Second Sunday of Lent

Reflection

Here we are at Transfiguration Sunday.  Jesus is transfigured.  The disciples are transfigured/changed so that they can hear God.  Lent is meant to be the time of our own transfiguration.  Today’s reading from Genesis suggests to me that our transfiguration has to deal with the place of sacrifice in our life. 

Webster’s definition of sacrifice is: the surrender of something of value for the sake of something else.  This is a good definition, but it contains more than meets the eye.  Our first reading opens up the meaning of sacrifice when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.  What is behind God’s invitation to sacrifice Isaac?

We know this story well.  The story ends with Abraham walking back to his own land together with Isaac.  The deeper meaning of this story teaches us about the innate need in us to offer sacrifice.  Simply put, in order for something to be received as a gift it must be received twice.  When the gift is first received we acknowledge that we are not worthy of the gift.  We offer it back to the giver.  The giver then gives the gift back to us assuring us of our worthiness.  This is the exact dynamics within the story of Abraham offering to sacrifice Isaac.

What is your sacrifice to God this Lent?  What is the greatest gift that you have received from God that you need to offer back to God?  When you put your time, your talents, and your treasure at God’s disposal, you are acting like Abraham, trying to gift back to the giver.

Prayer

Dear God help me today to offer all that I am to serve You and Your people.  Make me bold in my love of You and others.

Fr. Stan Deresienski, S.S.E. ’67

Scripture

First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18

Psalm 116:10, 15-19

Second Reading: Romans 8:31b-34

Gospel: Mark 9:2-10

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Saturday of the First Week

Reflection

Agreements always sound easier when you first make them. Terms and Conditions? You’re probably not missing anything if you skip them and just check the box at the bottom to complete registration. Making plans with a friend? You can probably say “yes” now and back out later. But in today’s readings, our “agreement with the LORD” sounds perhaps more challenging than we first anticipated. We are called to “be perfect just as [our] heavenly Father is perfect,” to “love [our] enemies,/and pray for those who persecute” us; we sing that “[b]lessed are they whose way is blameless.” Reading this passage might make us wonder what we’ve signed up for, especially during Lent, when the road to Easter is obscured in terms and conditions that we don’t always feel capable of upholding.  What have we gotten ourselves into?

In rising to the challenges presented to us, we note that today’s readings don’t address us individually; instead, we are addressed in the collective, and we are reminded that our commitment to God is a two-way street. Living our agreement to follow God truly does require all of our hearts and souls, as a community, even when our hearts and souls feel like muscles that need a good deal of strengthening. But, for lack of a better phrase, no pain, no gain. And lifting what feels heavy and pushing ourselves forward to uphold our agreement—especially during these forty days—is always easier with extra hands, with extra hearts, with extra souls.

Prayer

Lord, strengthen us as we continue together on this Lenten journey. As we remember the promises we have made to You and You to us, may we grow as a community in our capacity to love even when doing so feels hardest. Amen.

Mackenzie Faber, ’18

 

Scripture

First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:16-19

Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Friday of the First Week

Reflection

In today’s readings during our initial Lenten days, we have an emphasis on reconciliation and commitment to love God and each other through our words and actions.

Our verse before the Gospel introduces well our reflection: “Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the Lord, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.”

In our first reading, we are reminded of the importance of our current disposition and actions. We are all in need of mercy, and God’s focus on the here and now encouragingly invites us to a deeper relationship with God and each other. We cannot rest on any perceived past “laurels” and must daily avoid complacency. As our beautiful Responsorial Psalm acclaims, we must renew our supplication to God, with whom there is “kindness and plenteous redemption.”

Part of the important Sermon on the Mount, today’s Gospel reading includes the first of six “antitheses” in which Jesus juxtaposes Gospel requirements with tenets of the Law. Extending the commandment to not kill, Jesus notes that anyone who becomes angry and hostile and holds grudges against a neighbor is liable to judgement. Yes, our thoughts and emotions matter. Despite inevitable conflicts and struggles, we are called to respect and reconcile authentically with each other. We can make this commitment when praying the Our Father and in our daily encounters with all of our neighbors, especially the marginalized and struggling.

Given the division and bitterness felt in so many parts of our society and world, may we persistently strive for this reconciliation and unity throughout the Lenten season and beyond!

Prayer

Dear Lord, give us the daily grace we need for reconciliation and unity with all those around us.  Deepen our love and compassion so that we may treat others as we ourselves wish to be treated. We ask this through Christ our Lord, our ultimate model of reconciliation. Amen.

George Ashline, Professor of Mathematics

Scripture
First Reading: Ezekiel 18:21-28
Psalm 130:1-8
Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

 Thursday of the First Week

Reflection

Today’s readings invite us to reflect on and remember that our love and caring for others is essential as we ask our God for help and guidance.

In the first reading, Queen Esther knows that the people she loves, her Jewish community, are about to be killed and she can help to change that if she dares to talk with her King. She invites others to pray with her asking God to give her the courage to face the King. Her love and concern for her people are strong and she prays all day and asks God to give her the right words to stop the violence and God listens.

From the Gospel reading, we hear the familiar words of praying to God by asking, seeking, and knocking at God’s door and we will receive and find and the door will be open. However, as we pray with this Gospel, there is more than that for us to ponder. We are asked to care for others to give them the bread that they need, the help that they need, to “Do to others what we want them to do for us.”

Clearly the grace of love and caring for others is in both these readings as the path to asking God for help that we believe is needed at a particular time.  During this Lenten season may we find ways to increase our prayer and reflection time and love and concern for others through some action of service for a person or our planet Earth.

Prayer

Loving God, help me to increase my love this day for others and all of Creation. May I take a new step this day towards showing this love by one concrete new action that will help to change me and benefit this community I call home. May I feel Your presence with me. Amen.

Sr. Lindora Cabral, RSM, Saint Michael’s College Board of Trustees

Scripture

First Reading: Ester C: 12, 14-16, 23-25

Psalm 138:1-3, 7C-8

Gospel: Matthew 7:7-12

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website 

Wednesday of the First Week

Reflection

One of my first thoughts after reading today’s First Reading was, “I wish I had my own personal Jonah.”  Maybe not someone walking through my town calling out my sins and announcing impending destruction, but someone to call me back to myself, call me back to the person I want to be – loving, compassionate, forgiving – when I go astray.  It also struck me that Jonah only walked one day through the city out of the 40 days before destruction, and the King and people of Nineveh immediately repented.  If it was me, I think it would have taken a bit longer.  Sometimes I think we cling to our sinfulness and brokenness to the very last minute.  Although hurtful to ourselves and others, our vices and weaknesses are familiar and change can be difficult, even knowing it is necessary and needed.

Then, when I read Jesus’ words in the Gospel, I felt reassured that we do have someone calling us back.  Jonah may have been a sign to the Ninevites, but we have a God who loves us, Jesus who dwelt among us, and the Spirit to strengthen and guide us.  Jesus lovingly and persistently calls us back into right relationship with God and others through our personal prayer, celebrating the Sacraments, and through Scripture. Jesus is a powerful witness and sign of God’s deep and unconditional love for us and models how we should extend love to those around us.  We need only to be open enough to listen and willing to respond like the way the Ninevites did with Jonah.

And as I reflect back on my initial thought of “wanting my own personal Jonah,” I think of the people in my life that inspire me to live my faith more deeply.  People who know my heart and who can call me back when they notice I am starting to wander away from God and go astray.  This Lent can be a time for metanoia, a turning back to God.  With the beauty and richness of Scripture, the Sacraments, and a community of faith, we can turn back to God as long as we open our hearts, listen, and respond.

Prayer

Let us pray the words of today’s Responsorial Psalm: Have mercy on me, O God, in Your goodness.  A clean heart create for me, O God, and a steadfast spirit renew within me.  A heart contrite and humbled, O God, You will not spurn.  Amen.

Anna Lester, ’98, Assistant Director of Edmundite Campus Ministry

Scripture

First Reading: Jonah 3:1-10
Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 18-19
Gospel: Luke 11:29-32

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website 

 Tuesday of the First Week 

Reflection

The first reading really speaks to the idea that right now—at this time of my life— God is “showering” me with the things I need to grow. The imagery from Isaiah reassures us that God will give us the strength and spiritual nourishment we need to be “fertile and fruitful” to those who are open to receiving God’s grace, and the passage “so shall the word be that goes froth from my mouth” assures us that God’s Word is alive and life-giving to us.

The Psalms are especially appropriate for the penitential season of Lent.  We all have things we regret, things we wished had never happened. Sometimes, we want to forget and move on, and God can wipe away our brokenness and the things that separate us from Him when we turn towards Him, asking for healing and forgiveness.  The Psalms encourage us to face our mistakes and bring them to God. We have to do so with humility with but also with confidence in God’s immeasurable love for us. We can do this because we know that “when the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit He saves.”

The Gospel in which Jesus shares the Lord’s Prayer with His disciples is actually somewhat of relief.  Sometimes we don’t always know what to say to God or offer just a mumbled rush of words as we race through our busy days, but Jesus urges us to offer words that express the intentions of our hearts and gives us a model to follow. Prayers do not have to be long and formal, but it’s about what we are expressing to God and what is in our hearts that matter more than the length or sophistication of our prayer.  God just wants us to stay connected to Him.  During this season of Lent, I am going to try to have more frequent “chats” with God throughout the day.  In the Lord’s Prayer,  there is an emphasis on our responsibility to forgive others.  The way we interact with other people—how patient, compassionate and tolerant we are—should be a reflection of the way we have been loved and forgiven by God. 

Prayer

Dear God, help us especially right now with what is going on in our world to choose love, to turn the other cheek when we are hurt, to forgive, to love and pray for those who turn against us. Encourage us to love even when we are angry, to love boldly, to reach  across our borders, and to bring the love that You give us to those we meet.  Remind us that we are all swimming to the other side, to You. Together, let us walk in the footsteps of Jesus each and every day. Amen.

 Rada Ruggles, ’23

Scripture

First Reading: Isaiah 55:10-11

Psalm 34:4-7, 16-19

Gospel: Matthew 6:7-15

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Monday of the First Week

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle 

Reflection

In the Gospel reading for today, the feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, we find that Jesus asks two questions of His disciples.  First, Jesus asks the disciples what people are saying about Him.  Second, Jesus puts the question more directly to the disciples by asking them what they believe about Him.  This prompts each of us to reflect on what we know about Jesus and then who we believe Jesus to be.  In the first instance, our faith may be only at the level of information, that is, what we say about Jesus and who we say Jesus to be.  In the second instance, however, faith takes on a more personal reality in that it brings us to the existential question of where or in whom we place our trust right now.

The questions that Jesus asks His disciples challenge us each day.  Our faith can become nothing more than the knowledge we have about who Jesus was and what He did, the stuff of textbooks or encyclopedias.  It is when we come to the second question that we begin to find ourselves called out to make a commitment and to choose a way of living.  In the end, we all need to realize that it is not what we know that will save us.  It is placing our lives in the hands of Jesus and walking the way of Jesus that leads to eternal life.

Prayer

Lord, we place our lives in Your hands this day and ask that You help us to follow Your way.  Help us to trust and believe in You as the Lord and Savior of our lives.  Amen

Fr. David Théroux, S.S.E. ’70, Instructor in the Religious Studies Department

Scripture

First Reading: 1 Peter 5:1-4

Psalm 23:1-3a-6

Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

 First Sunday of Lent

Reflection

And the angels ministered to Him…

There are many times this year where I have felt to be in the desert, or tempted by negativity and polarization in our world. Sometimes, I’ve even felt “among the wild beasts” as friends or co-workers express deep anger or fear on all sides of today’s issues. Each time, my own anxieties and doubts are triggered. How do we come back? Where is God in my own heart and in the hearts of God’s people? These questions lead me to greater awareness. I adjust my lens and recognize things that were previously going unnoticed: the soothing and wise words of an online yoga instructor, the uplifting kindness of my new online flute teacher, or even a commercial celebrating the determination of a Paralympic athlete. They are like angels ministering to me; kind and loving people who seem to see with the eyes of God. It reconnects me to all that is good and sacred. And from that place, I am able to find my way back to ministering to others.

Prayer

Spirit of Love, thank you for the angels in our lives, whether or not we notice them. May our desert experiences open our eyes to Christ’s presence in and around us and may we become kingdom-builders because of it.

Marianne Strayton, ’98

Scripture

First Reading: Genesis 9:8-15

Psalm 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Second Reading:  1 Peter 3:18-22

Gospel: Mark 1:12-15

 

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Reflection

The reading from the latter chapters of Isaiah, attributed to a disciple of the prophet Isaiah, continues the instruction begun in yesterday’s reading on the kind of “fasting” that is pleasing to the Lord. It turns the focus away from sackcloth and ashes, and provides food for thought as we begin the Lenten season.

The opening verse of the reading from Isaiah seems to have been written for our present moment in history, and it gives each of us our call:

Remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech. 

But oh how hard that is to do when people disagree on who is the oppressor and who is oppressed, who is lying and who is telling the truth. Where is the boundary between righteous anger and malice? On a national and worldwide scale, these issues bedevil us still, as they have over the centuries. In the midst of this, what is our calling? To recognize and name injustice when we see it; to do our best to determine the truth of situations we find ourselves in; to attempt to solve problems and differences without malice. We may not be able to do this on a global or national scale, but we can begin with our own lives and our circle of family and neighbors.

To do these things, we will need and we hope for what is promised to us:

He will renew your strength, and you shall be like…a spring whose water never fails. We need the wellspring of faith and hope in our God to bring healing to our world.

Looking at the scene at Levi’s house, one can imagine the contrast between Levi, the brand-new disciple joyfully introducing Jesus to his friends at a banquet, and the cynical Pharisees stuck in their self-righteousness. Who are “the sick” and the sinners in this story? Who needs the healing but is not even aware of their needfulness?

Prayer

Lord, teach me Your way.  I recognize that I need Your presence in my life to give me strength and hope. Help me to speak honestly without malice, to work against injustice and to bring Your joy and Your peace to those I encounter.  Amen.

Zsuzsanna Kadas, P’13, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics

Scripture
First Reading: Isaiah 58:9b-14

Psalm 86:1-6

Gospel: Luke 5:27-32

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Reflection

On this first Friday after Ash Wednesday, the Scripture creates space to guide and plan our Lenten journeys. In particular, the reading and Gospel brings the importance of fasting into focus.  Much like the disciples of John who came to Jesus in the Gospel to question how and when to fast, we as a people of faith are in need of guidance. In the Lenten season, material goods or habits are often given up as a means of fasting and preparation. Too often though, what is being given up supersedes in our minds the vital why of the act. For this reason, the good word today brings forth a message and spirit of intentionality to help guide not only our fasting but our Lenten journey as a whole.

In the first reading, we hear explicitly that the Lord calls us to action. In our fast, He desires us to not simply sacrifice our own desires but rather to give of ourselves in service. Whether it be feeding the hungry or supporting the oppressed, it is important to move beyond ourselves as we engage with fasting. Moving outwards and away from simply just giving up something enjoyable is a way to bring into light the service and sacrifice of Jesus. Not only do we serve others, but we are also serving Him. Even amidst a pandemic and the many restrictions it brings, there are ways to still act. These actions can be as simple as calling up a friend you know is lonely and struggling or checking in on an elderly neighbor. 

Instead of absentmindedly going through the motions this Lenten season, challenge yourself to action and do so with a mindful heart. For it is through these focused efforts that we not only better our relationship with the Lord, but we mentally and spiritually prepare for the great sacrifice of His Son at the end of the Lent.

Prayer

Loving God, let us praise You and embark upon this Lenten season with driven minds and intentional hearts. 

Emily Murray, ’21

Scripture
First Reading: Isaiah 58:1-9a
Psalm 51:3-6a, 18-19
Gospel: Matthew 9:14-15

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

 Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Reflection

On initial glance, Moses’ message may seem harsh and perhaps unforgiving: “I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.” This is definitely an intimidating ultimatum. But in actuality, as he continues his speech, he offers a simple path for life and prosperity. We need to love the Lord, walk in His ways, and keep His commandments. As we prepare for our Lenten observances, it is important to keep these three points in mind. “Choose life,” Moses tells us, and we will take part in the feast of Eternal Life. By choosing Jesus Christ over the temptations of sin and evil, we thereby choose life.

But what exactly does it mean to walk in Jesus’ way? Luke’s Gospel visualizes Moses’ plea. We are called to take up our cross and follow Christ. This is especially important to remember not only during this Lenten season, but also in today’s world. We have witnessed much suffering over the past year due to the coronavirus. Many of us may have lost a loved one or know someone who has lost a loved one. Today, and every day, we need to bear our crosses and follow Jesus. Listen to your neighbor, have patience with one another, extend a helping hand. Do what makes you uncomfortable. Only then will we eagerly await the coming of our Lord. 

Prayer

Loving and Merciful God, allow us to bear our crosses and humbly serve one another this Lenten season. May You grant us the courage to follow You on this journey to Eternal Life.

James A. Downs, ’22

Scripture

First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Psalm 1:1-4, 6

Gospel: Luke 9:22-25

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website