Today's readings and meditation

FIRST READING (Ezekiel 37:21-28)

Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms.

They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

“My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there for ever; and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

“I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.

“My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.”

GOSPEL (John 11:45-57)

Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, every one will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.

Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”

Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if any one knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

REFLECTIONS

They took counsel how to put him to death - Servants of the Word 

Standing on the threshold of Holy Week - Passionist Nuns of Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky, U.S.A. 

Jesus foreshadows his death and resurrection - Reverend Peter Stravinskas 

FURTHERMORE . . .

Supposing you were at the gate of death and Christ stood there and said: “Do you want to come back?’ And you said: “Yes”, - doesn’t it imply that you are coming back on absolutely new terms? Think of the rising of Lazarus. He had died, he had had the total experience of death and then he was brought back. Do you think that he possibly could return to the life he led with all its smallness, all the things that were not worthy of what truly a human being is, of the greatness of man? Of course not. And again in small it is the same with our illnesses. We come back to health and this health is a new birth, it’s a new beginning, it’s an offer given us by God to start life again. Physically and mentally it does come to this. I know that in my small experience, for about fifty years I have had a dislocated back. The moment this back was put right a few years ago I felt new life was given and that this life, this back of mine was to be used to the full, was to be used in a way in which I could not use the old one, the broken one, the dislocated one. And this does apply to all conditions in which healing comes to us.

I think we must realise that when we speak of healing in Christian terms we do not speak simply of a power possessed by God or by His saints or by people who being neither saints nor God are possessed of a natural gift to restore health for us to continue to live in the way in which we lived before, to remain the same unchanged. God does not heal us in order that we should go back to our sinful condition. He offers us newness of life, not the old life which we have already lost. And the new life which is offered us is no longer ours in a way, it is His, it’s a gift of His, a present. It was Mine to give, take it... And it seems to me that thinking in spiritual terms, it is true. Because what is sin? We define sin all the time as moral infringement but it is much more than this: it is the very thing of which I was speaking, it is the lack of wholeness. When you think of yourself - or perhaps, I think of myself if you are that better than I which I doubt, - if we think of ourselves: I am divided - mind against heart, heart against will, body against all the rest. We are all not only schizophrenic, but schizo-everything, we are just like a broken mirror and so that is the condition of sin: it is not so much that the mirror doesn’t reflect well, it is the fact that it is broken that is the problem. You can, of course, try to take a small piece of it and see what you can see, but it is still a broken mirror. And this brokenness of ours within corresponds to a brokenness in our relationships with other people. We are afraid of them, we are envious of them, we are greedy, what not. So it creates a whole relational sinfulness and indeed it applies supremely to God because it all results from our having lost our harmony with God. The saints are people who are in harmony with Him, nothing more, nothing less, simply that. And as the result of being in harmony they can be in harmony within themselves and with other people.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh - excerpt from a talk

PRAYER

Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits thou hast won for me,

for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,

may I know thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,

and follow thee more nearly:

for ever and ever. Amen.

St Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)

Today's readings and reflection

FIRST READING (Jeremiah 11:18-20)

The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then thou didst show me their evil deeds.

But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”

But, O Lord of hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest the heart and the mind, let me see thy vengeance upon them, for to thee have I committed my cause.

GOSPEL (John 7:40-53)

When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.”

Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”

So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”

The Pharisees answered them, “Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”

They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”

They went each to his own house

REFLECTIONS

Who is Jesus for you? - Servants of the Word

Harmful prejudice - Fr Vic Baltazar

Scripture Fulfilled: Gradual awareness of who Jesus is - Fr John Breck

FURTHERMORE . . .

In concert with all the great philosophers, St Peter Chrysologus reminds us that human observation cannot recognize how great God is, but only that He exists. Why is this? Why can we not innately see the greatness of God? Let me suggest two reasons.

First, we are creatures. So our human minds can neither comprehend nor fathom the mystery that God is. Otherwise, we would be like God. So the nature of being human prevents us from ever truly knowing the full extent of God’s greatness. Or to say it more simply: we can’t know God’s greatness because we are not God, but made by God.

The second reason we can’t know God’s greatness is because we don’t know what true greatness is. Our minds are so clouded over by arrogance, by lust, by disordered passions, and by our selfish near-sightedness that we do not know see that true greatness consists not of might but of mercy; and not being able to have and do and control whatever we want, but being willing to sacrifice all for the sake of love.

This second reason is because of sin. Instead of striving to be in God, we strive to be like God. And in our misguided striving, we miss the mark because we are aiming at the wrong thing. And the wrong thing is the desire to raise ourselves, the need to promote ourselves, the straining and struggling and stressing to make sure we make it. The focus is all wrong. In straining to be like God, we strain to be noticed; and so we strain toward a selfish goal.

But notice, now, the true greatness of God. The Son of God, who is all and has all, emptied Himself of all that He is and has, and took the form of a servant, and became one of the creatures He made, being made in the likeness of men, taking on the mortal weakness of men. And so, not for His sake, but for the sake of man and all creation, He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross.

[Here, then, is true greatness.] It is the High Priest using His own blood to sanctify not only the temple, not only the pious and righteous, but even more so the most defiled, the most despicable, the least deserving, the filthiest, and the most unclean. This is the way of Christ, who by the Holy Ghost offered himself unspotted unto God, [to] cleanse our conscience from dead works, [so that we might be permitted] serve the living God. In this way, the unholiest is sanctified not by an incantation, not by the right ceremony, but by the Holy One becoming sin; by the Deathless One dying; and by the Lover of men being the most despised.

Let us then not only consider, but take to heart, the greatness of Our Lord God. Let us not only understand, but also believe His meekness. Let us both comprehend, and then seek our life in the unfathomable love that He is and so readily gives. For He does not abandon us to our self-destroying ways. Neither does He make us first seek Him out and somehow ascend to Him. Rather, in His deep and abiding mercy, Our Lord Jesus comes to us. And in coming to us, He gives us all that we need to return to Him, to live in true repentance, to forsake our selfish appetites, and to live for Him in the same self-sacrificing way that He lives for us.

From a sermon “The Greatness of God” by Fr John W Fenton.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ,

you are for me medicine when I am sick;

you are my strength when I need help;

you are life itself when I fear death;

you are the way when I long for heaven;

you are light when all is dark;

you are my food when I need nourishment.

Amen.

St Ambrose of Milan (340-397)

Today's readings and reflection

FIRST READING  (Micah 7:14-15, 18-20)

Shepherd thy people, O Lord, with thy staff, the flock of thy inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt I will show them marvelous things. Who is a God like thee, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger for ever because he delights in steadfast love.

He will again have compassion upon us, he will tread our iniquities under foot.

Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of old.

GOSPEL  (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32)

The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus.

And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:

And he said, "There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, `Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.' And he divided his living between them.

"Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything.

"But when he came to himself he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants."'

"And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

"And the son said to him, `Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

"But the father said to his servants, `Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to make merry.

"Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what this meant. And he said to him, `Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.'

"But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, `Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!'

"And he said to him, `Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

REFLECTIONS

Reinstated as a son - Word of Life Community

Receive me as the Prodigal Son, and have mercy upon me - James Iliou, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology

Pope Francis on the Father's loving embrace - from Zenit

FURTHERMORE . . . (from Metropolitan Anthony Bloom)

The father says, "should we not have rejoiced when your brother came back?" But the elder son sees in the prodigal only the sinful son of his father whom he can no longer accept as a brother, though his father reminds him that if the prodigal also is his son, he must be the righteous one's brother.

Again I say, does it often happen that we perceive someone who has sinned, not necessarily against us but done wrong in general as our brother? Do we not more often say "your son" with contemptuous rejection? Do we often admit that he is our brother all the same, he is dear to the father and should be infinitely dear to us? But no, we are like the son who thought himself virtuous because he was a good worker, although he remained alien to the spirit of his father's house.

One further comment. The father did not allow his son to ask to become a servant; he could not take him as a servant but only as a son returned. And he told then to bring his original robe, not the best garment in the house but the one he used to wear before he became a stranger, before he shed it to dress up as a foreigner. When the son put on his former robe instead of his rags he felt it fit him snugly, and his father ordered then to bring him the ring, not just a ring, but the ring with which in older times a man sealed his letters. The father put complete trust in him. Why? Why did he not first demand proofs of his repentance? Because he knew that if his son had overcome shame and fear in order to come home his return was secure. But when a person, formerly a friend but who has hurt either us or someone dear to us, approaches us, are we ready to entrust ourselves to him, give him the old affection? No, and therefore the reconciliation is not permanent. That is why a person is so afraid of seeking reconciliation; he knows he will not meet the father but only false, humiliating virtue which says "you are not my brother even if my father does acknowledge you as his son". Let us consider this question of forgiveness, because soon it will be forgiveness Sunday and it might catch us unprepared. Amen.

PRAYER

Father of all, 

we give you thanks and praise, 

that when we were still far off 

you met us in your Son and brought us home. 

Dying and living, he declared your love, 

gave us grace, and opened the gate of glory. 

May we who share Christ's body live his risen life; 

we who drink his cup bring life to others; 

we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world. 

Keep us firm in the hope you have set before us, 

so we and all your children shall be free, 

and the whole earth live to praise your name; 

through Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Common Worship)

Today's readings and reflection

FIRST READING  (Deuteronomy 26:16-19)

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day concerning the Lord that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice; and the Lord has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honour, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has spoken.”

GOSPEL  (Matthew 5:43-48)

“You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

“For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

“And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

“You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

REFLECTIONS

Hearts on fire with the Love of God - Word of Life Community

How to Love Your Enemies - Fr Richard Demetrius Andrews

Loving your enemy: A biblical alternative to revenge - J. Carl Laney

FURTHERMORE . . .

Catherine Doherty, from the Madonna House Staff Letter #59, reproduced in Grace in Every Season, page 97):

I remember when I was a little girl in Russia during Holy Week every member of my family - father, mother, and all the servants lined up and, beginning with father, bowed low before one another and said to each, “Forgive me for any hurt that I might have inflicted on you.” And the answer from the other was, “May the Lord forgive you as I forgive you. Amen.” So everyone asked forgiveness from one another, because without forgiveness, which is the greatest sign of love, how can one receive the God of love?

We hurt people, unwillingly and even unwittingly, by the weakness of our nature, so we need forgiveness from our brothers and sisters, and we need to forgive them as well. We cannot enter Holy Week unless we forgive totally, uncompromisingly, and completely. For before our eyes will soon be Jesus Christ himself, who will cry out from the height of the cross, “Father, forgive them.”

Since we are baptized into the death and life of Jesus Christ, we should not allow the night to fall on our anger. We should beg forgiveness and forgive every day. Let us pray that we may forgive, because no one forgives these days, nationally and internationally speaking, and perhaps also personally. That is why we have the mess that we have.

PRAYER

Lord, thou hast prepared a table for me

against them that trouble me.

Let that holy Sacrament of the Eucharist

be to me a defence and shield,

a nourishment and medicine, life and health,

a means of sanctification and spiritual growth;

that I, receiving the Body of my dearest Lord,

may be one with his mystical body,

and of the same Spirit,

united with indissoluble bonds of a strong faith,

and a holy hope,

and a never-failing charity,

that from this veil I may pass into the visions of eternal charity,

from eating thy Body to beholding thy face

in the glories of thy everlasting kingdom,

O blessed and eternal Jesus. Amen.

Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)

Loving enemies????? Today's Lent reflection.

FIRST READING  (Deuteronomy 26:16-19)
Moses spoke to the people, saying: "This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances; you shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared this day concerning the Lord that he is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his ordinances, and will obey his voice; and the Lord has declared this day concerning you that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, that he will set you high above all nations that he has made, in praise and in fame and in honour, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he has spoken."


GOSPEL  (Matthew 5:43-48)
"You have heard that it was said, `You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

"For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?

"And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

"You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."


A GOOD STORY
The Sunday sermon was on "Forgive Your Enemies." The priest asked, "How many of you have forgiven your enemies?" About half the congregation held up their hands. He asked again, and about 80% put up their hands. The third time round, all hands were raised except for one elderly lady.

"Mrs Jones, I'm surprised at you. Why aren't you willing to forgive your enemies?"

"I don't have any" she responded.

"Are you sure, Mrs Jones? Said the priest. I find that very hard to believe! Please come to the front and explain to everyone how it is possible not to have an enemy in the world."

The little old lady tottered down the aisle, and said: "It's easy, Father. I'm ninety-three years old. I've outlived every single one of them!"


REFLECTIONS
Hearts on fire with the Love of God 
(Word of Life Community)

A godly homily for today
(Paul Hinnebusch)


FURTHERMORE . . .
I remember when I was a little girl in Russia during Holy Week every member of my family - father, mother, and all the servants lined up and, beginning with father, bowed low before one another and said to each, "Forgive me for any hurt that I might have inflicted on you." And the answer from the other was, "May the Lord forgive you as I forgive you. Amen." So everyone asked forgiveness from one another, because without forgiveness, which is the greatest sign of love, how can one receive the God of love?

We hurt people, unwillingly and even unwittingly, by the weakness of our nature, so we need forgiveness from our brothers and sisters, and we need to forgive them as well. We cannot enter Holy Week unless we forgive totally, uncompromisingly, and completely. For before our eyes will soon be Jesus Christ himself, who will cry out from the height of the cross, "Father, forgive them."

Since we are baptized into the death and life of Jesus Christ, we should not allow the night to fall on our anger. We should beg forgiveness and forgive every day. Let us pray that we may forgive, because no one forgives these days, nationally and internationally speaking, and perhaps also personally. That is why we have the mess that we have.
Catherine Doherty in the Madonna House Staff Letter #59 
(Reproduced in Grace in Every Season, page 97)


PRAYER
Lord, thou hast prepared a table for me
against them that trouble me.
Let that holy Sacrament of the Eucharist
be to me a defence and shield,
a nourishment and medicine, life and health,
a means of sanctification and spiritual growth;
that I, receiving the Body of my dearest Lord,
may be one with his mystical body,
and of the same Spirit,
united with indissoluble bonds of a strong faith,
and a holy hope,
and a never-failing charity,
that from this veil I may pass into the visions of eternal charity,
from eating thy Body to beholding thy face
in the glories of thy everlasting kingdom,
O blessed and eternal Jesus. Amen.
Bishop Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667)