Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Lectionary: 229
Reading 1DT 26:16-19
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
“This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Moses spoke to the people about God's commands.
Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:
he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways
and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.
This is the agreement to which St. Paul makes reference when he says that those who work expect payment:
Romans 4
King James Version (KJV)
3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
Abraham had not yet made the Covenant of Circumcision with God at this point. Therefore, there was no quid pro quo. But the Jews made an agreement. This for that. Although they had not kept their agreement. Those who did keep the Commandments, expected to be saved.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:Therefore the agreement. Keep the Commandments and I will make you holy.
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you; and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory
above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God,
as he promised.”
Responsorial PsalmPS 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
R. (1b) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they who obey God.
They will be without sin who obey His Word.
Blessed are they who do all that He commands and turn to Him with all their being.
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded obedience. Oh that I were strong enough to keep Your word.
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,I will always be grateful with a righteous spirit when I have understood your wil and I will keep your commands. Don't forget your servant Lord.
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
GospelMT 5:43-48
Jesus said to his disciples:The Law of Jesus is much more strict than the law of Moses. It is a higher morality. The 600 and some precepts were eliminated. But the Ten Commandments remain. Jesus built upon those Ten Commandments the same way that Moses built upon the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament.
“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,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
But the precepts of Jesus Christ, the Beatitudes, are a much higher morality than that which the Jews were expected to obey.
In this one, Jesus expects us to love not only our neighbor but also our enemies. How many people have scoffed at this teaching through the centuries. I know that I once did. Now I still find it challenging. Because the natural man is not about forgiveness. He is about getting even.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Be perfect as God is perfect? That is another command of Jesus which people scoff at. But the Saints of the Catholic Church did their best to achieve this and they are the ones who brought people back to life, cured many diseases and as the saying goes, had the faith to move mountains.
Yes indeed, be perfect as God is perfect. Then live in hope and expect the salvation of our Lord. He will tell you if you achieved your goal.
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