SATURDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF LENT, LITURGICAL CALENDAR YEAR B

SATURDAY OF THE 3RD WEEK OF LENT, LITURGICAL CALENDAR YEAR B

THEME: I have not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to complete them.

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
Hosea 5:15-6:6
Psalm 50:3-4,18-21
Luke 18:9-14

LITURGICAL COLOUR
PURPLE/VIOLET

INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Saturday of the Third Week of Lent, Liturgical Calendar Year B.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard a reminder and calling that Hosea had made to the people of God for them to turn away from their sinful and wicked ways, to reject their evil and disobedient actions, embracing once again God’s path, His truth and love, and coming towards Him with contrite and sorrowful hearts and minds. Hosea was sent to a people who were rebellious and stubborn, who refused to listen to reason and to the words of the Lord that had been brought to them by His many prophets and messengers. God continued to send His prophets to them regardless, and through those like Hosea, He first warned them of the consequences and sufferings that they would have to suffer if they kept on walking down the path of sin, but at the same time, He also reassured them of His love and kindness.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
How we pray can say a great deal about the kind of person we are. Today’s parable is a story of two men who prayed in the Temple. The prayer of the Pharisee was a prayer of thanksgiving. He thanks God for the way he lives his life, recognizing God as the source of his good living. It is a perfectly acceptable form of prayer. However, it had one fatal flaw. In praying, he passed judgement on a fellow worshipper, thanking God that he was not a sinner like the tax collector standing some distance away. In life the Pharisee looked down on the tax collector as his moral inferior and his prayer reflected that judgemental attitude. His prayer displayed a love of God but it was devoid of love for his fellow worshipper, his neighbour. Failing to fulfil what Jesus called the second great commandment, to love our neighbour as ourselves, he failed to live the first commandment, loving God with all his being. The prayer of the tax collector was shorter; it was a prayer of petition in which he acknowledged that he was a sinner and asked God for mercy. He judged himself and nobody else, and in his poverty of spirit he entrusted himself to the loving mercy of God.

CONCLUSION
The parable reminds us that when we come before the Lord in prayer, there is to be no room for comparing ourselves favourably with others, for looking down on others. Rather, we come before the Lord in prayer always aware of our own spiritual poverty and need, entrusting ourselves to the Lord as one who, in the words of today’s first reading, can ‘bring us back to life’.
Have a Blessed Saturday everyone.

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