March 23, 2022 Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

2022년 3월 23일 사순 제3주간 수요일 

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

<너희는 규정과 법규들을 잘 지키고 실천하여라.>

제1독서

신명기. 4,1.5-9
모세가 백성에게 말하였다.
1 “이스라엘아, 이제 내가 너희에게 실천하라고 가르쳐 주는
규정과 법규들을 잘 들어라.
그래야 너희가 살 수 있고, 주 너희 조상들의 하느님께서
너희에게 주시는 땅에 들어가 그곳을 차지할 것이다.
5 보아라, 너희가 들어가 차지하게 될 땅에서 그대로 실천하도록,
나는 주 나의 하느님께서
나에게 명령하신 대로 규정과 법규들을 너희에게 가르쳐 주었다.
6 너희는 그것들을 잘 지키고 실천하여라.
그리하면 민족들이 너희의 지혜와 슬기를 보게 될 것이다.
그들은 이 모든 규정을 듣고,
‘이 위대한 민족은 정말 지혜롭고 슬기로운 백성이구나.’ 하고 말할 것이다.
7 우리가 부를 때마다 가까이 계셔 주시는,
주 우리 하느님 같은 신을 모신 위대한 민족이 또 어디에 있느냐?
8 또한 내가 오늘 너희 앞에 내놓는 이 모든 율법처럼
올바른 규정과 법규들을 가진 위대한 민족이 또 어디에 있느냐?
9 너희는 오로지 조심하고 단단히 정신을 차려,
너희가 두 눈으로 본 것들을 잊지 않도록 하여라.
그것들이 평생 너희 마음에서 떠나지 않게 하여라.
또한 자자손손에게 그것들을 알려 주어라.” 

복음

<스스로 계명을 지키고 또 그렇게 가르치는 이는 큰사람이라고 불릴 것이다.>

 마태오. 5,17-19
그때에 예수님께서 제자들에게 말씀하셨다.
17 “내가 율법이나 예언서들을 폐지하러 온 줄로 생각하지 마라.
폐지하러 온 것이 아니라 오히려 완성하러 왔다.
18 내가 진실로 너희에게 말한다. 하늘과 땅이 없어지기 전에는,
모든 것이 이루어질 때까지 율법에서 한 자 한 획도 없어지지 않을 것이다.
19 그러므로 이 계명들 가운데에서 가장 작은 것 하나라도 어기고
또 사람들을 그렇게 가르치는 자는
하늘 나라에서 가장 작은 자라고 불릴 것이다.
그러나 스스로 지키고 또 그렇게 가르치는 이는
하늘 나라에서 큰사람이라고 불릴 것이다.” 

March 23, 2022 

Wednesday of the Third 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

 Dt 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." 

Responsorial Psalm

 Ps 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. 

Gospel

 Mt 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."

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

 

 The readings today invite us to consider our relationship to God and the urgency of seeking to see and understand reality as God creates it and loves it, including and especially God’s “plan” for the flourishing of human persons.

What Moses and the Jews in the Desert (who we are walking with during these Lenten days) discovered is that God’s LAW can be best imagined as God’s desire for the great joy of the whole human community.  God created Adam and Eve to flourish in the heart of the Trinity which is a garden of total joy and growth.  At the center of the Garden is the Tree of Life – by which we humans can discover right relationship with our Creator. 

We humans are designed as creatures that God intends to become companions for each other.  The key to this companionship is our acceptance of God’s desire for us that we love and care for one another and honor God the creator.

By my will, God’s gift that distinguishes me from other animal creatures, I can choose to participate in the creative action of God; shaping my desires and thus shaping my selfhood.  What today’s readings tell us is that to shape our authentic selfhood, that self that will flourish and bring forth fruit, I need to allow my will to be shaped by God’s hope for me.  This doesn’t mean that God controls every little decision, but rather there are core behaviors that allow me to explore the ways that the world contributes to my joy by virtue of God’ plan.

The central choice is to recognize that I am not the source of my life, so I am called to honor and obey the One who calls me into being and gifts me beyond my understanding. A core choice requires me to seek community and to be formed by the love and care of others.  As choice that is at the core of my flourishing is to love myself in gratitude to the creator. Another core choice requires that I not hoard goods but share them with those unable to secure them for themselves.  Always a core choice is to reverence life – all life around me, the life of nature that nurtures me, the cosmos that surrounds our world, and above all the lives other humans at every stage of life. 

The logic of God’s law – given in a verbal set of teachings to God’s people – is this.  If we seek and follow God’s desire, we become our fullest and truest self as we are created to be.  In that context we flourish, we love and are loved, we give life to all around us, we enable others to discover themselves, and mysteriously in this project God transfigures us into such intimate companionship that we are drawn into Trinitarian life and share the power and the joy of being Divinized, that is made Holy as God is Holy.  That is the outcome of Easter for those who truly walk with God’s pilgrim people and discover God’s desire as expressed in the teaching or the law of love. 

The Church gave us the account of the disclosure of Jesus’ Transfiguration on the Second Sunday of Lent to show us that his transfiguration in glory occurred in the labor of His Mission.  As companions of Jesus in Mission and love we are transfigured by seeking and following God’s will in the law He gave us.

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

CAREFUL OBEDIENCE

“Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations.” —Deuteronomy 4:6

Because of their disobedience, the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years. They may have assumed they were obeying God, but Moses warned them that they were not obeying carefully enough (Dt 4:6).

Jesus’ disciples probably thought they were obeying Him. However, Jesus proclaimed that He expected them to obey even the smallest part of a letter of the law (Mt 5:18; see also Ps 119:112). Then they were to obey the spirit of the law (2 Cor 3:6) and thereby usher in Christ’s kingdom.

The Lord promised us total victory in which we bring down the strongholds, sophistries, and proud pretensions which raise themselves against the knowledge of God (2 Cor 10:4-5). We will be able to claim this victory when our obedience is perfect, that is, complete (2 Cor 10:6). When we are committed to obey the Lord in every area of life, we will quickly crush Satan under our feet (Rm 16:19-20).

What we now call “obedience” may be more disobedience than obedience. To enter the “promised land,” live in God’s kingdom, and claim total victory, we need an obedience in the Holy Spirit that is careful, strict, and complete. Then we will be great (Dt 4:6-7; Mt 5:19) and have a deep, intimate love for the Lord (see Dt 4:7). When we obey on a new, deeper level, we will live a new life.

Prayer:  Father, through my obedience, raise me beyond my human limitations and weaknesses to the greatness to which you have called me.

Promise:  “He sends forth His command to the earth; swiftly runs His word!” —Ps 147:15

Praise:  St. Toribio de Mogrovejo baptized and confirmed almost one million Native Americans.

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

 

 Do you view God's law negatively or positively? Jesus' attitude towards the law of God can be summed up in the great prayer of Psalm 119: "Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day." For the people of Israel the "law" could refer to the ten commandments or to the five Books of Moses, called the Pentateuch, which explain the commandments and ordinances of God for his people. The "law" also referred to the whole teaching or way of life which God gave to his people. The Jews in Jesus' time also used it as a description of the oral or scribal law. Needless to say, the scribes added many more things to the law than God intended. That is why Jesus often condemned the scribal law. It placed burdens on people which God had not intended. Jesus, however, made it very clear that the essence of God's law - his commandments and way of life, must be fulfilled.

Jesus taught reverence for God's law - reverence for God himself, for the Lord's Day, reverence or respect for parents, respect for life, for property, for another person's good name, respect for oneself and for one's neighbor lest wrong or hurtful desires master us. Reverence and respect for God's commandments teach us the way of love - love of God and love of neighbor.

The transforming work of the Holy Spirit
What is impossible to men and women is possible to God and those who put their faith and trust in God. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit the Lord transforms us and makes us like himself. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) because "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us" (Romans 5:5). God gives us the grace to love as he loves, to forgive as he forgives, to think as he thinks, and to act as he acts.

The Lord loves justice and goodness and he hates every form of wickedness and sin. He wants to set us free from our unruly desires and sinful habits, so that we can choose to live each day in the peace, joy, and righteousness of his Holy Spirit (Romans 14: 17). To renounce sin is to turn away from what is harmful and destructive for our minds and hearts, and our very lives. As his followers we must love and respect his commandments and hate every form of sin. Do you love and revere the commands of the Lord?

Lord Jesus, grant this day, to direct and sanctify, to rule and govern our hearts and bodies, so that all our thoughts, words and deeds may be according to your Father's law and thus may we be saved and protected through your mighty help.

Psalm 147:12-13,15-16,19-20

12 Praise the LORD, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates; he blesses your sons within you.
15 He sends forth his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.
19 He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Making daily progress towards God, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"As Christians, our task is to make daily progress toward God. Our pilgrimage on earth is a school in which God is the only teacher, and it demands good students, not ones who play truant. In this school we learn something every day. We learn something from the commandments, something from examples, and something from Sacraments. These things are remedies for our wounds and materials for our studies." (excerpt from Sermon 16A,1)

  

More Homilies

March 10, 2021 Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent