Lent (Page 23)

Saturday March 14 Readings: Mi 7:14-15, 18-20; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 In the reading from Micah, we hear of a God who “does not persist in anger,” “has compassion for us” and “will cast into the depths of the sea all of our sins.” Then Jesus tells perhaps his most famous story about the “Prodigal Son” (which is actually a misnomer as we will see). And remember, he tells it in response to the Pharisees and others commenting that Jesus “welcomes…

Friday March 13 Readings: Gn 37:3-4, 12-13A, 17B-28A; Mt 21:33-43, 45-46 Genesis tell us the famous story of Joseph (yes, the Joseph with the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) – whose brothers are jealous of his favor and talents – so they beat him (originally planning to kill him) and sell him to travelling merchants.  Little do they know that he will ultimately become a key player in their fate (and all of Israel) years later in Egypt. Stories like this remind…

Thursday March 12 Readings: Jer 17:5-10; Lk 16:19-31 In the reading from Jeremiah, we hear God say that God alone probes the minds and hearts of people and that we will all be rewarded according to the merits of our deeds. And we might say, “Well, that’s not so bad….I’m a good person.” Then we read the gospel.  Things start getting a little dicey here… Jesus tells the Pharisees the story of the rich man and Lazarus.  Lazarus, a sore-covered…

Wednesday March 11 Readings: Jer 18:18-20; Mt 20:17-28 For today, I am going to focus on the gospel reading from Matthew. Power and privilege are the words of the day.  Most of us when we are young are not officially taught about power.  But we learn the lessons very quickly. And, in general, the more privilege you have in the world, the less you have studied or notice how it works. In the gospel, the mother of the sons of…

Tuesday, March 10 Readings: Is 1:10, 16-20; Mt 23:1-12 There’s a line from the first reading from Isaiah that really catches my attention.  God encourages the people to say, “Come now, let us set things right!”  And we’re warned that what is not set right will come back to us somehow. Maybe you have had this experience before.  Something that you failed to attend to (and were aware that you weren’t attending to it) grew into a much bigger problem…

Monday March 9 Readings: Dn 9:4B-10; Lk 6:36-38 Our readings today focus on mercy. Deuteronomy tells us how merciful God is.  Time after time as we fall short and fail, God is willing to take up back and keep working with us. And Jesus in the gospel gives us a series of instructions which are all interrelated: Be merciful, Stop judging, Stop condemning, Forgive, Give. These are simple instructions.  Simple, but not easy. So many great teachers throughout history have…

Sunday, March 8 – International Women’s Day Readings: Gn 12:1-4A; 2 Tm 1:8B-10; Mt 17:1-9 The Sunday readings offer so much to choose from in terms of reflection.  I really encourage you to read through all of them (even if you hear them in church). What struck me today in the first reading from Genesis is that Abram (who we have come to know as Abraham) is made a promise by God.  But notice the sequence: Abram gets the call…

Saturday March 7 Readings: Dt 26:16-19; Mt 5:43-48 In Deuteronomy we witness God saying to Israel, “Are we good?  You understand what we’re agreeing to, right?” God says, “Here are my laws.  Obey them with your whole heart and soul and you will be my people.” It gets me thinking a lot about our Lenten journey and the personal commitments that we have made in this world – commitments that maybe only you and God know, commitments that are written…

Friday March 5 Readings: Ez 18:21-28; Mt 5:20-26 Today’s readings focus on following “the law” – God’s law, that is.  And we hear Jesus say, “Unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven?” What was he critiquing? The scribes and Pharisees were two religious groups who were really good at following the religious rules.  And they were upset that Jesus did not follow these rules and developed a following of…

Thursday March 5 Readings: Est C:12, 14-16, 23-25; Mt 7:7-12 The lectionary for today pairs a reading from Esther when she offers a heartfelt plea to the Lord with Jesus’ famous words from the end of the Sermon on the Mount: ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened. When I read the story of Esther, I am not sure that I have ever prayed like that or had to pray like…

Wednesday March 4 Readings: Jon 3:1-10; LK 11:29-32 In today’s readings, we are introduced to Jonah the prophet.  Most of us know the part where Jonah was in the belly of the fish for 3 days and probably saw this depicted in cartoon form as a kid.  Cute story. Yet in the gospel, Jesus seems to indicate that this is the only “sign” that’s going to be given to us to understand God’s kin-dom.  So if we don’t understand this…

March 3 Readings: Is 55:10-11; Mt 6:7-15 Today we hear that words matter.  Just like God’s word goes out and does not come back until it accomplishes what it needs to, so do our words.  Words have energy and they go out into the world and have an impact.  This is why right speech (as the Buddhists call it) is so crucial, and great historical figures like Gandhi remind us that “Your words become your actions, Your actions become your…