery. It is perhaps easy for us to think that cloistered nuns "have it made" regarding holiness. Their route is the same as ours: gradual exchange of our standards (inclination to selfishness) for God’s standard of generosity.
Agnes spent at least 45 years in a Poor Clare monastery. Such a life requires a great deal of patience and charity. The temptation to selfishness certainly didn’t vanish when Agnes walked into the monastery. It is perhaps easy for us to think that cloistered nuns "have it made" regarding holiness. Their route is the same as ours: gradual exchange of our standards (inclination to selfishness) for God’s standard of generosity.
Quote:
"Have nothing to do with anyone who would stand in your way and would seek to turn you aside from fulfilling the vows which you have made to the Most High (Psalm 49:14) and from living in that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you" (Clare to Agnes of Bohemia, Letter II in Murray Bodo, O.F.M., Clare: A Light in the Garden, p. 118).
"Have nothing to do with anyone who would stand in your way and would seek to turn you aside from fulfilling the vows which you have made to the Most High (Psalm 49:14) and from living in that perfection to which the Spirit of the Lord has called you" (Clare to Agnes of Bohemia, Letter II in Murray Bodo, O.F.M., Clare: A Light in the Garden, p. 118).
LECTIO DIVINA: MATTHEW 5,17-19
Lectio Divina:
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Lent Time
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God,
your prophets remind us
in season and out of season
of our responsibilities toward you
and toward the world of people.
When they disturb and upset us,
let it be a holy disturbance
that makes us restless, eager to do your will
and to bring justice and love around us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
your prophets remind us
in season and out of season
of our responsibilities toward you
and toward the world of people.
When they disturb and upset us,
let it be a holy disturbance
that makes us restless, eager to do your will
and to bring justice and love around us.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - MATTHEW 5, 17-19
'Do not imagine that I have come to
abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete
them. In truth I tell you, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not
one little stroke, is to disappear from the Law until all its purpose is
achieved.
Therefore, anyone who infringes even one
of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be
considered the least in the kingdom of Heaven; but the person who keeps them
and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of Heaven.
3) REFLECTION
• Today’s Gospel (Mt 5, 17-19) teaches
how to observe the law of God in such a way that its practice indicates in what
its complete fulfilment consists (Mt 5, 17-19). Matthew writes in order to help
the communities of the converted Jews to overcome the criticism of the brothers
of their own race who accused them saying: You are unfaithful to the Law of
Moses”. Jesus himself had been accused of infidelity to the Law of God. Matthew
has the clarifying response of Jesus concerning his accusers. Thus, he gives some
light to help the communities solve their problems.
• Using images of daily life, with
simple and direct words, Jesus had said that the mission of the community, its
reason for being, is that of being salt and light! He had given some advice
regarding each one of the two images. Then follow two or three brief verses of
today’s Gospel.
• Matthew 5, 17-18: Not one dot, nor one
stroke is to disappear from the Law. There were several different tendencies in
the communities of the first Christians. Some thought that it was not necessary
to observe the laws of the Old Testament, because we are saved by faith in
Jesus and not by the observance of the Law (Rm 3, 21-26). Others accepted
Jesus, the Messiah, but they did not accept the liberty of spirit with which
some of the communities lived the presence of Jesus. They thought that being
Jews they had to continue to observe the laws of the Old Testament (Acts 15,
1.5). But there were Christians who lived so fully in the freedom of the
Spirit, who no longer looked at the life of Jesus of Nazareth, nor to the Old
Testament and they even went so far as to say: ”Anathema Jesus!” (1 Co 12, 3).
Observing these tensions, Matthew tries to find some balance between both
extremes. The community should be a space, where the balance can be attained
and lived. The answer given by Jesus to those who criticized him continued to
be actual for the communities: “I have not come to abolish the law, but to
complete it!” The communities could not be against the Law, nor could they close
up themselves in the observance of the law. Like Jesus, they should advance,
and show, in practice, which was the objective which the law wanted to attain
in the life of persons, that is, in the perfect practice of love.
• Matthew 5, 17-18: Not one dot or
stroke will disappear from the Law. It is for those who wanted to get rid of
all the law that Matthew recalls the other parable of Jesus: “Anyone who
infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do
the same will be considered the least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but the person
who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the Kingdom of
Heaven”. The great concern in Matthew’s Gospel is to show that the Old
Testament, Jesus of Nazareth and the life in the Spirit cannot be separated.
The three of them form part of the same and unique project of God and
communicate to us the certainty of faith: The God of Abraham and of Sarah is
present in the midst of the community by faith in Jesus of Nazareth who sends
us his Spirit.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• How do I see and live the law of God:
as a growing horizon of light or as an imposition which limits my freedom?
• What can we do today for our brothers
and sisters who consider all this type of discussion as obsolete and not actual?
What can we learn from them?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Praise Yahweh, Jerusalem,
Zion, praise your God.
For he gives strength to the bars of your gates,
he blesses your children within you. (Ps 145,12-13)
Zion, praise your God.
For he gives strength to the bars of your gates,
he blesses your children within you. (Ps 145,12-13)
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