Saturday of the First Week of Lent, March 11, 2017.
1st Reading: Book of Deuteronomy 26:16-19.
Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the LORD, your God, commands you to observe these statutes and decrees. 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. And today the LORD is making this agreement with you: 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.” The word of the Lord.
Responsorial Psalm: 119(118):1-2.4-5.7-8
R/. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Holy Gospel: Matthew 5:43-48.
Jesus said to his disciples: “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. 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 only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The gospel of the Lord.
SATURDAY REFLECTIONS:
Perfection is our calling, nothing less. The danger in trying to shoot for something less is that you might actually attain it. Then what? In other words, if you settle only for being “pretty good” you might actually become “pretty good.” But pretty good is not good enough according to Jesus. He wants perfection! This is a high calling. What is perfection? It can seem overwhelming and almost beyond reasonable expectations. We may even get discouraged at the idea. But if we understand what perfection really is, then we may not be intimidated by the thought at all. In fact, we may find ourselves deeply desiring it and making it our new goal in life. At first, perfection can seem like something only the great saints of old lived. But for every saint we may read about in a book, there are thousands more that have never been recorded in history and many other future saints living today. Imagine that. When we get to Heaven we will certainly be in awe of the great saints we know about. But think about the countless others that we will be introduced to for the first time in Heaven.
These men and women strove for and found the path of true happiness. They discovered they were meant for perfection. Perfection means we are striving to live each and every moment in the grace of God. That’s all! Just living here and now immersed in God’s grace. We do not yet have tomorrow, and yesterday is gone forever. All we have is this single present moment. And it’s this moment that we are called to live perfectly. Certainly each one of us can seek perfection for a moment. We can surrender to God here and now and seek only His will in this moment. We can pray, offer selfless charity, make an act of extraordinary kindness and the like. And if we can do it in this present moment then what’s keeping us from doing it in the next moment? Over time, the more we live each moment in God’s grace and strive to surrender each moment over to His will, we get stronger, and we get holier. We slowly build habits that make each and every moment easier. Over time, the habits we form make us who we are and draw us into perfection.
Pray with me: Lord, I do want to be holy. I want to be holy as You are holy. Help me to live each moment for You, with You and in You. I give this present moment to You, dear Lord. Jesus, I trust in You that You alone will heal our sick brethren and set them free. May the souls of our faithful departed brethren rest in perfect peace, amen. Have a blessed and fulfilled weekend.
Sourced by Wiezman Eleanya