Monday of the First Week of Lent

Monday of the First Week of Lent

Readings for Monday of the First Week of Lent[1]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible at Universalis

Commentary:

Reading 1 Lv 19:1-2, 11-18

We are given today rules of conduct from Leviticus, the third book of the Torah or Pentateuch. The book was so named because its contents are almost entirely legislative probably written by and for the priestly tribe of Levi.

Today we are given rules for relationships with others that begins with a phrase that is repeated many times in Leviticus; “Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God am holy.” It continues with the ban against stealing, lying defrauding, having unfair business relationships and finally getting down to feelings toward the neighbor – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Responsorial Psalm Ps 19:8, 9, 10, 15
R. Your Words, Lord, are spirit and life.

The psalm is a song of praise. It rejoices in the laws and precepts set down by God and asks the Lord to find favor in those who follow them.

Gospel Mt 25:31-46

Jesus, in this reading, is telling his disciples and us what will be judged at the end times, the eschaton. The reading gives us a vision of what will be asked and how judgment will be passed.

If we took the last line from the Leviticus reading and asked; how is one to live that law in life? This reading sums it up with “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

Reflection:

We begin our first week of Lent with the basics, the hard basics. You may be surprised to see in the Leviticus reading a familiar phrase; “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is what the Lord would later link with the Love of God to form the Great Commandment. If we ever wondered why the Lord was so harsh with the Pharisees and scribes, the fact that they were supposed to be living under the “Law of Moses”, a small part of which we see in that first reading today, should tell us. They clearly did not understand the spirit of that law.

As if to explain the Law more deeply, we are given the familiar Gospel from St. Matthew. This Gospel too is the genesis of an axiom; the “Golden Rule” although it started with; “Do unto others as you would do for me.”

I am reminded what the great football coach Vince Lombardi is said to have told his players on the first day of training camp. He would hold up the football and announce; “This is a football.” The implication was clear, to become expert at something, we must constantly go back to the basics. That is were we are lead today.

Today we are asked to look at our own relationships with others, our friends, our business associates, and acquaintances. We ask ourselves, how do we treat and feel about them? Are we dealing fairly with them, are we truthful? Are we following God’s law of love? The answer is, for everyone, even the best intentioned, not as well as we should. Today we are told; “this is a football”, “This is love.” We are reminded that, as Christians we are called to that standard and cannot afford to miss the point as the Pharisees did. Today we look at our lives and reform.

Pax

[1] After 04/07