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."
A
Daily Quote for Lent: Making
daily progress towards God, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"As
Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on
earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good
students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every
day. We learn something from the commandments, something from examples, and
something from Sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and
materials for our studies." (excerpt from Sermon 16A,1)
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, MATTHEW 5:17-19
Lenten Weekday
(Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9; Psalm 147)
Lenten Weekday
(Deuteronomy 4:1, 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 (yod; in Greek 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, expanding the law to 613 rules and regulations. 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.
Wednesday 27 March 2019
Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9. Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20. Matthew
5:17-19
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem – Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20.
‘I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.’
Both Moses and Jesus speak of laws. Moses says, ‘Observe them,
so that you may have life.’ Jesus says, ‘I have come to complete the Law until
its purpose is achieved.’ Often, we resent laws, saying they restrict freedom.
But the banks of a river are what keep it flowing fast. Their restriction
preserves the river, otherwise we have a swamp, a stagnant marsh. Thus, there
is no freedom from the laws, only freedom within them.
Jesus takes the Mosaic law and breathes Gospel life and love
into it. O yes, Lord, it does restrict – love is patient before it can be kind:
patient with aggressive phone callers, others’ insensitivities, the occasional
bore. But your assurance restores our serenity: ‘As long as you did it to one
of these, you did it to me.’
Lazarus
Saint of the Day for March 27
(? – ?)
 |
| The Raising of Lazarus | Albert van Ouwater |
Lazarus’ Story
Lazarus, the friend of Jesus, the brother of Martha and Mary,
was the one of whom the Jews said, “See how much he loved him.” In their sight,
Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead.
Legends abound about the life of Lazarus after the death and
resurrection of Jesus. He is supposed to have left a written account of what he
saw in the next world before he was called back to life. Some say he followed
Peter into Syria. Another story is that despite being put into a leaking boat
by the Jews at Jaffa, he, his sisters, and others landed safely in Cyprus.
There he died peacefully after serving as bishop for 30 years.
A church was built in his honor in Constantinople and some of
his reputed relics were transferred there in 890. A Western legend has the
oarless boat arriving in Gaul. There he was bishop of Marseilles, was martyred
after making a number of converts, and was buried in a cave. His relics were
transferred to the new cathedral in Autun in 1146.
It is certain there was early devotion to the saint. Around the
year 390, the pilgrim lady Etheria talks of the procession that took place on
the Saturday before Palm Sunday at the tomb where Lazarus had been raised from
the dead. In the West, Passion Sunday was called Dominica de Lazaro,
and Augustine tells us that in Africa the Gospel of the raising of Lazarus was
read at the office of Palm Sunday.
Reflection
Many people who have had a near-death experience report losing
all fear of death. When Lazarus died a second time, perhaps he was without
fear. He must have been sure that Jesus, the friend with whom he had shared
many meals and conversations, would be waiting to raise him again. We don’t
share Lazarus’ firsthand knowledge of returning from the grave. Nevertheless,
we too have shared meals and conversations with Jesus, who waits to raise us,
too.
Lectio Divina: Matthew 5:17-19
Lectio Divina
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Season of Lent
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
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.”
3) Reflection
• Today’s Gospel (Mt 5:17-19) teaches how to observe the law of
God in its complete fulfillment (Mt 5:17-19). Matthew writes in order to help
the communities of converted Jews 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 Jesus’ clarifying response to His accusers. Thus, Matthew sheds 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 the 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 first Christian
communities. 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
message 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 that they even went so far as
to say, “Anathema Jesus!” (1 Cor 12:3). Observing these tensions, Matthew tries
to find some balance between both extremes. The community should be a place
where the balance can be attained and lived. Jesus’ answer to those who
criticized Him continued to be relevant 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 themselves off in the observance of the
Law. Like Jesus, they should advance and show in practice, the objective thst
the Law wanted to attain in people’s lives, 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 the law altogether that Matthew
recalls the other parable of Jesus: “Anyone who breaks 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 plan 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 God’s law: as a freedom to do anything I
please, as an imposition which restricts me, or as a guide to grow in love?
• What can we do today for our brothers and sisters who consider all of this type of discussion as obsolete and not relevant?
• How does this view of the Law and the Commandments affect me? As a line which defines sin, as rules to avoid vice, or as a guide in attaining virtue?
• What can we do today for our brothers and sisters who consider all of this type of discussion as obsolete and not relevant?
• How does this view of the Law and the Commandments affect me? As a line which defines sin, as rules to avoid vice, or as a guide in attaining virtue?
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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