2023 3월 1일 사순 제1주간 수요일
오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp
제1독서
요나 예언서. 3,1-10
주님의 말씀이 1 요나에게 내렸다.
2 “일어나 저 큰 성읍 니네베로 가서, 내가 너에게 이르는 말을 그 성읍에 외쳐라.”
3 요나는 주님의 말씀대로 일어나 니네베로 갔다.
니네베는 가로지르는 데에만 사흘이나 걸리는 아주 큰 성읍이었다.
4 요나는 그 성읍 안으로 걸어 들어가기 시작하였다.
하룻길을 걸은 다음 이렇게 외쳤다.
“이제 사십 일이 지나면 니네베는 무너진다!”
5 그러자 니네베 사람들이 하느님을 믿었다. 그들은 단식을 선포하고
가장 높은 사람부터 가장 낮은 사람까지 자루옷을 입었다.
6 이 소식이 니네베 임금에게 전해지자,
그도 왕좌에서 일어나 겉옷을 벗고 자루옷을 걸친 다음 잿더미 위에 앉았다.
7 그리고 그는 니네베에 이렇게 선포하였다. “임금과 대신들의 칙령에 따라
사람이든 짐승이든, 소든 양이든 아무것도 맛보지 마라.
먹지도 말고 마시지도 마라.
8 사람이든 짐승이든 모두 자루옷을 걸치고 하느님께 힘껏 부르짖어라.
저마다 제 악한 길과 제 손에 놓인 폭행에서 돌아서야 한다.
9 하느님께서 다시 마음을 돌리시고 그 타오르는 진노를 거두실지 누가 아느냐?
그러면 우리가 멸망하지 않을 수도 있다.”
10 하느님께서는 그들이 악한 길에서 돌아서는 모습을 보셨다.
그래서 하느님께서는 마음을 돌리시어
그들에게 내리겠다고 말씀하신 그 재앙을 내리지 않으셨다.
복음
루카. 11,29-32
그때에 29 군중이 점점 더 모여들자 예수님께서 말씀하기 시작하셨다.
“이 세대는 악한 세대다. 이 세대가 표징을 요구하지만
요나 예언자의 표징밖에는 어떠한 표징도 받지 못할 것이다.
30 요나가 니네베 사람들에게 표징이 된 것처럼,
사람의 아들도 이 세대 사람들에게 그러할 것이다.
31 심판 때에 남방 여왕이 이 세대 사람들과 함께 되살아나
이 세대 사람들을 단죄할 것이다.
그 여왕이 솔로몬의 지혜를 들으려고 땅끝에서 왔기 때문이다.
그러나 보라, 솔로몬보다 더 큰 이가 여기에 있다.
32 심판 때에 니네베 사람들이 이 세대와 함께 다시 살아나
이 세대를 단죄할 것이다.
그들이 요나의 설교를 듣고 회개하였기 때문이다.
그러나 보라, 요나보다 더 큰 이가 여기에 있다.”
March 1, 2023
Wednesday of the First Week in Lent
Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass
: https://www.youtube.com/c/DailyTVMass
Bible : http://www.usccb.org/bible/
Reading 1
Jon 3:1-10
The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
"Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you."
So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD's bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day's walk announcing,
"Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,"
when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast
and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:
"Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish."
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Gospel
Lk 11:29-32
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them,
"This generation is an evil generation;
it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it,
except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites,
so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment
the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation
and she will condemn them,
because she came from the ends of the earth
to hear the wisdom of Solomon,
and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
and condemn it,
because at the preaching of Jonah they repented,
and there is something greater than Jonah here.
http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
I imagined a brief story when I considered the texts for today’s Mass.
Father John, a very fine preacher in New York, was praying for his relatives in Ukraine. His Father and Mother had come to the states in the latter part of the 20th Century and had been successful at settling in and becoming successful with green cards and, gradually, citizenship. Through the years they had filled their children with a deep love for “old country” and took them to visit grandparents and aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. Unfortunately they had also handed on their anger and hatred at the people and leaders of Russia.
During Fr. John’s prayer he heard the Lord ask him to go to Moscow and tell the people of that great city that unless they repent of their evil God would destroy them in forty days. The LAST place in the world that Fr. John wanted to go to preach the good news was to Moscow. With the war going on his parents’ homeland, and with the general dismissal of religious teaching, this was an impossible task. Besides, he was very busy with the line-up of preaching engagements in the US this lent. So, he boarded the plane for San Francisco to do just that. But a terrible storm come in off the Pacific Ocean and made it impossible for the plane to get the west coast. They landed with some difficulty in a small airport in South Dakota and John tried to take a bus to the coast to get there in time for his preaching engagement. The bus ticket he secured was the last sold and the bus set out, but the storm, now a raging blizzard, swerved north, and all the roads were quickly closed. The people on the bus, recognizing his Roman Collar begged him to pray for safety but the storm only became worse. John got off in a small town in Colorado realizing that he was blessed to still be alive after the harrowing trip they had, so he grumpily gave up and told God if he wanted him to go to Moscow God would have to make it possible.
A big truck driver was heading to Denver and offered to take John to the airport there and John was able get a ticket to Moscow, but he did not have enough money to pay for it. A gentleman near him at the counter visited with him for a time and then offered to pay his way. He was Russian and longed for his people to hear someone courageous enough to bring a faith message to them.
Father John reluctantly arrived in Moscow; certain he would be arrested. Even more, he worried that God would end up being “soft hearted” and forgive the Russian people for their sins – which John was not enthusiastic about. He had spent his life hating the Russians and did not want HIS God loving them!!! He would much rather see them going to hell!
Well the rest of the story was like a biblical tale –John preached, the people listened and expressed their repentance by undertaking penance and by demanding an end to the war. John was angry at God because of his great mercy to John’s enemies. Why should they be allowed to repent, and why would God require him to be God’s agent for that repentance?
Crazy story to hear in prayer, but I was struck by the question of exactly what the “sign of Jonas,” that Jesus is speaking about in today’s Gospel, is. Is the “sign” the three days that Jonah was in a big sea creature’s stomach (a tomb)? Or was it the three days he traversed the city and announcing the end times unless people repented? (Lots of three’s here to remind of us death and resurrection). Was it the fact that the people heard his preaching, and their hearts were challenged? Or is the Sign of Jonah, that we have received, simply the mercy of God for a “faithless generation”? Or is the sign – that is no sign according to Jesus – all of these. God loves, calls to repentance through his agent, and then heals the wrongdoing of enemies. The condition of reception, because humans have free will, is that we acknowledge and accept God’s grace, not only for ourselves and our beloved, but for our enemies, despite the seeming impossibility of that.
This is a good way to start Lent. To consider that we imitate God most perfectly when we grasp the sign of Jonah, God’s compassion for his enemies – for those who hate him. During these days may we find the freedom to pray for our enemies – desiring the very best for each one. I feel called to ask God in prayer who he wants me to announce forgiveness for. May God begin with me – but may I become his partner in sharing that compassion among friends and enemies as Jonah did, and perhaps as my imaginary Fr. John the preacher might have done.
Oh God, in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my guilt . . . psalm 31
http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp
CONNECT THE DOTS
“Every man shall turn from his evil way.” —Jonah 3:8
The people of Nineveh, wicked as they were, made the connection between their sins and the destruction to come (Jon 3:8-9). These people frequently brutalized and killed large numbers of people. They were pagans, spiritually dead, the least likely to repent. Yet the prophetic word pierced their hearts, and they repented (Jon 3:5). Jesus commended them for this (Lk 11:32).
We fancy ourselves more sophisticated than the ancient Ninevites. We specialize in knowing connections, such as the connection between cholesterol and heart disease, drinking alcohol and liver disease, sanitation and the prevention of infection, physical health and mental health, etc. Yet we, in our advanced culture, miss the all-important connection between sin and damnation (Jn 8:24).
Our secular culture misses the connections between sexual sin and spiritual guilt, consumerism and lack of concern for the poor, contraception and the breakdown of marriage and family, relativism and the shortage of vocations, etc. Our culture specializes in missing the connection between Jesus and forgiveness of sin. So many act like the Pharisee, thinking they are OK with God while failing to know what acts are sinful, or even failing to know that they are sinners (Lk 18:11-12). If we were making these connections, the Confession lines in our churches would be full every week.
Jesus came to save sinners like us (1 Tm 1:15). All we need to do is make the connection that we are sinners and He is our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer. Repent!
Prayer: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Lk 18:13).
Promise: “A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn.” —Ps 51:19
Praise: Deacon Walter spent several decades teaching the Bible to Catholics in his parish.
http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/
Do you pay careful attention to warning signs? Many fatalities could be avoided if people paid attention to such signs. When the religious leaders demanded a sign from Jesus, he gave them a serious warning to avert spiritual disaster. It was characteristic of the Jews that they demanded "signs" from God's messengers to authenticate their claims.
God warns us for our good - do you listen?
When the religious leaders pressed Jesus to give proof for his claims he says in so many words that he is God's sign and that they need no further evidence from heaven than his own person. The Ninevites recognized God's warning when Jonah spoke to them, and they repented. And the Queen of Sheba recognized God's wisdom in Solomon. Jonah was God's sign and his message was the message of a merciful God for the people of Nineveh.
Unfortunately the religious leaders were not content to accept the signs right before their eyes. They had rejected the message of John the Baptist and now they reject Jesus as God's Anointed One (Messiah) and they fail to heed his message. Simeon had prophesied at Jesus' birth that he was destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that inner thoughts of many will be revealed (Luke 2:34-35). Jesus confirmed his message with many miracles in preparation for the greatest sign of all - his resurrection on the third day.
Let God's word of truth set you free from sin and ignorance
The Lord Jesus came to set us free from slavery to sin and hurtful desires. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit he pours his love into our hearts that we may understand his will for our lives and walk in his way of holiness. God searches our hearts, not to condemn us, but to show us where we need his saving grace and help. He calls us to seek him with true repentance, humility, and the honesty to see our sins for what they really are - a rejection of his love and will for our lives. God will transform us if we listen to his word and allow his Holy Spirit to work in our lives. Ask the Lord to renew your mind and to increase your thirst for his wisdom and truth.
James says that the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without uncertainty or insincerity (James 3:17). A double-minded person cannot receive this kind of wisdom. The single of mind desire one thing alone - God's pleasure. God wants us to delight in him and to know the freedom of his truth and love. Do you thirst for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)?
Lord Jesus, change my heart and fill me with your wisdom that I my love your ways. Give me strength and courage to resist temptation and stubborn wilfulness that I may truly desire to do what is pleasing to you.
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and blameless in your judgment.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19 then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Don't put off conversion - tomorrow may never come, by Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"God is not now so long-suffering in putting up with you that He will fail to be just in punishing. Do not say then: 'Tomorrow I shall be converted, tomorrow I shall please God, and all that I shall have done today and yesterday will be forgiven me.' What you say is true: God has promised forgiveness if you turn back to Him. But what He has not promised is that you will have tomorrow in which to achieve your conversion." (excerpt from Commentary on Psalm 144,11)
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