Saturday after Ash Wednesday
17th February 2024 (Saturday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Isaiah 58: 9c-14
Thus says the Lord: “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong;and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day,and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable;if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Psalm 86: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 (R. 11ab)
R/. Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth
Verse Before The Gospel
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord, but that he turn from his way and live.
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel : Luke 5:27-32
At that time: Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: God who never condemns!
Guidelines: The most consoling and encouraging feature of our God is that He is never judgmental or condemnatory. All that He wants is that we turn away from our sins and begin to follow Him
1. The Lord calls Levi or Matthew in today’s gospel. It was something annoying and radical to call a tax collector to follow him. For as known, tax collectors were labelled and despised as sinners. It would certainly invite a lot of criticism and the Lord knew it.
2. Yet, he goes ahead unperturbed. This call is in perfect tune with the very purpose of his coming to earth. He declares emphatically: “I have come not to call the righteous but the sinners to repentance”.
3. This does not mean that one continues in the same state of sin. In a way, being sinful becomes a launching pad for soaring high. The Lord does not care much for our backgrounds or our credentials.
4. All that matters the most is whether we hearken to his call and respond to him and follow him; whether we are willing to repent and change our life. This repentance and renewal consist in making a decisive transition, a shift from having sinned to becoming graced.
5. Some of the details of this transition are well-marked in the first reading from the prophet Isaiah. On one hand, it is turning away from a life of sin. It would mean not going our own ways, not seeking our own pleasures, not talking idly; it would call for taking away the yoke of oppression and injustice, the accusing of others wickedly.
6. On the other hand, it would commit us to care unselfishly for the hungry and the afflicted; to keep the Sabbath holy and honourable and delightful; to repair the breaches and to restore the strayed and scattered.
7. Then, the results are marvellous. Our light will rise in the darkness; we shall be revitalized; we shall be like a watered garden, like a never-drying spring of water; our ancient ruins shall be rebuilt. The Lord will make us ride on the heights of the earth.
Practice:A worthy living of our vocation means deep gratitude for the bounteous gift of it, a deep awareness of our sinfulness and unworthiness, and a constant striving to shift from sin to grace
