Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Lectionary: 222
Lectionary: 222
Thus says the LORD:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD's holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with maliceB
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
If you remove from your midst oppression,
false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
"Repairer of the breach," they shall call you,
"Restorer of ruined homesteads."
If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
and the LORD's holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
seeking your own interests, or speaking with maliceB
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Responsorial
PsalmPS 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
R. (11ab) Teach
me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
save your servant who trusts in you.
You are my God.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Verse Before
The GospelEZ 33:11
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
GospelLK 5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, "Follow me."
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."
He said to him, "Follow me."
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."
Meditation: Jesus calls sinners to follow him
When your neighbor stumbles through sin or ignorance,
do you point the finger to criticize or do you lend a helping hand to lift him
or her up? The prophet Isaiah tells us that God repays each in kind. When we
bless others, especially those who need spiritual as well as physical and
material help, God in turn blesses us.
Who do you point the finger at?
When Jesus called a despised tax collector to be his disciple he surprised everyone including Levi (also known as Matthew). The religious leaders were especially upset with Jesus' behavior towards public sinners like Levi. The Jewish people were roughly divided into two groups: the orthodox Jews who rigidly kept the law and all its petty regulations, and the rest who didn't keep all the minute regulations. The orthodox treated the latter like second class citizens. They scrupulously avoided their company, refused to do business with them, refused to give or receive anything from them, refused to intermarry, and avoided any form of friendship with them, including table fellowship. Jesus' association with the latter, especially with tax collectors and public sinners, shocked the sensibilities of these orthodox Jews.
When Jesus called a despised tax collector to be his disciple he surprised everyone including Levi (also known as Matthew). The religious leaders were especially upset with Jesus' behavior towards public sinners like Levi. The Jewish people were roughly divided into two groups: the orthodox Jews who rigidly kept the law and all its petty regulations, and the rest who didn't keep all the minute regulations. The orthodox treated the latter like second class citizens. They scrupulously avoided their company, refused to do business with them, refused to give or receive anything from them, refused to intermarry, and avoided any form of friendship with them, including table fellowship. Jesus' association with the latter, especially with tax collectors and public sinners, shocked the sensibilities of these orthodox Jews.
A true physician of body, mind, and soul
When the Pharisees challenged Jesus unorthodox behavior in eating with public sinners, Jesus' defense was quite simple. A doctor doesn't need to treat healthy people - instead he goes to those who are sick. Jesus likewise sought out those in the greatest need. A true physician seeks healing of the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. Jesus came as the divine physician and good shepherd to care for his people and to restore them to wholeness of life.
When the Pharisees challenged Jesus unorthodox behavior in eating with public sinners, Jesus' defense was quite simple. A doctor doesn't need to treat healthy people - instead he goes to those who are sick. Jesus likewise sought out those in the greatest need. A true physician seeks healing of the whole person - body, mind, and spirit. Jesus came as the divine physician and good shepherd to care for his people and to restore them to wholeness of life.
The orthodox were so preoccupied with their own
practice of religion that they neglected to help the very people who needed the
greatest care. Their religion was selfish because they didn't want to have
anything to do with people not like themselves. Jesus stated his mission in
unequivocal terms: I came not to call the righteous, but to call
sinners. Ironically the orthodox were as needy as those they
despised. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans
3:23). Do you thank the Lord for the great mercy he has shown to you? And do
you seek the good of all your neighbors and show them mercy and kindness?
Leave all and follow Christ
What does it mean to "leave all and follow the Lord"? Bede the Venerable (673-735 AD), an Anglo-Saxon monk who wrote numerous commentaries on the Scriptures, explains what it meant for Matthew and for us to "follow" as disciples of the Lord Jesus:
What does it mean to "leave all and follow the Lord"? Bede the Venerable (673-735 AD), an Anglo-Saxon monk who wrote numerous commentaries on the Scriptures, explains what it meant for Matthew and for us to "follow" as disciples of the Lord Jesus:
"By 'follow' he meant not so much the
movement of feet as of the heart, the carrying out of a way of life. For one
who says that he lives in Christ ought himself to walk just as he walked, not
to aim at earthly things, not to pursue perishable gains, but to flee base
praise, to embrace willingly the contempt of all that is worldly for the sake
of heavenly glory, to do good to all, to inflict injuries upon no one in
bitterness, to suffer patiently those injuries that come to oneself, to ask
God’s forgiveness for those who oppress, never to seek one's own glory but
always God's, and to uphold whatever helps one love heavenly things. This is
what is meant by following Christ. In this way, disregarding earthly gains,
Matthew attached himself to the band of followers of One who had no riches. For
the Lord himself, who outwardly called Matthew by a word, inwardly bestowed
upon him the gift of an invisible impulse so that he was able to follow."
Are you ready to forsake
all for the Lord Jesus Christ?
"Lord Jesus, our Savior, let us now come to you:
Our hearts are cold; Lord, warm them with your selfless love. Our hearts are
sinful; cleanse them with your precious blood. Our hearts are weak; strengthen
them with your joyous Spirit. Our hearts are empty; fill them with your divine
presence. Lord Jesus, our hearts are yours; possess them always and only for
yourself." (Prayer of Augustine,
354-430)
A Daily Quote for Lent: Our All-powerful Physician, by Augustine
of Hippo, 354-430 AD
"Our wound is serious, but the Physician is
all-powerful. Does it seem to you so small a mercy that, while you were living
in evil and sinning, he did not take away your life, but brought you to belief
and forgave your sins? What I suffer is serious, but I trust the Almighty. I
would despair of my mortal wound if I had not found so great a Physician."
(excerpt from Sermon 352, 3)
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 17, LUKE
5:27-32
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
(Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 86)
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
(Isaiah 58:9b-14; Psalm 86)
KEY VERSE: "I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners" (v 32).
TO KNOW: Jews regarded tax collectors (publicans) as sinners because they were suspected of exacting more than their due from their own people. Moreover, they were viewed as traitors because they worked for the occupying Roman government. Jesus accepted people as they were, and he invited a tax collector named Levi ("Matthew" in Mt 9:9) to leave his post and follow him as a disciple. In gratitude, Levi gave a banquet in Jesus' honor and invited a large number of people who were considered public sinners. When the religious leaders criticized Jesus because of his table fellowship with so called "sinners," he told them that he had not come for those who self-righteously believed they had no need for repentance, but for those who recognized their need to change their lives.
TO LOVE: Where do I need conversion in my life?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to examine the faults that I need to overcome this Lent.
Optional Memorial of the Seven
Founders of the Order of Servites, religious
Seven wealthy laymen in Florence felt a call to a deeper religious life, and on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233, they decided to form a new society devoted to prayer and solitude. As word of their holiness spread, they attracted followers, and they withdrew to the hills around Monte Sennario where they built a church and hermitage. On Good Friday, 13 April 1240, the hermits received a vision of Our Lady. She held in her hand the black habit, and an angel carried a scroll reading “Servants of Mary.” They accepted the wisdom of Our Lady, wrote a Rule based on Saint Augustine and the Dominican Constitutions, adopted the black habit of an Augustinian monk, and lived as mendicant (begging) friars. The men became known as the Servites, and fostered the devotion known as the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The Servites were solemnly approved by Blessed Pope Benedict XI in 1304, and have since spread around the world.
The Seven Sorrows of Mary
* The prophecy of Simeon;
* The flight into Egypt;
* Losing the Holy Child at Jerusalem;
* Meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary;
* Standing at the foot of the Cross;
* Jesus being taken from the Cross;
* The burial of Jesus.
Saturday 17
February 2018
Seven Founders of The Servites.
Isaiah 58:9-14. Psalm 85(86):1-6. Luke 5:27-32.
Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may be faithful in your
sight—Psalm 85(86):1-6.
You will be like a watered garden …
The readings today open our eyes to others who walk a different
road from us. They invite us to be open and accepting of all we meet, without
judgement. The prophet Isaiah suggests, ‘If you deprive yourself for the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted … your darkest hour will be like the
noon.’
Luke describes how Jesus continued to associate with people
society did not approve of when he attended the feast provided by Levi the tax
collector.
Today let us reflect on our views of the people our society
chooses to overlook because of their appearance or behaviour. Do we believe
prisoners have rights? Are we willing to stop and talk to a beggar on our city
streets?
Can we be a ‘restorer of streets to be lived in’ as Isaiah
suggests?
Seven Founders of the Servite Order
Saint of the Day for February 17
The Story of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order
Can you imagine seven prominent men of Boston or Denver banding
together, leaving their homes and professions, and going into solitude for a
life directly given to God? That is what happened in the cultured and
prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13th century. The city was
torn with political strife as well as the heresy of the Cathari, who believed
that physical reality was inherently evil. Morals were low and religion seemed
meaningless.
In 1240, seven noblemen of Florence mutually decided to withdraw
from the city to a solitary place for prayer and direct service of God. Their
initial difficulty was providing for their dependents, since two were still
married and two were widowers.
Their aim was to lead a life of penance and prayer, but they
soon found themselves disturbed by constant visitors from Florence. They next
withdrew to the deserted slopes of Monte Senario.
In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, O.P.,
this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit,
choosing to live under the Rule of St. Augustine and adopting the name of the
Servants of Mary. The new Order took a form more like that of the mendicant
friars than that of the older monastic Orders.
Members of the community came to the United States from Austria
in 1852 and settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. The two American
provinces developed from the foundation made by Father Austin Morini in 1870 in
Wisconsin.
Community members combined monastic life and active ministry. In
the monastery, they led a life of prayer, work and silence while in the active
apostolate they engaged in parochial work, teaching, preaching, and other
ministerial activities.
Reflection
The time in which the seven Servite founders lived is very
easily comparable to the situation in which we find ourselves today. It is “the
best of times and the worst of times,” as Dickens once wrote. Some, perhaps
many, feel called to a countercultural life, even in religion. All of us are
faced in a new and urgent way with the challenge to make our lives decisively
centered in Christ.
LECTIO DIVINA: LUKE 5,27-32
Lectio Divina:
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Lent Time
1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God, merciful Father,
when You call us to repentance,
you want us to turn to people
and to build up peace and justice among us all. According to Your promise,
let us become, with Your strength,
lights for those in darkness,
water for those who thirst,
re-builders of hope and happiness for all.
May we thus become living signs
of Your love and loyalty,
for You are our God for ever.
when You call us to repentance,
you want us to turn to people
and to build up peace and justice among us all. According to Your promise,
let us become, with Your strength,
lights for those in darkness,
water for those who thirst,
re-builders of hope and happiness for all.
May we thus become living signs
of Your love and loyalty,
for You are our God for ever.
2) GOSPEL READING - LUKE
5:27-32
Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi
sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving
everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet
for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at
table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples,
saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a
physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance
but sinners."
3) REFLECTION
Today s Gospel presents the same theme
which we reflected upon in January in the Gospel of Mark (Mk 2:13-17). This
time, it is only the Gospel of Luke which speaks and the text is much shorter,
concentrating its attention on the principal supper which is the call and
conversion of Levi, and what the conversion implies for us who are entering
into the time of Lent.
Jesus calls a sinner to be His disciple.
Jesus calls Levi, a tax collector, and he immediately left everything, follows
Jesus, and begins to form part of the group of the disciples. Luke says that
Levi had prepared a great banquet in his house. In the Gospel of Mark, it
seemed that the banquet was in Jesus’ house. What is important here is the
insistence on the communion of Jesus with sinners, around the table, which was
a forbidden thing.
Jesus did not come for the just, but for
sinners. This gesture of Jesus causes great anger among the religious
authorities. It was forbidden to sit at table with tax collectors and sinners,
because to sit at table with someone meant to treat him as a brother! With His
way of doing things, Jesus was accepting the excluded and was treating them as
brothers of the same family of God. Instead of speaking directly with Jesus,
the of the Pharisees speak with the disciples: Why do You eat and drink
with tax collectors and sinners? Jesus answers: It is not those that are well
who need the doctor; I have come to call not the upright, but sinners, to
repentance! His consciousness of His mission helps Jesus to find the response
to indicate the way for the announcement of the Good News of God. He has come
to unite the dispersed people, to reintegrate those who are excluded, to reveal
that God is not a severe judge who condemns and expels, but rather He is Father
who accepts and embraces.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
Jesus accepts and includes people. What
is my way of accepting people?
Jesus’ gesture reveals the experience
that He has of God the Father. What is the image of God which I bear and
express to others through my behavior?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Listen to me, Yahweh, answer me,
for I am poor and needy.
Guard me, for I am faithful,
save Your servant who relies on You. (Ps 861-2)
for I am poor and needy.
Guard me, for I am faithful,
save Your servant who relies on You. (Ps 861-2)
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