Third Sunday of Lent
Readings for the Third Sunday of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
The passage from Exodus is the story of God’s call of Moses from the burning bush. The Lord indicates that he has “come down” indicating that He will intervene in the plight of the Israelites.
There is concern from Moses that he must be able to tell the Israelites the name of the God in whose name he comes. The Lord names himself “I am who am.” Giving no name that can be used to have dominion over (see Genesis – man names the animals).
He goes further, instructing Moses to tell them that he is the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This identification was cited by early Christians as proof of the resurrection, since the patriarchs live on in God who is the God of the living.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Psalm 103, continued from yesterday, praises God for this compassion and forgiveness and recalls Moses’ mission and the salvation brought through it.
Reading II 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
St. Paul begins here linking Christian baptism to one of its ancient symbols, Moses leading the Hebrews through the parted waters of the sea. He goes on to link the Eucharist to God feeding the (the Hebrews) in the wilderness with manna. Yet because they rejected Christ “who followed them, most were struck down.
He uses this example (later expressed in St. John’s Gospel as Jesus said “Your ancestors ate bread in the wilderness, yet they died.) to warn against the discontent that comes from living a life focused on spiritual wealth, not earthly possessions.
Gospel Lk 13:1-9
In the first section of this reading Jesus speaks about two incidents; a group of Galileans apparently killed by Pilate (possibly at the temple “…whose blood Pilate mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.”), and eighteen people accidentally killed when a tower under construction collapsed. These incidents related to Jesus gave him the opportunity to call everyone to repentance, since like those who had died (who he tells us were not singled out because of their sins), we do not know when the end will come.
He continues his lesion with the Parable of the Fig Tree. This particular story would seem to indicate that the coming of the Christ (“…I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it”) God has given them (us) time to repent, and through him find salvation.
Homily:
I want to confess something to all of you here today. I recently went to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In sacramental grace, I laid bare my soul and offered to God, all of the thoughts words, and deeds I believed had violated his commandments since my last visit. I said, with all sincerity that I was sorry for having done, said and thought the things that violated the Lord’s law of love and I promised, again sincerely, that I would do everything in my power to avoid those failings in the future.
After I had done this, I received from God’s servant, the Priest who sat before me in the place of Christ, provided some actions on my part that would demonstrate my sincerity and confirmed the Lord’s forgiveness of all these actions.
I left the confessional feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I went to the parking lot, got in my car and headed out into the world. I had not gone three blocks when some jerk, talking on his cell phone when he should have been paying attention to his driving, almost caused me to get into an accident. The expletive I uttered at that instant and the dark thoughts that followed almost caused me to turn around and go back to Church and start all over.
We are not like Christ whose thoughts for the driver who I cursed would probably have been; “God, look over this son of mine, his actions may cause him to come to harm and possibly to harm others.” There are probably among you some very holy people whose thoughts in that circumstance may have been along those lines. I pray that I might get there one day.
Scripture today, especially from the Gospel points to one very important theme of lent. The Lord is being told by one of the crowds that frequently gather about two situations in which unexpected death had occurred. First, Pilate (yes, that Pilate) had apparently slaughtered a group of people, probably at the temple, since the Gospel relates that “…whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices”
The Gospel goes on to talk about 18 people who were killed in Jerusalem when one of the towers that guarded the aqueduct that fed the pool of Salome collapsed on them. Scholars believe this may have been an act of zealot sabotage.
In both these cases, the Lord does not condemn the person in the case of Pilate or persons in the second instance. Rather he points to the need for repentance; we do not know the hour or day when we will be called home to the Father.
In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Fig Tree. He tells of a land owner who was waiting for this tree to bear fruit and after three years, when it did not, he told his gardener to cut it down, since all it was doing was depleting the soil of his garden. The gardener asked for patience and offered to;” …cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it” if the landowner would be patient a while longer.
This story is very good news for us. It tells us that the Lord, while he expects us to bear fruit through our prayers, words, and actions, is willing to be patient. The urgency of that call to repentance is amplified by the parable. Jesus comes as the Gardener to nourish us so that we might bear fruit but we must turn away from sin to do so.
As we continue our Lenten journey of introspection, looking for ways to more effectively answer God’s call to us (a burning bush would be nice), we recognize that we must repent, not just in our heart and prayers, but those thoughts and prayers must be expressed in actions, what we do, how we treat others. We need to be constantly striving to live the example Jesus gave us, because we do not know the day or the hour.
Pax
[1] After 04/07
[2] The image presented today is “Moses before the Burning Bush” by Domenico Feti, 1613-14
Readings for the Third Sunday of Lent[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis
Commentary:
Reading 1 Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15
The passage from Exodus is the story of God’s call of Moses from the burning bush. The Lord indicates that he has “come down” indicating that He will intervene in the plight of the Israelites.
There is concern from Moses that he must be able to tell the Israelites the name of the God in whose name he comes. The Lord names himself “I am who am.” Giving no name that can be used to have dominion over (see Genesis – man names the animals).
He goes further, instructing Moses to tell them that he is the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. This identification was cited by early Christians as proof of the resurrection, since the patriarchs live on in God who is the God of the living.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11
R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Psalm 103, continued from yesterday, praises God for this compassion and forgiveness and recalls Moses’ mission and the salvation brought through it.
Reading II 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12
St. Paul begins here linking Christian baptism to one of its ancient symbols, Moses leading the Hebrews through the parted waters of the sea. He goes on to link the Eucharist to God feeding the (the Hebrews) in the wilderness with manna. Yet because they rejected Christ “who followed them, most were struck down.
He uses this example (later expressed in St. John’s Gospel as Jesus said “Your ancestors ate bread in the wilderness, yet they died.) to warn against the discontent that comes from living a life focused on spiritual wealth, not earthly possessions.
Gospel Lk 13:1-9
In the first section of this reading Jesus speaks about two incidents; a group of Galileans apparently killed by Pilate (possibly at the temple “…whose blood Pilate mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.”), and eighteen people accidentally killed when a tower under construction collapsed. These incidents related to Jesus gave him the opportunity to call everyone to repentance, since like those who had died (who he tells us were not singled out because of their sins), we do not know when the end will come.
He continues his lesion with the Parable of the Fig Tree. This particular story would seem to indicate that the coming of the Christ (“…I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it”) God has given them (us) time to repent, and through him find salvation.
Homily:
I want to confess something to all of you here today. I recently went to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In sacramental grace, I laid bare my soul and offered to God, all of the thoughts words, and deeds I believed had violated his commandments since my last visit. I said, with all sincerity that I was sorry for having done, said and thought the things that violated the Lord’s law of love and I promised, again sincerely, that I would do everything in my power to avoid those failings in the future.
After I had done this, I received from God’s servant, the Priest who sat before me in the place of Christ, provided some actions on my part that would demonstrate my sincerity and confirmed the Lord’s forgiveness of all these actions.
I left the confessional feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I went to the parking lot, got in my car and headed out into the world. I had not gone three blocks when some jerk, talking on his cell phone when he should have been paying attention to his driving, almost caused me to get into an accident. The expletive I uttered at that instant and the dark thoughts that followed almost caused me to turn around and go back to Church and start all over.
We are not like Christ whose thoughts for the driver who I cursed would probably have been; “God, look over this son of mine, his actions may cause him to come to harm and possibly to harm others.” There are probably among you some very holy people whose thoughts in that circumstance may have been along those lines. I pray that I might get there one day.
Scripture today, especially from the Gospel points to one very important theme of lent. The Lord is being told by one of the crowds that frequently gather about two situations in which unexpected death had occurred. First, Pilate (yes, that Pilate) had apparently slaughtered a group of people, probably at the temple, since the Gospel relates that “…whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices”
The Gospel goes on to talk about 18 people who were killed in Jerusalem when one of the towers that guarded the aqueduct that fed the pool of Salome collapsed on them. Scholars believe this may have been an act of zealot sabotage.
In both these cases, the Lord does not condemn the person in the case of Pilate or persons in the second instance. Rather he points to the need for repentance; we do not know the hour or day when we will be called home to the Father.
In the second part of the Gospel, Jesus gives us the Parable of the Fig Tree. He tells of a land owner who was waiting for this tree to bear fruit and after three years, when it did not, he told his gardener to cut it down, since all it was doing was depleting the soil of his garden. The gardener asked for patience and offered to;” …cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it” if the landowner would be patient a while longer.
This story is very good news for us. It tells us that the Lord, while he expects us to bear fruit through our prayers, words, and actions, is willing to be patient. The urgency of that call to repentance is amplified by the parable. Jesus comes as the Gardener to nourish us so that we might bear fruit but we must turn away from sin to do so.
As we continue our Lenten journey of introspection, looking for ways to more effectively answer God’s call to us (a burning bush would be nice), we recognize that we must repent, not just in our heart and prayers, but those thoughts and prayers must be expressed in actions, what we do, how we treat others. We need to be constantly striving to live the example Jesus gave us, because we do not know the day or the hour.
Pax
[1] After 04/07
[2] The image presented today is “Moses before the Burning Bush” by Domenico Feti, 1613-14
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