GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - March 06, 2022

Sunday - March 06, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

March 6, 2022

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT
Lectionary: 24

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Dt 26:4-10

 

Moses spoke to the people, saying:

“The priest shall receive the basket from you

and shall set it in front of the altar of the LORD, your God.

Then you shall declare before the Lord, your God,

‘My father was a wandering Aramean

who went down to Egypt with a small household

and lived there as an alien.

But there he became a nation

great, strong, and numerous.

When the Egyptians maltreated and oppressed us,

imposing hard labor upon us,

we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers,

and he heard our cry

and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.

He brought us out of Egypt

with his strong hand and outstretched arm,

with terrifying power, with signs and wonders;

and bringing us into this country,

he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.

Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits

of the products of the soil

which you, O LORD, have given me.’

And having set them before the LORD, your God,

you shall bow down in his presence.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  Ps 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15.

 

R. (cf. 15b)  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

 

You who dwell in the shelter of the Most High,

            who abide in the shadow of the Almighty,

say to the LORD, “My refuge and fortress,

            my God in whom I trust.”

R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

No evil shall befall you,

            nor shall affliction come near your tent,

For to his angels he has given command about you,

            that they guard you in all your ways.

R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Upon their hands they shall bear you up,

            lest you dash your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the asp and the viper;

            you shall trample down the lion and the dragon.

R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Because he clings to me, I will deliver him;

            I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;

            I will be with him in distress;

I will deliver him and glorify him.

R. Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

 

Reading 2                                                    

                                                                        Rom 10:8-13

 

Brothers and sisters:

What does Scripture say?

            The word is near you,

                        in your mouth and in your heart

—that is, the word of faith that we preach—,

for, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord

and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved.

For one believes with the heart and so is justified,

and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved.

For the Scripture says,

            No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;

the same Lord is Lord of all,

enriching all who call upon him.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Mt 4:4b                     

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 4:1-13

 

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus returned from the Jordan

and was led by the Spirit into the desert for forty days,

to be tempted by the devil.

He ate nothing during those days,

and when they were over he was hungry.

The devil said to him,

“If you are the Son of God,

command this stone to become bread.”

Jesus answered him,

“It is written, One does not live on bread alone.”

Then he took him up and showed him

all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant.

The devil said to him,

“I shall give to you all this power and glory;

for it has been handed over to me,

and I may give it to whomever I wish.

All this will be yours, if you worship me.”

Jesus said to him in reply,

“It is written

            You shall worship the Lord, your God,

                        and him alone shall you serve.”

Then he led him to Jerusalem,

made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him,

“If you are the Son of God,

throw yourself down from here, for it is written:

            He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,

 and:

            With their hands they will support you,

            lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

Jesus said to him in reply,

“It also says,

            You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.”

When the devil had finished every temptation,

he departed from him for a time.

 

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Union with Christ 

Jesus' life is our life if we're sincere about our faith. We unite ourselves to him by receiving his body and blood in the Eucharist. We meet him in the scriptures and walk with him on the path to heaven.

 

During Lent, the readings that the Church provides for Sunday and daily Mass will help us with this journey if we listen with an ear that recognizes our personal connections to Christ.

 

In this Sunday's Gospel passage, we journey with Jesus into the desert. Consider your own struggles with temptation; reflect on how sin makes your life feel barren and dry like a desert.

 

When we walk with Jesus, we unite ourselves to his struggle with the devil and to his victory over the devil. Our temptations become his temptations, and in our efforts to remain united to him, we reject Satan and choose the life of holiness. The Church helps us do this by giving us ways during Lent to improve our self-discipline and conquer the self-centeredness that makes us vulnerable to sin: fasting and abstinence, alms-giving, reconciliation services, faith formation events, reading materials, and more.

 

Every meal and meat that we give up for Lent, every sin that we confess in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, every sacrifice of time that we make to add more prayer and spiritual reading to our daily life, and every other Lenten activity is a practice of self-denial that unites us to Jesus in the desert.

 

Jesus fasted from food and other physical comforts during his battle with the devil, and this strategy strengthened him and prepared him for the ministry that came afterward. This is what Lent should be for us, too.

 

Satan is not someone to fear. Jesus already defeated all demons on our behalf, first in the desert and then on the cross. Our battle is really only against temptation and our personal weaknesses that make us vulnerable to succumbing to sin.

 

We don't always want to follow Jesus. This is what we must surrender to God during Lent. Then Easter will be far more meaningful, because we will emerge from Lent much stronger in our faith.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Strength I ask You today, Lord, to face all those temptations that are too difficult for me to resist. Only You can defeat them in me, I only say 'yes' to Your will. Amen.

--------------------------------

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!”

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Saturday - March 05, 2022

 

Saturday - March 05, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

 

March 5, 2022

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Lectionary: 222

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Is 58:9b-14

 

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                                  86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

 

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                                      Ez 33:11                    

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,

but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 5:27-32

 

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.”

 

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Because Lent this year is like no other ...

"Follow me," says Jesus in Saturday's Gospel reading. And the other readings tell us how:

Remove from your habits the sins of oppression, false accusation and malicious speech. Share your food with the hungry and comfort the afflicted. Honor the Lord by not following your own ways. In other words: Do what Jesus did, handle evil the way Jesus did, and lovingly obey the Father like Jesus did. Then light shall replace your darkness.

For the past couple of years, we've been shocked by the depths of darkness in our world. Exposed in ever-deepening layers, evil has become clearer to us. We see the many ways it's been destroying our societies, our health, our families, and even our churches from within. And the revelations are still unfolding. Because of how much has been unveiled, Lent this year is like no other.

It's now extremely important to read the signs of the times, especially looking for clues of what God wants us to do about evil. And we must read what's happening in the world through the lens of scripture, which means: through God's eyes. Not through fear. Not through the news media. But through faith in God the Father who brings resurrection from disaster.

Now more than ever we need to repent of our participation in evil -- both personally and corporately. We need to repent from being silent when we could have spoken up against evil. We need to repent from the fear of persecution. We need to repent from voting for politicians who are pro-abortion and who commit and promote other destructive evils. We need to repent from letting fearful things take our eyes off of Jesus. We need to repent from blindly following leaders without examining their guidance or commands through the lens of faith (a faith that's been formed by the Word of God and the untainted teachings of the Catholic Church).

Following Jesus takes us to the purifying cross, but it also leads us to resurrection, the fruits of purification. Repentance this Lent needs to take us to deeper levels of humility. This Lent, it's not enough to sacrifice from eating candy or drinking coffee. Our Lenten practice should change us -- make us more like Jesus -- which then also changes the world.

We need to humbly examine how unlike Christ we are (individually and as a Church). What did he do that we are not doing? What did he think that we are not thinking? What did he boldly teach that we are not teaching? Now more than ever, we need to beg God's forgiveness personally and corporately. (And by "corporately" I don't mean parish penance services. I mean praying, "Lord forgive us, for WE have sinned," feeling agony about the various ways that the Christian body on Earth has failed to look like Christ.)

This is how light replaces darkness. Remember, the purifying cross leads us to resurrection. The more purification we force ourselves into, the greater the resurrection. And the more serious we are about changing, the sooner the fruits of purification will change our Church and, from there, the world.

--------------------------------

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!”