Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

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

“Get Behind Me, Satan”
by Ilya Repin,1895

 
Readings for Thursday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: Jeremiah 7:23-28
 
Thus says the LORD:
This is what I commanded my people:
Listen to my voice;
then I will be your God and you shall be my people.
Walk in all the ways that I command you,
so that you may prosper.
 
But they obeyed not, nor did they pay heed.
They walked in the hardness of their evil hearts
and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
From the day that your fathers left the land of Egypt even to this day,
I have sent you untiringly all my servants the prophets.
Yet they have not obeyed me nor paid heed;
they have stiffened their necks and done worse than their fathers.
When you speak all these words to them,
they will not listen to you either;
when you call to them, they will not answer you.
Say to them:
This is the nation that does not listen
to the voice of the LORD, its God,
or take correction.
Faithfulness has disappeared;
the word itself is banished from their speech.
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Commentary on Jer 7:23-28
 
In this oracle called “the temple sermon,” the prophet Jeremiah, speaking with the voice of God, reminds the people that the Lord desires fidelity from them and they are not listening. The prophet’s plea echoes what Moses heard in Deuteronomy 4:1, asking the people to turn away from sin and be faithful. In this passage Jeremiah is referring to man’s fallen nature as he points to “the hardness of their evil hearts.” In the final verse of this passage Jeremiah says: “Faithfulness has disappeared; the word itself is banished from their speech.” The people’s rejecting the “word” foreshadows rejection of the Messiah, the Word made flesh.
 
"In the New Testament we can perceive some of the ways in which the ancient message of the prophet was given contemporary application. In the 'cleansing of the temple,' Jesus quotes Jeremiah in his declaration to those in the temple that they have made God’s house a 'den of robbers' (Jeremiah 7:11; Matthew 21:13). And the very notion of 'hell,' Gehenna (from the Valley of Hinnom) draws a part of its meaning and substance from the valley where children were burned in the terrible fires, illustrating powerfully the way in which all forms of 'judgment' are essentially of human making, the product and consequence of evil."  [4]
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
 
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
 
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R.  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
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Commentary on Ps 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
 
This part of Psalm 95, commonly used as the invitatory psalm for the Liturgy of the Hours, is a song of thanksgiving. In these strophes the incident at Meribah is remembered (Exodus 17:3-7), and God’s undeserved mercy proclaimed. The community is rejoicing that the Lord is God and that he has brought us salvation in spite of our forebears' obstinacy. We are encouraged to listen to the Lord, even if what we are asked to do is difficult.
 
CCC: Ps 95:1-6 2628; Ps 95:7-8 2659; Ps 95:7 1165: Ps 95:9 2119
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Gospel: Luke 11:14-23
 
Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute,
and when the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke and the crowds were amazed.
Some of them said, “By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
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Commentary on Lk 11:14-23
 
In the Gospel from St. Luke we find Jesus, even in the face of his miraculous cure of the mute, being rejected by the people. They accuse him of representing a false god – Baal (the Jewish people nicknamed Baal – Beelzebul, “Lord of the Flies”).
 
In response to the crowd asking for a “sign,” Jesus (equating belief in the false god Baal with Satan) forcefully rejects that notion. He sees in their request for a sign the desire to see a different kind of sign, a sign that would validate their view of what the Messiah should be, kingly and powerful in secular rule.
 
Jesus attacks their logic by saying that no kingdom could stand if its servants attacked each other. He makes it clear that by attacking evil he demonstrates that he comes from God. He goes on using analogy to say that God will always conquer evil (God is stronger than the strongest evil), and further, rejecting God’s Son amounts to standing on the side of evil.
 
CCC: Lk 11:20 700; Lk 11:21-22 385
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Reflection:
 
Today we are given some of God's insight into the mind of mankind.  In Jeremiah, we are reminded of how the Hebrews, God's chosen ones, had, time and time again, turned away from God and been seduced by a secular society that provided more hedonistic pleasures.  We hear the prophet, in what sounds like a forlorn entreaty, imploring them to turn once more to faithfulness. 
 
The prophet's call is followed by the psalmist who remembers Meribah: literally, "contention," the place where the Israelites quarreled with God, and Massah: "testing," the place where they put God to the trial. As we know, there is within it a prayer for us, that we not grow stubborn like our fathers did.
 
Finally, in the Gospel from Luke, we see Jesus sparring with disbelievers of his own place and time.  They wanted a royal messiah, one who would come in glory, openly challenging the Roman domination.  When they asked him for a sign, that's what they wanted: a sign of power.  Jesus must have been exasperated with them.   But, if we had been there, could we have accepted this humble (but charismatic) carpenter from Galilee as the one predicted?
 
The theme that unifies our Scripture today is a call, yet again, for repentance.  On Ash Wednesday a little over three weeks ago we were told to "repent and believe in the Gospel."  We hear that message again today.  We cannot afford to be seduced by what secular society calls success and what Beelzebul calls good.  We are called to a higher standard and offered a greater reward.
 
Pax
 
Stations of the Cross
 

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[1] The picture is “Get Behind Me, Satan” by Ilya Repin,1895.
[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.
[4] Peter C. Craigie, Jeremiah 1–25, vol. 26, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas, TX: Word, Incorporated, 1991), 128.

Wednesday 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.

“Moses”
by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650’s

 
Readings for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
 
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?
 
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
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Commentary on Dt 4:1, 5-9
 
This passage from Deuteronomy marks the end of the historical part of the book and the beginning of Moses’ presentation of the law and statutes. He addresses the whole people, telling them that unless they follow the statutes which he is about to present, they will not receive what God promises the faithful, in this case the land of milk and honey. There is a strong emphasis placed on passing the law on faithfully to the generations that follow, without forgetting any statute God enjoins upon them. While the promise of Moses was the inheritance of the land in a physical or literal sense, God’s later promise was a kingdom not of this earth.
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
 
R. (12a) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
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Commentary on Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20
 
Psalm 147 is a hymn of praise. In these strophes the singer celebrates God’s gifts to his people: the gift of faith to the patriarch Jacob, and the gift of his presence in the Holy City Jerusalem. These strophes are from the third section (each section offering praise for a different gift from God to his special people). This section focuses on the gift of the Promised Land with Jerusalem as its spiritual center. We see the call to praise Jerusalem, the Holy City, because in it was revealed the Word of God and a call to holiness. The Lord is praised for sending food that sustains the people. The final strophe also rejoices that the law was handed on to them through Jacob.
 
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Gospel: Matthew 5:17-19
 
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”
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Commentary on Mt 5:17-19
 
Those who believed that Jesus came to destroy the Jewish faith and laws are refuted in this passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel. The Lord tells them that he did not come to destroy the law, even though he disagreed with the way some of those laws were being implemented. Rather he came to fulfill it, essentially giving the law a reinterpretation through his own divine revelation.
 
“Jesus is quite aware that his radical spiritual doctrines, which proclaim the primacy of the interior being of man and seem to fly in the face of the Jewish religious establishment, would lend themselves to abuse and misinterpretation by religious dissenters  ̶  those dissatisfied elements who are always looking for a more private and non-conformist religious alternative.” [4]
 
In this early encounter between Jesus’ mission and the Law of Moses, we are told that Jesus came to “fulfill” the law, to bring it to perfection as the Messiah. He supports the rabbinical teaching of the time, which separates the 613 individual precepts of the law found in the Pentateuch into “great and small,” based upon their seriousness, when he refers to breaking the least of the commandments. It is important to understand the Hebrew view of the law: "The law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God." [5]
 
The passage is concluded in almost Mosaic style by saying that those who follow the law will be great in heaven. This draws a distinction between those who would break the law being least in heaven in the previous sentence.
 
CCC: Mt 5:17-19 577, 592, 1967; Mt 5:17 2053
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Reflection:
 
What strikes us most immediately today is the connection between Moses giving the law to the Hebrew people with his instructions to them to be faithful to it, and Jesus who comes to fulfill the law.  It is pretty easy to see how Jesus came to fulfill what the prophets had been saying for the 2,000 years of Hebrew history.  There were enough clues in the Old Testament Scriptures to lead us to understand that statement before Jesus made it (reflecting also on the Augustinian quote: “The New Testament is concealed in the Old, and the Old is revealed in the New.”).  What takes more thought, however, is how he came to fulfill the law.
 
The reason that is a difficult question for us is that, to us, the law is a set of rules that guide behavior.  We must first understand the view of the Hebrews concerning the law if we are to realize the immense importance of the statement Jesus made when he said: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”  The scholarly statements about the meaning of the law really help us here:
 
“The law was thought to be the summary of all wisdom-human and divine, the revelation of God himself, a complete and a secure guide of conduct and endowed with a sacramental assurance of good relations with God.” [6]
 
When we look at his statement in the context of Lord’s mission on earth, we understand.  Jesus said in that short statement that he came to reveal the living God.  He came to provide the path to the Lord God; the Logos (Word) made flesh.
 
It takes the whole revelation to a new level once we see that the Law Moses presented was more than just rules.  The question that strikes us though is: if the law of Christ was more than rules for the early Christians, what should it be for us today?
 
If we accept Christ’s word as being the “sacramental assurance of good relations with God,” what place must the Word of God assume in our lives?  The Word is not only a guide for our actions but for our hearts, not only our thoughts but our prayers.  It is clear we must work very hard to accept Christ’s leadership in our lives, no matter how difficult the road. 
 
Pax
 
Stations of the Cross

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[1] The picture used is “Moses” by Jusepe de Ribera, c.1650’s.
[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.
[4] Fire of Mercy Heart of the Word Volume I. Erasmo Leiva-Merikakis, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA, © 1996 p. 211.
[5] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 43:34, p. 70.
[6] Ibid.

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Catechism Links [1]

 
CCC 484-494: The Annunciation
 
Information about the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

“The Annunciation,”
by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1890

 
Readings for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord [2]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [3]
 
Readings and Commentary: [4]
                                                                                                                             
Reading 1: Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10
 
The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!"
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary people,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us!"
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Commentary on Is 7:10-14; 8:10
 
In the first part of this reading, the prophet attempts to reassure the king as Jerusalem comes under threat of attack from Syria.  King Ahaz is offered a sign by the prophet Isaiah. However, Ahaz refuses the sign because it would indicate that God was intervening on the prophet’s side, and he did not want to accept that.
 
The sign that would be given, despite the king’s refusal, is the oracle we understand as referring to the perfect realization of the promise of a Davidic dynasty in the birth of the Messiah – Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary.
 
“The sign proposed by Isaiah was concerned with the preservation of Judah in the midst of distress (cf Isaiah 7:15, 17), but more especially with the fulfillment of God's earlier promise to David (2 Samuel 7:12-16) in the coming of Immanuel (meaning, "With us is God") as the ideal king (cf Isaiah 9:5-6; 11:1-5). The Church has always followed St. Matthew in seeing the transcendent fulfillment of this verse in Christ and his Virgin Mother.” [5]
 
"The child, the son, is the most significant part of the sign. If the prophecy refers to the son of Ahaz, the future King Hezekiah, it would be indicating that his birth will be a sign of divine protection, because it will mean that the dynasty will continue. If it refers to another child, not yet known, the prophet's words would mean that the child's birth could manifest hope that 'God was going to be with us,' and his reaching the age of discretion (v. 16) would indicate the advent of peace; the child's birth would, then, be the sign that 'God is with us.' In the New Testament, the deeper meaning of these words find fulfillment: Mary is Virgin and Mother, and her Son is not a symbol of God's protection but God himself who dwells among us."[6]
 
CCC: Is 7:14 497
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
 
R. (8a and 9a) Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
 
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
 
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
 
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
 
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
R. Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
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Commentary on Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
 
Psalm 40 is a song of thanksgiving combined with a lament. The initial waiting of the psalmist is satisfied by favor shown by God to one who is faithful in service to him. These strophes sing the thanksgiving of those who hear the voice of God and obey his words. This obedience is loved by God above ritual sacrifices. The Lord especially loves those who follow his law. Once heard, the good news is proclaimed to all the people.
 
CCC: Ps 40:7-9 LXX 462; Ps 40:7 2824
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Reading II: Hebrews 10:4-10
 
Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sins.
For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said:
 
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
 
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in."
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will."
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
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Commentary on Heb 10:4-10
 
Sacrifices traditionally offered in the Hebrew temple are refuted as an ineffective act to take away sins. Psalm 40 is quoted here by the author and applied as if it were Jesus addressing God, the Father. The intent is to stress the scriptural understanding that the Hebrew practice of animal sacrifice does not find favor with God and that Jesus' sacrifice of his own body is the one and only acceptable sacrifice of atonement.
 
"The author of the letter, elaborating on the text of the psalm, asserts that the Messiah's sacrifice is greater than the sacrifices of the old law, unbloody as well as bloody, sin-offerings as well as burnt offerings as they were called in the liturgy (cf. Leviticus 5;6; 7:27). The sacrifice of Christ, who has ‘come into the world,’ has replaced both kinds of ancient sacrifice. It consisted in perfectly doing the will of His Father (cf. John 4:34; 6:38; 8:29; 14:31), even though He was required to give His life to the point of dying on Calvary (Matthew 26:42; John 10:18; Hebrews 5:7-9). Christ ‘came into the world’ to offer Himself up to suffering and death for the redemption of the world." [7]
 
CCC: Heb 10:1-4 1540; Heb 10:5-10 606; Heb 10:5-7 462, 516, 2568; Heb 10:5 488; Heb 10:7 2824; Heb 10:10 614, 2824
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Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
 
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.
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Commentary on Lk 1:26-38
 
This passage, from St. Luke’s Gospel, is the story of Mary being informed by the archangel Gabriel that she has been chosen for the great privilege of bearing the Savior of the world. St. Mary graciously accepts this honor, although with very human fear, indicating that her free will is at play. This response makes her obedience to God’s will more powerful. It is proposed that, with this acceptance, Mary entered into a vow of perpetual virginity because of the demands of Isaiah 7:14 : “Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel."
 
In St. Luke’s story of the Annunciation, the archangel Gabriel comes to Mary and tells her she will bear a son and names him Jesus (the eternal implication of this statement is made clear in the greeting which presupposes knowledge of Mary’s entire existence). Mary confirms the title “Virgin” given by the author as she questions Gabriel saying: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” Even though she does not understand, Mary accepts her role and is told that the Holy Spirit will be the agent of the life within her. She then utters those amazing words: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
 
This announcement is parallel to Zechariah’s news about John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-23), which is also delivered by the archangel Gabriel. This passage clearly identifies Jesus as Son of David and Son of God, thus linking it with the messianic predictions from the Old Testament.
 
CCC: Lk 1:26-38 497, 706, 723, 2571; Lk 1:26-27 488; Lk 1:26 332; Lk 1:28-37 494; Lk 1:28 490, 491; Lk 1:31 430, 2812; Lk 1:32-33 709; Lk 1:32 559; Lk 1:34 484, 497, 505; Lk 1:35 437, 484, 486, 697; Lk 1:37-38 494; Lk 1:37 148, 269, 273, 276; Lk 1:38 64, 148, 510, 2617, 2677, 2827, 2856
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Reflection:
 
Those of us who have virtuously practiced prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as we engaged in our Lenten discipline can become focused on the prize, the promise fulfilled in the Easter of our joy.  It is good, therefore, that as we reach the halfway point of our Lenten discipline, we are called back to the very beginning.  It started with an incredible (and very anonymous) event in the little town of Nazareth.  Mary, the daughter of Anne and Joachim, a Spirit-led young lady, had an unprecedented visit from a messenger of God, the Most High.  We call this event the “Annunciation” because that messenger, the archangel Gabriel, announced to Mary that she was to be the vessel of God’s Only Begotten Son.  The Church could easily have named the event something else. 
 
One of the key reasons we find this story so compelling is that Mary, a young and innocent girl, well educated in Mosaic Law, was given free will to accept the pronouncement of the archangel or to reject the call to be used by God in this way.  Her humble acceptance could easily have been celebrated as the solemnity of the “acceptance.”  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) says this about the Annunciation:
 
484 The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates "the fullness of time", the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the "whole fullness of deity" would dwell "bodily". The divine response to her question, "How can this be, since I know not man?", was given by the power of the Spirit: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you."
 
As is implied by this statement, the visit Mary received from the archangel Gabriel sets in motion events that fulfill God’s plan from the beginning.  It is God’s final revelatory act of love and mercy, given to his creation that they (we) might accept the inheritance he has prepared for us.
 
Think of it!  It all depended on a young girl, Mary, accepting God’s offer (it is in fact an offer, not a pronouncement).  And what was that incredible offer?  Mary had to know that conceiving a child at that time in her life without a husband could mean her death by stoning, the punishment prescribed by law for an adulteress.  Yet her response is so humble and simple: "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."
 
With that humble act of faith, Mary establishes herself as the first of the saints.  Her example of selfless love provides an avenue of grace that fills her and assures her a preeminent place in the heavenly kingdom.
 
On this solemn feast day dedicated to the Annunciation, we thank God for his act of love in sending his Only Begotten Son into the world.  We thank our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for choosing to become man, and at the same time to become the sacrifice that takes away our sins.  And we thank the Blessed Virgin Mary for making her courageous decision and accepting the path offered to her.
 
Pax
 
In other years on this date: Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent.
 

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[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, Published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2] The picture used is “The Annunciation,” by Carl Heinrich Bloch, 1890.
[3] S.S. Commemoratio
[4] 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.
[5] NAB footnote on Isaiah 7: 10ff.
[6] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p.73.
[7] The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 222.

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

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

“The Prophet Elisha and Naaman”
by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615

 
Readings for Monday of the Third Week of Lent [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary: [3]
 
Reading I: 2 Kings 5:1-15ab
 
Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram,
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife.
“If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,”
she said to her mistress, “he would cure him of his leprosy.”
Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.
“Go,” said the king of Aram.
“I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:
“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
 
When he read the letter,
the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:
“Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”
When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:
“Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel.”
 
Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
The prophet sent him the message:
“Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”
But Naaman went away angry, saying,
“I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?”
With this, he turned about in anger and left.
 
But his servants came up and reasoned with him.
“My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
 
He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,
“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.”
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Commentary on 2 Kgs 5:1-15ab
 
This story of the conversion of Naaman through Elisha’s office as prophet has some interesting historical and ritual material. First, it is ironic that the king of Aram, which was an antagonist of Israel, would send one of his key advisers to Israel. That is why the king of Israel tore his garments. He assumed that Aram was making an unreasonable request in order to provoke physical hostilities between the two countries.
 
Next, we see Elisha not coming out of his house to instruct Naaman but sending word to him. He did so in part because to come into the presence of one with leprosy could have caused him ritual impurity (see Leviticus 13-14). Clearly Naaman did not know this, since he complained about it. Finally, the Jordan River, from a hygienic perspective, is not as clean as the clear springs of Damascus. It is, at the best of times, muddy. The requirement that Naaman plunge (other translators say “dip” which has a different connotation [4]) himself into the water seven times is significant in that the number seven is, in Hebrew numerology, the perfect number, symbolic of completeness. This would also be in line with the ritual cleansing prescribed in Leviticus 14:8. The lesson taught was that Naaman, washed clean of his transgressions (outwardly expressed as leprosy) was given the salvation only the God of Israel could provide (not some magical ritual performed by the prophet himself). The healing accomplished was to bring Naaman to confess that there is no god but God (in Israel).
 
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
 
R. (see 42:3) Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
 
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
 
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
 
Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
 
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!
R. Athirst is my soul for the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?
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Commentary on Ps 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4
 
Psalms 42 and 43 form a single continuous song.  It is an individual lament for a return to Jerusalem where God may be encountered in the temple.  The hind (female red deer) longing for water is used to provide the allusion to baptism, bringing belief out of unbelief.
 
CCC: Ps 42:3 2112
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Gospel: Luke 4:24-30
 
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.
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Commentary on Lk 4:24-30
 
This Gospel passage places Jesus at his hometown speaking in the synagogue. The people there were questioning his authority, since they knew him as a child and knew his family. These verses give his response to their challenge to his status and authority.
 
We understand why the people were upset when we consider that, in his analogy explaining why he could accomplish no works from God to satisfy them, he used Elijah going to a widow in Sidon (not in Israel, see 1 Kings 17:9ff), and Elisha curing Naaman (a Syrian not an Israelite, see 2 Kings 5:1ff). This would have placed Jesus on a par with the great prophets, blasphemy in the eyes of his old neighbors. Perhaps even more upsetting to the people would have been that their God would not reveal himself because of their lack of faith. (Ironically, Jesus, who we know is God, was revealing himself. The people just could not see it.)
 
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Reflection:
 
As we hear Jesus speak to his friends and relatives in the synagogue at Nazareth, it is easy for us to understand why Jesus is frustrated at their lack of faith.  Here they are, people that had the honor of growing up with him, knowing him as youth and man, yet they did not understand his divine nature.  They scoffed and rejected his attempted revelation.  In fact, many of them probably thought he had, as they say, “gone off his nut.”  His experience with his eccentric cousin John the Baptist, and his sabbatical in the desert immediately following, must have caused him to come “unhinged.”
 
Jesus, of course, saw all of this in their faces and heard what was behind their words.  He would have felt intense sorrow, knowing that because of this familiarity and presumed understanding, his own friends and family would not be able to accept the great gift God had offered them.  An analogy might be if we were able to invent a treatment that would cure any disease somehow, and then offered it freely to those in our community hospital, but they would not accept it because we did not have credentials as a pharmacist. 
 
And what lesson do we take away from the Gospel?  Don’t we fall into the same trap?  Do we listen to those around us with the attention we would pay to a prestigious expert on the subject at hand?  We commonly miss God’s revelation because we do two things.  First, we judge the source, and if, in our opinion, that source is less credible than the wisdom we suppose we have already amassed, we tune it out. We ignore it.  Second, we just plain don’t listen.  Our own voice gets in the way of our auditory canals and we don’t hear what we should.  This is especially true in, of all places, prayer.  We are so busy telling God what we want that we don’t listen to his answers.
 
In the very truest sense, this is exactly the sin those ancient Hebrews committed when Jesus spoke to them in the synagogue.  They were not really listening.  This then is the lesson we take with us today.  It is rather complex and very difficult.  First, we must surrender our own pride and sense of superiority and listen intently to those with whom we communicate (even our children).  The word we hear may be life changing.  Second, as a people of prayer, we must listen to God’s response with our hearts, not simply bombard the Lord with our words.  Let that be our prayer today, that our ears will be open that we might hear.
 
Pax

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[1] The picture is “The Prophet Elisha and Naaman” by Lambert Jacobsz, c. 1615.
[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.
[4] The Word Biblical Commentary, 2 Kings, Volume 13, © 1985 by Word, Inc. p. 65. Also, The Navarre Bible: “Joshua-Kings”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 534.