March 6, 2020 Friday of the First Week of Lent

2020년 3월 6일 사순 제1주간 금요일 

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

 에제키엘 예언서. 18,21-28
주 하느님께서 이렇게 말씀하신다.
21 “악인도 자기가 저지른 모든 죄를 버리고 돌아서서,
나의 모든 규정을 준수하고 공정과 정의를 실천하면,
죽지 않고 반드시 살 것이다.
22 그가 저지른 모든 죄악은 더 이상 기억되지 않고,
자기가 실천한 정의 때문에 살 것이다.
23 내가 정말 기뻐하는 것이 악인의 죽음이겠느냐? 주 하느님의 말이다.
악인이 자기가 걸어온 길을 버리고 돌아서서 사는 것이 아니겠느냐?
24 그러나 의인이 자기 정의를 버리고 돌아서서 불의를 저지르고,
악인이 저지르는 온갖 역겨운 짓을 따라 하면, 살 수 있겠느냐?
그가 실천한 모든 정의는 기억되지 않은 채,
자기가 저지른 배신과 자기가 지은 죄 때문에 죽을 것이다.
25 그런데 너희는, ‘주님의 길은 공평하지 않다.’고 말한다.
이스라엘 집안아, 들어 보아라. 내 길이 공평하지 않다는 말이냐?
오히려 너희의 길이 공평하지 않은 것 아니냐?
26 의인이 자기 정의를 버리고 돌아서서 불의를 저지르면,
그것 때문에 죽을 것이다. 자기가 저지른 불의 때문에 죽는 것이다.
27 그러나 악인이라도 자기가 저지른 죄악을 버리고 돌아서서
공정과 정의를 실천하면, 그는 자기 목숨을 살릴 것이다.
28 자기가 저지른 모든 죄악을 생각하고 그 죄악에서 돌아서면,
그는 죽지 않고 반드시 살 것이다.”

 

복음

 마태오. 5,20ㄴ-26
”그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.

20 “너희의 의로움이 율법 학자들과 바리사이들의 의로움을 능가하지 않으면,
결코 하늘 나라에 들어가지 못할 것이다.
21 ‘살인해서는 안 된다. 살인한 자는 재판에 넘겨진다.’고
옛사람들에게 이르신 말씀을 너희는 들었다.
22 그러나 나는 너희에게 말한다.
자기 형제에게 성을 내는 자는 누구나 재판에 넘겨질 것이다.
그리고 자기 형제에게 ‘바보!’라고 하는 자는 최고 의회에 넘겨지고,
‘멍청이!’라고 하는 자는 불붙는 지옥에 넘겨질 것이다.
23 그러므로 네가 제단에 예물을 바치려고 하다가,
거기에서 형제가 너에게 원망을 품고 있는 것이 생각나거든,
24 예물을 거기 제단 앞에 놓아두고 물러가 먼저 그 형제와 화해하여라.
그런 다음에 돌아와서 예물을 바쳐라.
25 너를 고소한 자와 함께 법정으로 가는 도중에 얼른 타협하여라.
그러지 않으면 고소한 자가 너를 재판관에게 넘기고
재판관은 너를 형리에게 넘겨, 네가 감옥에 갇힐 것이다.
26 내가 진실로 너에게 말한다.
네가 마지막 한 닢까지 갚기 전에는 결코 거기에서 나오지 못할 것이다.”

March 6, 2020

Friday of the First Week of Lent 

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

Reading 1 

Ez 18:21-28

Thus says the Lord GOD:
If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed, 
if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,
he shall surely live, he shall not die. 
None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him;
he shall live because of the virtue he has practiced. 
Do I indeed derive any pleasure from the death of the wicked?
says the Lord GOD. 
Do I not rather rejoice when he turns from his evil way
that he may live?

And if the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil,
the same kind of abominable things that the wicked man does,
can he do this and still live?
None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered,
because he has broken faith and committed sin;
because of this, he shall die. 
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!" 
Hear now, house of Israel:
Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?
When someone virtuous turns away from virtue to commit iniquity, and dies,
it is because of the iniquity he committed that he must die.
But if the wicked, turning from the wickedness he has committed,
does what is right and just,
he shall preserve his life;
since he has turned away from all the sins that he committed, 
he shall surely live, he shall not die.

Responsorial Psalm 

Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7bc-8

R. (3) If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered. 
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
I trust in the LORD;
my soul trusts in his word.
My soul waits for the LORD
more than sentinels wait for the dawn.
Let Israel wait for the LORD.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?

Gospel 

Mt 5:20-26

Jesus said to his disciples: 
"I tell you, 
unless your righteousness surpasses that
of the scribes and Pharisees,
you will not enter into the Kingdom of heaven."
"You have heard that it was said to your ancestors,
You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.
But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother
will be liable to judgment,
and whoever says to his brother, Raqa, 
will be answerable to the Sanhedrin,
and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna.
Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar,
and there recall that your brother
has anything against you,
leave your gift there at the altar,
go first and be reconciled with your brother,
and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge,
and the judge will hand you over to the guard,
and you will be thrown into prison.
Amen, I say to you,

you will not be released until you have paid the last penny."

http://evangeli.net/gospel/tomorrow

 «Leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him [your brother]»

Fr. Thomas LANE
(Emmitsburg, Maryland, United States)

Today, the Lord challenges us to convert as He speaks about what goes on in our hearts. The commandment says «Do not commit murder» (Mt 5:21), but Jesus reminds us that there are other ways of killing life in others. We can kill life in others by harboring excessive anger towards them in our hearts or not treating them respectfully and calling them “Fool” (cf. Mt 5:22).

The Lord calls us to be people of integrity: «Leave your gift there in front of the altar, go at once and make peace with him» (Mt 5:24), i.e. the faith we profess in our celebration of the Liturgy should flow over into our daily lives and affect how we live. So Jesus asks us to be reconciled with our enemies. A first step along the road to reconciliation is to pray for our enemies as Jesus requested. If we find this difficult it is good to remember and picture in our minds Jesus dying for those whom we dislike. If we have been seriously hurt by others let us pray for healing of painful memories and the grace to forgive. As you pray, ask the Lord to walk back in time with you to the time and place of the hurt and replace your hurt with his love so that you may be free to forgive.

As Pope Benedicyt wrote, «we cannot communicate with the Lord if we do not communicate with one another. If we want to present ourselves to him, we must also take a step towards meeting one another. To do this we must learn the great lesson of forgiveness: we must not let the gnawings of resentment work in our soul, but must open our hearts to the magnanimity of listening to others, open our hearts to understanding them, eventually to accepting their apologies, to generously offering our own».

«If you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven»

Fr. Joaquim MESEGUER García
(Rubí, Barcelona, Spain)

Today, Jesus exhorts us to go beyond legalisms: «I tell you, then, that if you are not righteous in a much broader way than the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees, you cannot enter the Kingdom of heaven» (Mt 5:20). The Law of Moses aims at the necessary minimum to guarantee coexistence; but Christians, led by Jesus Christ, and full of the Holy Spirit, have to try to overcome this minimum to reach the climax of love. The Scribes and the Pharisees were strictly abiding by the Commandments; when looking over our own life, could we say the same? Let us therefore be careful not to look down on their religious experience.

What Jesus is teaching us today is to avoid feeling too safe just because we try hard to fulfill those requirements that may render us righteous in the face of God, as the Scribes and the Pharisees used to do; but, rather, to put our emphasis in our love for God and for our brothers; the kind of love that will allow us to go beyond the coldness of the Law while humbly recognizing our own shortcomings in a sincere conversion.

There are those who say: ‘I am good for I do not steal, nor do I kill, nor have I ever hurt anybody’; but Jesus admonishes us that this is not enough, as there other ways to steal and to kill. We can kill someone else's illusions; we can look down on our neighbor, overshadow him or alienate him; we can bear malice against him, and all this means killing too, not physically but, indeed, morally and spiritually.

Throughout our life, we can find many adversaries, but we are our worst enemy when we stray from the Gospel. This is why, in seeking reconciliation with our brothers, first we have to be reconciled with ourselves. Saint Augustine tells us: «As long as you are your own adversary, the Word of God will also be your adversary. Become friendly with yourself and you will have become reconciled with it».

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 

No one likes to be told what to do. In general, we dislike laws and regulations. Rules can vary from being annoying to stifling to burdensome. As a result, we try to find ways to avoid following the rules. We ask ourselves how we can get away with doing the minimum. For example, perhaps you find yourself questioning the actual ingredients in that tempting hamburger from your favorite fast-food restaurant on a Friday during Lent: “They probably don’t even use real meat in these burgers. I’m sure it would be OK to eat one today.”

Jesus challenges this minimalist approach to the law. Jesus tries to explain how the teaching of the law and the prophets has an internal aspect that surpasses the simple literal interpretation. In other words, Jesus is trying to get people to understand the law as a way to love one another in a profound way that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees.

And this is a huge challenge. You can’t legislate love. You can’t demand that people love one another. Love must be freely given. And we don’t express our love on a balance sheet. Our first reading reminds us that if a wicked man turns away from his sins, he will live. It doesn’t matter what wicked deeds he performed in the past. None of those crimes will be remembered. Likewise, if a virtuous person turns from the path of virtue to do evil, then that person will die. It doesn’t matter how many great and virtuous deeds that person had performed in the past. There is no cosmic balancing sheet weighing our good deeds against our evil deeds.

Jesus re-interprets the commandment, “Do not kill,” to suggest that anger is a form of killing. Anger prevents us from reconciling with our loved ones and so can “kill” a relationship. I’m sure we can think of people who, out of anger, have cut a loved one out of their lives. We can act on our feelings of anger in ways that take the form of killing. To the extent that we allow our anger to cripple our relationships with others and with God, to the extent that our anger stifles healing and reconciliation, to the extent that our anger prevents us from loving others and God, then we are guilty of killing.

God did not give us the commandments simply so we can get along with each other as if we were all passengers on a public bus. The commandments establish a minimum standard of behavior so we can be free to love each other and to love God as children of God. We must not simply follow the literal, minimum requirements of the law. Instead, we must live within the law so we can be free to deepen our love for one another and God.

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

TURN OUT RIGHT IN THE END

"If the virtuous man turns from the path of virtue to do evil, ...can he do this and still live? None of his virtuous deeds shall be remembered, because he has broken faith and committed sin; because of this, he shall die." �Ezekiel 18:24

The years 2002 and 2018 were notable for the uncovering of sexual abuse scandals involving certain Roman Catholic priests. Upon hearing the breaking stories, most people reacted like God did in the above passage. Any good deeds done by these priests were forgotten. They were generally condemned by the public because they had turned from virtue to commit evil. Most people who have experienced their spouse leaving them for another person would have a similar reaction. Most good memories of the marriage would be forgotten because the departing spouse turned from faithfulness to break the covenant. If we humans can react like this to the bad endings of others, then we can't accuse God of being unfair when he uses a similar standard to judge us (Ez 18:25). God holds us, His children, to the highest standards of holiness and faithfulness (Mt 5:20). Yet God pours out unending supplies of grace so that we can repent and not only meet His standards, but flourish and grow in holiness (Eph 1:3). If you are falling short of God's standards, turn back to Him (Is 45:22). "Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day" (Sir 5:8). "When you have sinned, show repentance. Delay not to forsake sins, neglect it not till you are in distress" (Sir 18:20-21). "Now is the acceptable time! Now is the day of salvation!" (2 Cor 6:2) Turn and return to the Lord.

Prayer: Father, I throw myself on Your mercy. Cleanse me of sin.

Promise: "With the Lord is kindness and with Him is plenteous redemption." —Ps 130:7

Praise: once a drug dealer, Big Jim repented and converted to the Lord. He now mentors youth.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 Do not be angry, be reconciled

Do you allow sin or anger to master your life? The first person to hate his brother was Cain. God warned Cain: 'Why are you angry? ..Sin in couching at the door; it's desire is for you, but you must master it (Genesis 4:6-7). Sin doesn't just happen; it first grows as a seed in one's heart. Unless it is mastered, by God's grace, it grows like a weed and chokes the life out of us.

Do not allow the seed of anger and evil to grow in your heart
Jesus addressed the issue of keeping the commandments with his disciples. The scribes and Pharisees equated righteousness with satisfying the demands of the law. Jesus showed them how short they had come. Jesus points to the heart as the seat of desire, choice, and intention. Unless forbidden and evil desires are uprooted and cut-out, the heart will be poisoned and the body become a slave to sin and passion.

Jesus illustrates his point with the example of the commandment to not kill. Murder first starts in the heart as the seed of forbidden anger that grows within until it springs into words and actions against one's brother or neighbor. This is a selfish anger that broods and is long-lived, that nurses a grudge and keeps wrath warm, and that refuses to die. Anger in the heart as well as anger in speech or action are equally forbidden. The Lord Jesus commands by grace - take away the anger in your heart and there will be no murder.

Only God's purifying love and mercy can free us from bitterness and anger
What is the antidote for overcoming anger and rage? Mercy, forbearance, and kindness spring from a heart full of love and forgiveness. God has forgiven us and he calls us to extend mercy and forgiveness towards those who cause us grief or harm. In the cross of Jesus we see the supreme example of love and the power for overcoming evil. only God's love and grace can set our hearts and minds free from the tyranny of wounded pride and spiteful revenge. Do you harbor any anger towards another person? And are you quick to be reconciled when a rupture has been caused in your relationships? Ask God to set you free and to fill your heart and mind with his love and truth.

Eusebius, a 3rd century church father, offered the following prayer as instruction for his fellow Christians:

"May I be no man's enemy, and may I be the friend of that which is eternal and abides. May I never quarrel with those nearest me: and if I do, may I be reconciled quickly. May I love, seek, and attain only that which is good. May I wish for all men's happiness and envy none. May I never rejoice in the ill-fortune of one who has wronged me. When I have done or said what is wrong, may I never wait for the rebuke of others, but always rebuke myself until I make amends. May I win no victory that harms either me or my opponent. May I reconcile friends who are angry with one another. May I never fail a friend who is in danger. When visiting those in grief may I be able by gentle and healing words to soften their pain. May I respect myself. May I always keep tame that which rages within me. May I accustom myself to be gentle, and never be angry with people because of circumstances. May I never discuss who is wicked and what wicked things he has done, but know good men and follow in their footsteps."

Do you seek to live peaceably and charitably with all?

"Lord Jesus, my heart is cold. Make it warm, compassionate, and forgiving towards all, even those who do me harm. May I only think and say what is pleasing to you and be of kind service to all I meet."

Psalm 130:1-8

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2 Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!
3 If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
4 But there is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared.
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6 my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
7 O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plenteous redemption.
8 And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.

A Daily Quote for Lent: Are you ashamed to ask pardon? by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"How many there are who know that they have sinned against their brothers or sisters and yet are unwilling to say: 'Forgive me.' They were not ashamed to sin, but they are ashamed to ask pardon. They were not ashamed of their evil act, but they blush where humility is concerned." (excerpt from Sermon 211,4)

  

More Homilies

February 23, 2018 Friday of the First Week of Lent