Fifth Sunday of Lent
(Reflection based on Cycle C Readings)
Today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah announces something new for Israel. The imagery shows that Isaiah envisions a new exodus event which brings water to the desert. This oracle shares similarities with the vision in Jeremiah 31 of a new covenant God will make, again depicting it as a new exodus event. In St. Luke’s Gospel, and elsewhere, Jesus’ mission in Jerusalem, His passion, death, and resurrection, is depicted as that new exodus event.
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
There is an interesting interplay in today’s readings between our expectations or knowledge and God’s work.
In the first reading from the prophet Jeremiah, we hear the emphasis on God as the one who knows all, “I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings” (Jer 11:18). All knowledge comes from God yet, like Jeremiah, we don’t always realize what God is telling us.
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Today’s feast day focuses on Joseph as husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the foster father of Jesus, so today’s scriptures focus on family lineage and relationships as a way of helping us reflect on Joseph as father. In particular, I’m struck by the first of today’s possible gospel readings (Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a) which hints at Joseph’s consternation at discovering that his betrothed wife was pregnant, and not by him.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Sandwiched between the feast of St. Patrick and the Solemnity of St. Joseph, we have this Thursday of the fourth week of Lent. Our first reading is from the book of Exodus. The exodus story is a powerful one because of the miracles God worked in freeing his people from slavery in Egypt. But while God managed to get the people out of Egypt, it was harder to get Egypt out of the people. They had become accustomed to the polytheistic religion of Egypt, and were used to the idea of worshiping statues and images. So when Moses went off to confer with God on Mt. Sinai, the people made a golden calf and worshiped the calf as though it were their God.
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Hopefully, by now the Lenten sacrifices of you have committed too have taken root in you. If not, it may be because you celebrate the Sunday’s as little Easters and reward yourself for a well disciplined six days. This has been my families practice. However, I realize as I get older the Sunday exemption actually makes the discipline of the other sixth days more difficult. In doing some research I have found that science seems to show that it takes three to four weeks to set a good habit in place and yet only three to four days to break one. In light of this, I will try to exercise my discipline through Easter Sunday in order to try to reset these good habits.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
The Gospel reading for today from St. John’s Gospel is a powerful one. We find a man who is physically unable to immerse himself in the healing waters of the pool of Bethesda. He tells his problem to Jesus, and Jesus heals the man without even using water from the pool.
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
We are now about halfway through our season of Lent; yesterday began our fourth week dedicated to repentance. But in the midst of this repentance, we are also reminded that Lent is not simply about our repentance. Although we take on various Lenten sacrifices, we are ultimately called beyond these to the beauty of our salvation. In this season of Lent, we are called to praise God, for He has rescued us, as the psalm response for today proclaims (Ps 30:2a).
Fourth Sunday of Lent
In today’s first reading we have a description of the first Passover which the Israelites celebrated in the Promised Land at the end of their 40 years of wandering in the desert wilderness. Before celebrating this Passover, they had to repent and turn back to the Lord, which was signified in their having to be circumcised. The fact that they had to be circumcised shows that this generation, the which grew up during the 40 year period in the wilderness, had not followed the Laws of God. It is in the Promised Land, after the exodus, after the wilderness period of trial and testing, at the first Passover in Canaan, that the Manna ceased to fall and the Israelites ate from the fruit of the Promised Land. This of course points forward to the Mass, the fulfilled Passover in which we as Catholics participate. In Heaven, our Promised Land, we will no longer need the signs of the Sacraments, because the supernatural realities signified with the signs here on earth, will be present to us in a new and special way.
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
The great Catholic fiction writer, Flannery O’Connor wrote a short story entitled “Revelation” in which the main character, Mrs. Turpin, is a Southern white farmer who is social, keeps up a nice appearance, and is well-respected. Yet, by way of the narrator, we get a glimpse into Mrs. Turpin’s head and at one point we see her reflecting: “If it’s one thing I am… it’s grateful. When I think of all I could’ve been besides myself and what all I got, a little of everything, and a good disposition besides, I just feel like shouting, ‘Thank you, Jesus, for making everything the way that it is! It could’ve been different.’”
Friday of the Third Week of Lent
I’m a scholar; I admit that I love a good discussion (okay, argument, if you will) and I enjoy hearing peoples’ views on a variety of issues. But one of the things that troubles me is when people decide, in the heat of trying to “win” an argument, to trump the whole debate by bringing in a “hypothetical.” As an ethicist, I tend to hear the same hypothetical stories over and over: five people are in a boat, they get lost at sea, and realize that until the time for probable rescue, they have only enough food for four. Who should get thrown overboard?
Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s responsorial psalm refrain “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” could be a slogan for Lent (Ps 95:8). This is a time of the liturgical year when we work on hearing God’s voice and responding with love. If we think that this should be an easy task, we need only look at our two readings for today in order to see that it is not.
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
God’s law is at the heart of the readings for today. They call upon us to be attentive to how we are thoroughly living these statutes from the Lord. Moses’ plea in the first reading is to remind the Israelites just how very important it is to live God’s laws. He wants his spiritual children to remember that their actions will give spiritual evidence to one another and to those nations of people who will live around them. Moses does this in part to remind the people of Israel what happened to those who had built and worshiped the golden calf. The incident of golden calf drew many who were not strong in their faith to a bitter end. The Israelites would need to be strong especially as they interacted with people who had other values and other Gods.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Today’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew’s Gospel is about forgiveness, but specifically about Jesus’ command to forgive others as we have been forgiven. We see this already in the prayer we pray every day, the Our Father: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. There is much hope in this prayer. We can trust in God’s mercy and forgiveness. But there’s also grave responsibility in this prayer: the forgiveness we pray for is contingent upon how we forgive others.
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
As we begin this third week of Lent, we have a story from the Second Book of Kings. It is the story of Naaman, a man who is a well-respected army commander. But Naaman is also a leper. Such a disease in that time led someone to be an outcast from society. Naaman’s leprosy threatened his family, his career, indeed his entire future. Perhaps out of sheer desperation, Naaman took the advice of a little Hebrew servant girl and went to Israel seeking a cure. When the prophet Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan, however, he became indignant and almost left the country without his cure. Eventually Naaman did wash in the Jordan and was cured of his leprosy. More importantly, Naaman also came to faith in the God of Israel. There is a theme of acceptance here: Naaman himself had not been accepted, on account of his leprosy. After his healing, however, Naaman comes to accept the God of Israel.
Third Sunday of Lent
The bulk of today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians, and of today’s Gospel reading form St. Luke’s Gospel, serve as a warning to the people, and as a warning to us. When we read them in the light of today’s first reading from the Book of Exodus, however, we glimpse the hope that is there as well. I want to briefly discuss the warning, and then focus on the hope.
Saturday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s gospel might initially wash over us as the story we’ve heard many, many times of the “Prodigal Son” who lavishly spends his inheritance on pleasures and is left tending the swine and desiring their food. He then returns to his father to beg for mercy.
Friday of the Second Week of Lent
At this point in Lent, my self-imposed abstinence and pentitential practices are starting to wear me down. It’s a long way to Easter and it can be difficult to maintain a sense of purpose and determination. Like most of the readings in Lent, today’s readings are meant to provide us some sustenance and support along the way, but in order to see that point in today’s readings, we have to directly compare the Genesis and Matthew texts.
Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
Most of us have our moments of envy for the very wealthy. We think it would be nice to have a new luxury car or to have a spacious house or to go on vacations around the world. It is hard for us to be satisfied with what we have, even though by the world’s standards, most of us in the U.S. are pretty wealthy. God’s message, however, has always subverted the human view of wealth. For in God’s eyes, the material possessions of human beings are worthless, and what matters is our relationship with God and our willingness to do his will.
Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
In Lumen Gentium, the II Vatical Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, we learn that the faithful, by Baptism, are incorporated into Christ’s share in the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ. Therefore, within the sacramental grace of Baptism we are called to participate in Christ’s prophetic ministry. Yet, this ministry is hardly one people find it easy to accept. Often our response is like Jeremiah, “Oh Lord, I am too young to do that.” Or it is like Jonah, “No Lord, you are crazy if you think I’ll do that,” and then we run the other way. Or it like the disciples today, “Sure we can drink the same cup Lord,” failing to realize that Jesus means to lay down our lives.
Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent
Today’s first reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah is a perfect reading for this Lenten season. This passage is addressed to the people of God, the southern tribe of Judah and to the city of Jerusalem, and yet, Isaiah calls the people of God here, Sodom and Gomorrah, two notoriously wicked cities from the time of Abraham in the book of Genesis. These insults against the people are intended to help the people realize how sinful they have become. Isaiah is giving the people of God a wakeup call: time to repent.