First Week of Lent
24th February 2024 (Saturday)
Psalter: Week 1
Reading of the Day
First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people saying: “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”
Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8 (R.1b)
R/. Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord
Verse Before The Gospel
V/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ
V/. Behold, not is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
R/. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Gospel : Matthew 5:43-48
At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Daily Gospel Reflection
Highlight: Go beyond!
Guidelines: True religion is true faith. True faith is nothing but living a life according to the statutes and commandments of God
1. True faith always aims at perfection. Perfect faith constantly strives to walk the path of perfection. Our God is a perfect God and we need to model our lives by nothing less than Him. That is why Jesus commands us, “You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect”.
2. Mark! This is not an appeal but an imperative, not an option but an obligation. If we are the children of God, if we are the followers of Christ, then we must try to imitate Him and resemble Him in His perfection. How to do this?
3. First, Be obedient and adherent to His statutes, rules, and commandments. Walk in God’s ways. Obey His voice. And this we must do with all our heart and all our soul.
4. Second, Be holy before the Lord our God, just as He is holy.
5. Third, Be Equitable to all. God shows no discrimination to anyone. He avails His grace justly to all. Whether people are receptive and cooperative or not is another thing. Irrespectively, He lets His sun shine on all, be it good or evil; lets His rain fall on all, be it just or unjust.
6. Fourth, Be magnanimous: Love not only our friends and kinsmen but even our enemies. Pray for those who persecute us. It is a call to cut across our self-created barricades like friends – foes, kin – aliens.
Practice: Amidst all the pulls and pressures of imperfections, we are called to tread the path of perfection. It consists of obedience, love, and magnanimity
