Sunday - March 20, 2022
TODAY'S READINGS
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
YEAR C
Lectionary: 30
Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro,
the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,
“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”
When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!”
He answered, “Here I am.”
God said, “Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your fathers, “ he continued,
“the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
But the LORD said,
“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt
and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,
so I know well what they are suffering.
Therefore I have come down to rescue them
from the hands of the Egyptians
and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey.”
Moses said to God, “But when I go to the Israelites
and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’
if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”
God replied, “I am who am.”
Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites:
I AM sent me to you.”
God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.
“This is my name forever;
thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11.
R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Reading 2
1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,
that our ancestors were all under the cloud
and all passed through the sea,
and all of them were baptized into Moses
in the cloud and in the sea.
All ate the same spiritual food,
and all drank the same spiritual drink,
for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them,
and the rock was the Christ.
Yet God was not pleased with most of them,
for they were struck down in the desert.
These things happened as examples for us,
so that we might not desire evil things, as they did.
Do not grumble as some of them did,
and suffered death by the destroyer.
These things happened to them as an example,
and they have been written down as a warning to us,
upon whom the end of the ages has come.
Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure
should take care not to fall.
Verse Before the Gospel Jn 3:16
Repent, says the Lord;
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Gospel Lk 13:1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
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MERCY: HOW IT HELPS EVIL-DOERS
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
Thank You, Lord, for calling me every day by
name. May Your Holy Spirit produce fruit in me for being Your beloved son.
Amen.
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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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