Daily Readings

Reading I:  Is 58:9b-14

Thus says the LORD:
If you remove from your midst oppression,
    false accusation and malicious speech;
If you bestow your bread on the hungry
    and satisfy the afflicted;
Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,
    and the gloom shall become for you like midday;
Then the LORD will guide you always
    and give you plenty even on the parched land.
He will renew your strength,
    and you shall be like a watered garden,
    like a spring whose water never fails.
The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,
    and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;
“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,
    “Restorer of ruined homesteads.”

If you hold back your foot on the sabbath
    from following your own pursuits on my holy day;
If you call the sabbath a delight,
    and the LORD’s holy day honorable;
If you honor it by not following your ways,
    seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice
Then you shall delight in the LORD,
    and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,
    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

Responsorial Psalm:  86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R.    (11ab)  Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me,
    for I am afflicted and poor.
Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;
    save your servant who trusts in you. 
    You are my God.
R.    Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
Have mercy on me, O Lord,
    for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
    for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
R.    Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
    abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
    and attend to the sound of my pleading.
R.    Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.
 

Verse before the Gospel:  Ez 33:11

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord,
but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

Gospel:  Lk 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.
Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house,
and a large crowd of tax collectors
and others were at table with them.
The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.
 

Father Kirk's Daily Lenten Reflection
Saturday after Ash Wednesday, February 20, 2021

Jesus said: “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.  I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

Until we enter into the eternal glory of Heaven, we continually have sin or some other weakness in our lives that needs God’s healing touch. No matter how far we travel with the Cross on our shoulders, we are always Jesus’ disciples. We should not think there is a time when we will not need to follow Christ’s examples or not need to ask for God’s healing. (Godzdogz – Augustine OP)

As we journey through Lent let us be mindful of those things which hold us back from being our best selves.  Let us be mindful of what about us needs to be healed.  Let us pray with the psalmist: “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.”