Friday of the Third Week of Lent

During the Third Week of Lent (especially in Years B and C when the Gospel of the Samaritan woman is not read on the Third Sunday of Lent) optional Mass Texts are offered.

“Hosea”
from Menologion of Basil II, 985

 
Readings for Friday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: Hosea 14:2-10
 
Thus says the LORD:
Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;
you have collapsed through your guilt.
Take with you words,
and return to the LORD;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity,
and receive what is good, that we may render
as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.
Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we have horses to mount;
We shall say no more, ‘Our god,’
to the work of our hands;
for in you the orphan finds compassion.”
 
I will heal their defection, says the LORD,
I will love them freely;
for my wrath is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew for Israel:
he shall blossom like the lily;
He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,
and put forth his shoots.
His splendor shall be like the olive tree
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Again they shall dwell in his shade
and raise grain;
They shall blossom like the vine,
and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.
 
Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?
I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.
“I am like a verdant cypress tree”–
Because of me you bear fruit!
 
Let him who is wise understand these things;
let him who is prudent know them.
Straight are the paths of the LORD,
in them the just walk,
but sinners stumble in them.
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Commentary on Hos 14:2-10
 
This prophetic work has an emotional motive on the part of the author. An ongoing analogy is playing out, using the backdrop of the author’s unfortunate marriage. Hosea’s prophecy paints Israel as an unfaithful wife (seduced away by idolatry and hardened by ignoring the poor), and God as the jealous husband who wants her back in spite of her faults. The language used in this selection, which is from the very end of the book, has that flavor to it. The passage can be summed up with: in spite of your sins, come back to God.
 
The prophet continues to call Israel back to faithfulness through repentance (“Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good”). God is their only salvation and their strength. The message to the people is one of complete forgiveness, if they but turn back to the Law of Moses. The conclusion of the passage is a possible inspiration for John the Baptist, for whom the message of forgiveness and repentance was central, and whose role as precursor to Messiah is echoed in the message: “Straight are the paths of the Lord, in them the just walk, but sinners stumble in them."
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
 
R. (see 11 and 9a) I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
 
An unfamiliar speech I hear:
“I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
his hands were freed from the basket.
In distress you called, and I rescued you.”
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
 
“Unseen, I answered you in thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, will you not hear me?”
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
 
“There shall be no strange god among you
nor shall you worship any alien god.
I, the LORD, am your God
who led you forth from the land of Egypt.”
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
 
“If only my people would hear me,
and Israel walk in my ways,
I would feed them with the best of wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would fill them.”
R. I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.
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Commentary on Ps 81:6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14 and 17
 
Psalm 81 is a prophetic liturgy. The voice is a priest speaking in God’s name. We hear in it the Lord’s promise of compassion and the warning to listen to God and turn back to him.
 
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Gospel: Mark 12:28-34
 
One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,
“Which is the first of all the commandments?”
Jesus replied, “The first is this:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord our God is Lord alone!
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
with all your soul,
with all your mind,
and with all your strength.
The second is this:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no other commandment greater than these.”
The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher.
You are right in saying,
He is One and there is no other than he.
And to love him with all your heart,
with all your understanding,
with all your strength,
and to love your neighbor as yourself
is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask him any more questions.
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Commentary on Mk 12:28-34
In the continuing dialogue with the Sadducees from the Gospel of St. Mark, we find the scribe is impressed with the way Jesus handled the challenge by the Sadducees (found in the previous verses). The Lord answers his question about the law with the Great Commandment, the opening of the Shema, the great Jewish prayer, and then he follows that statement with the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (see also Leviticus 19:18). When the scholar clearly understands what Jesus is saying, the Lord tells him he is "not far from the kingdom of God" (see also the commentary on Matthew 22:34ff).
 
CCC: Mk 12:28-34 575; Mk 12:29-31 129, 2196; Mk 12:29-30 202; Mk 12:29 228
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Reflection:
 
A number of years ago I learned to play (poorly) a Korean board game that is likely the most difficult and complex game in the world – Go.  Two players attempt to capture the largest part of the game board by laying down black and white stones.   What makes Go so difficult is its simplicity.  The game only has four rules and is played on a nineteen by nineteen grid board.  There are so many different options that it boggles the mind.
 
The reason I mention the game and its difficulty based upon simplicity is that the same is true of the “First Commandment,” or as we call it, the Great Commandment, that is presented in Scripture today.  It sounds very simple: love God and love your neighbor.  The complexity and the difficulty come with the equally simple word, love.
 
First we separate love into two major Greek definitions, eros and agape (there are four, but for the sake of this discussion we will not take up philia or storge).  At some point they can come close to being seen as the same. Intense non-erotic love can be dangerous, and I suspect, misinterpreted.  Expressions of it in, for instance, Victorian England, where women frequently hugged and kissed, today could be interpreted as something different, and tragically increasingly acceptable, quite likely as erotic love.  For our purpose today let’s put eros away; it is not what the Lord was talking about.
 
So, we now focus on just agape, familial love, love of a platonic nature.  How we define that relationship in today’s culture is also complex.  For the sake of our discussion, let’s define it as caring more for the other person’s interests than one’s own.  It is simplistic but it will work for purposes of understanding what Jesus was talking about when he left us the Great Commandment.
 
If we are to place God’s interests in front of our own, we must first, at least at a high level, figure out what God wants.  We believe that God wants us to love him.  We have been told countless times this is the ultimate truth.  Since loving God is explicit in the commandment, we go to the other things we know have pleased him. Our success pleases him; the good we accomplish in his name reflects on him, just as our children's accomplishments reflect upon us.  And when we fail, when we fall, that has the opposite effect.
 
We could go much deeper on the first part of the commandment but let’s get to the second: love our neighbor as ourself.  Using our definition, that would mean putting the interests of our neighbor before our own.  On the surface that does not sound very easy, or even wise (if we consider the greedy nature of some of our neighbors).  We must therefore consider this from a slightly more complex definition of our neighbor’s interests.  What is in our neighbor’s best interests is to embrace God and make him happy.  We must believe this because the Lord is the source of eternal life, and it is only through the Lord that our neighbor can achieve the ultimate reward.
 
We must, as a consequence of our belief, lead our neighbor to God through our example and invitation.  We must, in a loving way, help our neighbor understand God in this way.  And that is why what the Lord asks us to do is so difficult.  Using the Lord’s example of humble love for all mankind, we are to live that life that will bring all those we meet to join us in loving God.
 
Pax
 
Stations of the Cross
 

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[1] The picture is “Hosea” from Menologion of Basil II, 985.
[2] S.S. Commemoratio
[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.