Readings for Thursday After Ash Wednesday[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
"Here, then, I (Moses) have today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Dt 30:15-20
Moses is presenting the Law of the Lord to the Hebrew people whom he has lead out of bondage in Egypt. He makes it clear that by following the Law, the Ten Commandments, they will find favor in God’s eyes and they will prosper. If they disregard the law, they will find disfavor with God and will die out. He completes the ritualistic covenant phrasing by inviting them to choose life by following God’s law and statues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:[4] Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. As is usual, this selection emphasizes the contrast between the salvation of the just and the punishment of the wicked, an echo of Moses instruction to the people above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
He (Jesus) said (to his disciples),
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."
Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 9:22-25
The Gospel takes up the theme of life and death as Jesus first informs his disciples that he will undergo the “Passion” at the hands of the Jewish hierarchy and be raised. He then provides an invitation to life by contrasting, as Moses did in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the (spiritual) salvation brought about through faith and the (eternal) death that awaits the faithless.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
“Choose life then…”
At the very base of our need for the guidance of the Holy Spirit is the fact that God created us in His own image and likeness. In doing so he gave us boundless potential to explore and divine the secretes he placed before us in His creation. Included in his own likeness is “free will”. He did not make us a race of people to slavishly follow his law and whim. He created us with all the faculties needed to make our own choices. He gave us dominion over all his creation from the beginning of time. It was his will and pleasure to bestow this gift upon his favorite creation.
In giving us this gift, the ability to choose, he also unleashed human nature. Through Adam’s original sin, sin entered the world and the choices placed before humankind became complex. God punished and nearly destroyed the people he created in the great flood. He vowed never to take that course again and sent Moses with the Law to provide a frame work for his people, so they might understand his will in more explicit terms. This is the course of revelation the people of God followed.
In the readings from Deuteronomy and the Gospel of St. Luke God once more offers a choice to us. In offering that choice he reminds us that we can also choose death. It is just that he does so. Call it full disclosure – we are told what will happen if we choose to walk a path that leads away from his call to holiness. Moses said it “If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen… I tell you now that you will certainly perish.” Jesus, God’s Only Son reiterates that consequence “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” In this case Jesus is emphasizing that following God’s Law is difficult, it requires going against the forces of evil. And those forces who will kill the Son of Man, will also be arrayed against those who choose to follow him.
Those same choices face us all as we walk the way of Lent; trying to discern how we can walk more closely with Jesus. Always we are called to abandon that path. We are called seductively to death of spirit, death of human dignity, and physical death through abuse. Today we hear the Lord’s call clearly. He calls us to choose life!
Pax
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
"Here, then, I (Moses) have today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Dt 30:15-20
Moses is presenting the Law of the Lord to the Hebrew people whom he has lead out of bondage in Egypt. He makes it clear that by following the Law, the Ten Commandments, they will find favor in God’s eyes and they will prosper. If they disregard the law, they will find disfavor with God and will die out. He completes the ritualistic covenant phrasing by inviting them to choose life by following God’s law and statues.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:[4] Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s commands and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. As is usual, this selection emphasizes the contrast between the salvation of the just and the punishment of the wicked, an echo of Moses instruction to the people above.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
He (Jesus) said (to his disciples),
"The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised."
Then he said to all,
"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 9:22-25
The Gospel takes up the theme of life and death as Jesus first informs his disciples that he will undergo the “Passion” at the hands of the Jewish hierarchy and be raised. He then provides an invitation to life by contrasting, as Moses did in Deuteronomy 30:15-20, the (spiritual) salvation brought about through faith and the (eternal) death that awaits the faithless.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
“Choose life then…”
At the very base of our need for the guidance of the Holy Spirit is the fact that God created us in His own image and likeness. In doing so he gave us boundless potential to explore and divine the secretes he placed before us in His creation. Included in his own likeness is “free will”. He did not make us a race of people to slavishly follow his law and whim. He created us with all the faculties needed to make our own choices. He gave us dominion over all his creation from the beginning of time. It was his will and pleasure to bestow this gift upon his favorite creation.
In giving us this gift, the ability to choose, he also unleashed human nature. Through Adam’s original sin, sin entered the world and the choices placed before humankind became complex. God punished and nearly destroyed the people he created in the great flood. He vowed never to take that course again and sent Moses with the Law to provide a frame work for his people, so they might understand his will in more explicit terms. This is the course of revelation the people of God followed.
In the readings from Deuteronomy and the Gospel of St. Luke God once more offers a choice to us. In offering that choice he reminds us that we can also choose death. It is just that he does so. Call it full disclosure – we are told what will happen if we choose to walk a path that leads away from his call to holiness. Moses said it “If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen… I tell you now that you will certainly perish.” Jesus, God’s Only Son reiterates that consequence “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it.” In this case Jesus is emphasizing that following God’s Law is difficult, it requires going against the forces of evil. And those forces who will kill the Son of Man, will also be arrayed against those who choose to follow him.
Those same choices face us all as we walk the way of Lent; trying to discern how we can walk more closely with Jesus. Always we are called to abandon that path. We are called seductively to death of spirit, death of human dignity, and physical death through abuse. Today we hear the Lord’s call clearly. He calls us to choose life!
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used is “Christ Carrying the Cross” by Jan Sanders van Hemessen, 1553
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana
[4] Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
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