Saturday - February 20, 2021
The man who loves God with a true heart, and prizes him above all things, sometimes sheds floods of tears at prayer, and has in abundance of favours and spiritual feelings coming upon him with such vehemence, that he is forced to cry out, "Lord! let me be quiet!"
-- St. Philip Neri
TODAY'S READINGS
February 20, 2021
Saturday after Ash
Wednesday
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 malice
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 Psalm
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.
Verse before the Gospel
I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.
Gospel
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.”
What Crosses are You Carrying?
"Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth." This is what we ask for in Saturday's responsorial Psalm. Think about the ways that you've been walking in his truth -- walking close to Christ's passion, experiencing his footsteps on the road to Calvary.
How have you been carrying a cross?
Where is this hardship taking you spiritually?
Think of the good that you're doing as you carry this cross, as you walk in the truth of God's love, the truth of his forgiveness, the truth of his mercy, following his commands, going the extra mile, giving your time and talents and treasures to others so that they may be blessed.
Jesus says to the tax collector in today's Gospel passage: "Follow me." You've heard him say the same thing to you, and you've replied, "Yes, okay, I want to go where you lead me." How do I know this? If you had never heard him say this, you would not be walking into church on Sundays and other occasions, you would not be taking time out of a busy schedule to read these reflections, you would not be praying, and you would not be interested in the significance of Lent.
Of course none of us follow Jesus perfectly. What matters, though, is that we do actually take action to get close to Jesus and we do put forth effort to stay close to him.
Maybe it feels like you're alone. Maybe Jesus doesn't seem to be carrying any of your burdens. Maybe you think that the reason you suffer is because he doesn't care about you, but the truth is: If he were not at your side bearing some of your load, the weight would be much, much greater.
Not every cross is meant to be embraced. We need to know the difference between a difficulty that God does not want us to endure and a difficulty that is blessed.
For example, when ill, we should go to the doctor and pray for healing but offer up the suffering while it lasts, as a penance for sin or as a prayer gift for someone else who is suffering.
When hurt and abused, we should find an equal balance between loving ourselves and loving the abuser and loving others who are affected by the abuse. At the same time, we should protect ourselves with solid boundaries that establish a stand against the abuser's sin and our own sin of revenge or enabling.
A good spiritual director or therapist or confessor will help you know which crosses to embrace and which to walk away from, but all of them can bring us closer to Christ.
Today's spiritual exercise: Spend time meditating quietly on the nearness of Jesus. How do you know he is with you?
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The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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