Daily Readings

Reading I:  Dt 4:1, 5-9

Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land 
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,
‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’
For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”
 

Responsorial Psalm:  147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20

R.    (12a)  Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
    praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
    he has blessed your children within you.
R.    Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
    swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
    frost he strews like ashes.
R.    Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
    his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
    his ordinances he has not made known to them.
R.    Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
 

Verse before the Gospel:  See Jn 6:63c, 68c

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life;
you have the words of everlasting life.
 

Gospel:  Mt 5:17-19

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

 

Father Kirk's Daily Lenten Reflection
Wednesday of the 3rd Week of Lent: March 15, 2023

The message is clear both from, the sermon of Moses in today’s first reading, as well as the words of Jesus at the conclusion of the sermon the Mount which constitute today’s gospel reading.  The message is this - The person who follows the law will be great in the Kingdom of heaven.

Having just concluded the Sermon on the Mount, clearly the law of which Jesus speaks is the law of mercy. In his sermon, he enumerated to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs and that is to the poor in spirit, the mournful, the meek, the truly righteous, the merciful, the peacemakers, the persecuted, and the pure in heart.

Jesus wanted his disciple and so also us to live lives that give evidence of our fidelity to the law and of our friendship with God.  In other words, we must strive to live our lives like Jesus lived his.

Let us not grow weary of following the law of the Lord.  As Moses told his people: “Hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you … observe them carefully … do not let them slip from your memory as long as you live; but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.