Monday of the Second Week

Reflection

In today’s first reading, Daniel greets God as “Lord, great and awesome”. This is actually quite common to hear when Catholics start prayers, especially when the one praying aloud is a priest. Maybe sometimes you hear prayers start with “Good and gracious God” or “God of infinite Goodness”. If you think of this passage as the start of the prayer, it may take you deeper into Daniel’s words. I encourage you to read the first reading again in a new light before you read the rest of this reflection.

Daniel, abundantly honest of his shortfalls and the shortfalls of the other people of Judah, gives all of his confessions to God in a moment of both meekness and strength. Do you informally confess to God often in prayer? Perhaps at the end of each day or before going into the Confessional? If you pray Liturgy of the Hours, an examination of conscience may be part of your nightly routine. It is humbling to tell God of your shortfalls, but we are called to do so without despairing in God’s mercy. Like Daniel, we are called to not give up hope because we know that God is compassionate and forgiving! We see Jesus affirm these words in the Gospel when he says, “just as your Father is merciful.” God listens without judging and He is always calling you toward self-reflection so that you may become more forgiving toward yourself and others.

Prayer

Lord, great and awesome, help us, your holy men and women, to find courage to confess our sins and change our ways this Lent in order to live more like Christ did. We ask this through the intercession of our Holy Mother Mary and St. Michael the Archangel. Amen.

Abigail Beach, ’22

Scripture

First Reading: Daniel 9:4b-10

Psalm 79:8-9, 11, 13

Gospel: Luke 6:36-38

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Second Sunday of Lent

Reflection

Imagine your mentor taking you and a few close friends to a quiet spot. You wonder, what will be revealed? What special lessons will be taught? Suddenly your mentor becomes so intense, he glows…and is joined by iconic figures who strike up a conversation. Your impulse may be like Peter’s, to try to make them comfortable and to show how you support your mentor, right? At this precise moment, a bright cloud casts a shadow over you and a voice from it endorses your mentor.

Is it any wonder the disciples with Jesus are overwhelmed?

Today we are called to contemplate the story of the transfiguration: what it meant and what it continues to mean. “Transfiguration” is a noun but I am drawn to the verb form: “to transform into something more beautiful or elevated.” I think this is what today’s readings invite us to open ourselves to discovering.

Abram is called by God to move away from his homeland and to start anew. To leave what is known and to go where so much is unknown requires tremendous faith. God repeatedly invokes blessings in His invitation to go, and Abram followed this call.

As Christians, we too are called to move beyond our comfort zone. We are invited to continue to embrace our own transformation along our journey of faith in life. This discovery process is an open-ended awakening. We may catch flashes of the brilliance of the Lord which could awe and frighten us. But Jesus is there to gently reassure us that we should not be afraid, that we should keep going.

Prayer

Lord, help me to be open to seeing your ways. As I put my trust in you, lead me to new places; help me to accept your transfiguring grace with the strength you have given me. Amen.

Professor John Devlin, Fine Arts

Scripture

First Reading: Genesis 12:1-4a

Psalm 33:4-5, 18-20, 22

Second Reading: Timothy 1:8b-10

Gospel: Matthew 17:1-9

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website

Saturday of the First Week

Reflection

Deuteronomy 26:16-19, often referred to as “The Covenant” is to me one of the most seminal passages in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures. Here Moses proclaims to his people the agreement between God and the Israelites – the latter are to obey His laws and listen to Him and in return He will make them His chosen people. This special relationship will exist until Christ, Himself a Jew, proclaims salvation for all who put their trust in God, Jew and gentile alike. Set in the period shortly before the prophet’s death, during the exodus just before crossing the Jordan river, it follows a lengthy recapitulation of God’s laws and exhortation to follow them.

Psalm 119:1-2,4-5,7-8 is again an exhortation to follow God’s laws, a blessing on those who do, and a prayer to God to remember His covenant.

In the Gospel of Matthew, 5:43-48 Jesus goes beyond the Mosaic laws of the Covenant, urging his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecute them. As God loves all His creatures, He charges His disciples (and us) to do the same and to seek heavenly perfection. Christ does not negate the old laws but rather adds to them, in a “new and everlasting covenant”.

Prayer

Lord, keep us in Your love and guide us in Your ways. Amen.

Bill Thompson, Worshipping Community  

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

Ezekiel reminds us that God uses prophets as they are, adapting their personalities to suit His purpose. He needed someone strong who would make a vivid impression on the doubting exiles. Ezekiel was one of the most colorful personalities in the bible. He put a spin on parables and acted out his message in pantomime while mimicking the fugitives. Even his calling was dramatic, not simply a touching of his lips as in the cases of Jeremiah and Isaiah. Ezekiel received a scroll, was told to eat and digest the scroll and then to preach what was written on it. Ezekiel’s eccentric behavior helped him to win over the crowd. 

Today, Ezekiel focuses on the principle of individual responsibility. He tries to convince the exiles that their personal sins play a part in their misfortunes. Israel must repent, to be saved. We also believe that we will be judged on our own merits, on our present and future actions, and on the choices, we make. With Psalm 130 we pray for the Lord to hear us, and we trust in the Lord’s kindness to forgive us for our poor choices.  

In Matthew, Jesus makes it very clear what choices we must make to be saved. We must reconcile with our brother or sister and settle with our opponent in order to participate in the SACRIFICE, the celebration of the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

Prayer

God, Creator, Father, forgive me.  May I experience Your Redemptive Love as I participate in the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Your Son Jesus, Who lives with You in the Unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.

Janice Couture, Worshipping Community

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

It’s not about the words, rather it’s about the verbs! Ask, Seek, Find, Do.

There are not prescriptive words in these readings that direct how we should correctly frame the prayers we say or in the requests we make of God.

Instead, we see in Matthew that Jesus is focused not on what we say but on what we do. Trust is the foundation for living our lives. Do we believe that if we ask for God’s help, we will receive it? That doors will open if we knock? That what we seek will be found? Why do many of my prayers seem to go unanswered? Can I trust that, like the psalmist, God does answer me? Perhaps what I seek is not what I truly need; maybe what I find is not what I expect, or the response is in a form that I don’t understand or recognize?

Jesus points out that parents know to give their children good things. It seems obvious that if we can do that, God can be trusted to do so much more. We don’t need the correct words, but we do need to trust that God hears and provides. Our part in the relationship is in the verbs.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, help us look not to what is seen, but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18)

Jan Hancock, M’12
Worshipping Community

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

Both readings for today are about repentance for when we have turned away from God and sinned. Jonah goes to the city of Nineveh and warns anyone who will listen to “repent.” The citizens of this great Mesopotamian city are reported to have listen earnestly, and fasted, put on sackcloth and covered themselves in ashes. Even the great King did so and all were spared the wrath of God that Jonah had warned them about.

We don’t hear the word “repent” so much today, and when we do, it is typically in parodies of religious zealots.  This is unfortunate because the original notion “repentance” means a change of heart and mind that brings us closer to God. In both its Greek and Hebrew sense, repentance involves a reorientation and transformation of outlook, of our vision of ourselves and a “a new way of loving others and God.”  Don’t we all need to do that from time to time? Maybe frequently? 

It is notable that even the glorious King of Nineveh needs to repent, and does. What a good reminder that ALL of us are in need of turning back to God! Just like the King, we all have probably spent too much time thinking about ourselves and not enough time thinking—and praying—to be closer to God. Our culture is an enormous distraction from our rightful focus on loving God, and our neighbors. This Lent, let’s not be ashamed of a little repentance!

Prayer

God, help me to repent and change my heart and my mind so that I am always closer to You. And help all of us to be more loving towards each other, especially those who sometimes seem so difficult to love. Amen.

Vince Bolduc, Professor Emeritus of Sociology

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

In the practice of Lectio Divina this stands out for me:

Jesus sets our minds at peace in Matthew 6:8 ~ 

“…Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” 

Know that our Lord God is so ingrained in us and we in him that we need not to describe to him our pain and our needs. He already knows all of it; he felt it; he experienced it, just as we do, in our own personal ways. Jesus teaches us to acknowledge this unspoken-ness of experience, and directs us to the power of our father God and the comforting words in how to live, in ‘Our Lord’s Prayer’. 

We need to learn to fully trust in our Lord. We need to understand God’s unlimited power to constantly re-create; to constantly change situations and opportunities, and most importantly, to forgive. But like the dew that falls from the night sky, this gift of loving forgiveness must be used by us to forgive our brothers and sisters of what we perceive as their transgressions against us. Let’s stop judging each other!

If we can learn empathy, we can actively share in the emotional experience of “the other”. This sharing will lead us to compassion, and compassion can lead us into action.

Maybe we ought to ‘babble’ less and act more?

Prayer

My beloved brother, Jesus, help me today to understand that you always stand right beside me. Help me to know in peace that our God who exists in every blade of grass, and in each of our human and non-human brothers and sisters, and in the mycelium “brain” beneath my feet as I walk into the forest, that You are with me in each step; That I am never alone: for You are in Everything; I do not need to look hard to find You. In Love and In Praise, I thank you.

Maura Kelley, Worshipping Community

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