The Law and the Prophets are the two central pillars of faith in the Hebrew Bible.

Jesus came not to displace either of them and thereby completing them.

Jesus does not abolish the Law but comes to give it a deeper meaning and insight.

At a time when the Teachers of the Law and the Scribes

and Pharisees are preoccupied with its letter, He points to the spirit of the Law.

O Lord, “Make me to know your ways; teach me your paths.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9

And now, Israel,

 Pope Francis releases his prayer intention for March:
"For the martyrs of our day, witnesses to Christ".

The Holy Father emphasises that there will always be martyrs among us and that

"this is a sign that we are on the right path" as the courage and witness of the martyrs, "is a blessing for everyone".

Thus, Pope Francis invites all the faithful to pray for those who risk their lives for the Gospel.

“imbue the Church with their courage and missionary drive.”

 

 ＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20

 

Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 The Lord is kind and merciful.

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊      

Luke 15:1-3, 11-32*

(...) Jesus continued,

Peter asks: How many times should I forgive? Seven times?

it is when you give that you receive. You are rich when you share.

The multiplier effect of heaven is dependent on our openness to bring to others what God brought to us in generosity.

"So will my heavenly Father do with you, unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters."

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊      

Daniel 3:25, 34-43*

Azariah stood up

Neither Joseph nor Jesus takes revenge;

both become the cornerstones for the redemption of the very families that rejected them.

In this parable of the ungrateful tenants, They forgot the fact that they were only stewards not the master.

The Lord is giving us a chance for conversion. The world is the Lord’s. We are but his stewards.

  

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a*

(...)They saw him

 " no prophet is his own native place."

He is the son of Joseph, but also the Son of God.

But this is not an acceptable thought to the congregation of his birth.

Jesus' mission was to all, especially the lost sheep and the ‘pagans'.

missionaries came to our land to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus, Your Son,

to our ancestors that made us Your people, to be witnesses of Jesus.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

2 Kings 5:1-15b*

Naaman was the army commander

 The rich young man who asks Jesus how he can inherit eternal life is told
that he is to sell all he has and distribute the money to the poor.

When this makes him sad (because of his wealth)
Jesus comments that the rich tend to have more difficulty entering the kingdom of God .

Pope Francis once said that the person of Lazarus teaches us.

They are also children of our God that deserve our acceptance, respect and love.

In this Lenten season, let us be reminded of the need for renewal in our relationship with one another.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Jeremiah 17:5-10

This is what Yahweh says,

 The hucksters and money-changers were profiteering from people's piety,

exercising a kind of monopoly that battened on the good will of the worshippers. Trade had taken over from prayer.

his driving out the sheep and cattle, he pouring out the coins and overturning the tables,

his order for the dove-sellers to remove the doves and for the temple to cease being a marketplace — is to bring the selling to a halt.

Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Exodus 20:1-17

God spoke

Jesus said to them, “You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant,

but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

Here is Jesus achingly confiding in his beloved ones the heart breaking reality of his impending death.

In today's gospel neither the disciples nor the mother of the sons of thunder show empathy towards Jesus,

they do not have a word of consolation for him.

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Jeremiah 18:18-20

Then, they said,

 

 

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Genesis 1:1-2:2 (or 1:1, 26-31a) 

Ps 104:1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35

 

Ps 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23 Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

 There are strong words from Isaiah on his people and their rulers.

He calls the leaders of God’s people “rulers of Sodom” and speaks of the people as “people of Gomorrah”.

“One of the most notable and original features of the teaching of the Hebrew prophets is their repeated insistence

that the Lord is more concerned with men’s behavior in their social relationships than with the formal worship offered to him” .

  

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Isaiah 1:10, 16-20

Hear the warning of Yahweh,