SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - March 18, 2022

Friday - March 18, 2022

“You learn to speak by speaking, to study by studying, to run by running, to work by working, and just so, you learn to love by loving. All those who think to learn in any other way deceive themselves.”

-St. Francis de Sales

March 18, 2022

FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT
Lectionary: 234

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Gn 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

 

Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons,

for he was the child of his old age;

and he had made him a long tunic.

When his brothers saw that their father loved him best of all his sons,

they hated him so much that they would not even greet him.

 

One day, when his brothers had gone

to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem,

Israel said to Joseph,

“Your brothers, you know, are tending our flocks at Shechem.

Get ready; I will send you to them.”

 

So Joseph went after his brothers and caught up with them in Dothan.

They noticed him from a distance,

and before he came up to them, they plotted to kill him.

They said to one another: “Here comes that master dreamer!

Come on, let us kill him and throw him into one of the cisterns here;

we could say that a wild beast devoured him.

We shall then see what comes of his dreams.”

 

When Reuben heard this,

he tried to save him from their hands, saying,

“We must not take his life.

Instead of shedding blood,” he continued,

“just throw him into that cistern there in the desert;

but do not kill him outright.”

His purpose was to rescue him from their hands

and return him to his father.

So when Joseph came up to them,

they stripped him of the long tunic he had on;

then they took him and threw him into the cistern,

which was empty and dry.

 

They then sat down to their meal.

Looking up, they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead,

their camels laden with gum, balm and resin

to be taken down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers:

“What is to be gained by killing our brother and concealing his blood?

Rather, let us sell him to these Ishmaelites,

instead of doing away with him ourselves.

After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”

His brothers agreed.

They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  105:16-17, 18-19, 20-21

 

R.        (5a) Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

When the LORD called down a famine on the land

            and ruined the crop that sustained them,

He sent a man before them,

            Joseph, sold as a slave.

R.        Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

They had weighed him down with fetters,

            and he was bound with chains,

Till his prediction came to pas

            and the word of the LORD proved him true.

R.        Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

The king sent and released him,

            the ruler of the peoples set him free.

He made him lord of his house

            and ruler of all his possessions.

R.        Remember the marvels the Lord has done.

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Jn 3:16                      

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son;

so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 21:33-43, 45-46

 

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:

“Hear another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard,

put a hedge around it,

dug a wine press in it, and built a tower.

Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey.

When vintage time drew near,

he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce.

But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat,

another they killed, and a third they stoned.

Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones,

but they treated them in the same way.

Finally, he sent his son to them,

thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another,

‘This is the heir.

Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?”

They answered him,

“He will put those wretched men to a wretched death

and lease his vineyard to other tenants

who will give him the produce at the proper times.”

Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures:

 

            The stone that the builders rejected

                        has become the cornerstone;

            by the Lord has this been done,

                        and it is wonderful in our eyes?

 

Therefore, I say to you,

the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you

and given to a people that will produce its fruit.”

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables,

they knew that he was speaking about them.

And although they were attempting to arrest him,

they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.

 

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WHEN THINGS ARE BAD, GOD MAKES GOOD

Name the worst thing that's happening in your life right now. How bad does it look? Is it hopeless? How frustrated do you feel? How sad? Okay, name the worst two things (we always have much to complain about, don't we).

 

In today's first reading, things looked very bad for Joseph. His brothers ganged up against him and threw him into a cistern so that they could murder him. Even when they changed their minds and sold him to Ishmaelites (a rival clan), he must have felt sure that his life was over despite not dying.

 

You can imagine how he felt. You and I have had these same feelings.

 

Joseph did not know that God was going to turn his terrible ordeal into a huge blessing. He couldn't see the plan that included becoming a redeemer for his people. (Years later, during a severe drought, Joseph would save Egypt and his own Jewish tribe from starvation.)

 

You can imagine, too, how Jesus might have felt in today's Gospel story. He knew that he was talking about himself in the parable. How did it feel to be around Pharisees who wanted to get rid of him?

 

If Joseph had known his future, if he could have foreseen how God would turn his frightening circumstances into a great blessing, he probably would have felt grief and joy simultaneously. Jesus knew his future, and even as he agonized over it in the Garden of Gethsemane on Good Friday, he also understood the joy that was to come on Sunday.

 

To have faith in Jesus means that we, too, can experience joy even while we suffer and grieve.

 

We cannot be sure of what our future holds, but we do know Who holds our future. That's all that we really need to know (although we surely want to know more).

 

We don't need to foresee the future. We don't even need to see the next step on the path in front of us.

 

By holding tight to God's hand, letting him lead us while remembering that he is always working a plan for our good (see Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28) and that therefore we can and should trust in his care, we, too can have hope and joy even while we suffer in anguish.

 

Faith-filled joy does not wait for our sorrows to end. The stronger our faith, the more joy we can actually feel, even in the worst of times. It's not a giddy happiness; joy is a peaceful satisfaction that God is good.

 

Today’s Prayer 

Forgive me, Lord, for all the times I've been a stumbling stone for Your plans. Remove in me pride, arrogance, stubbornness and rebelliousness. I want to be Your servant for the sake of my neighbors and for Your Glory. Amen.

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God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”