SATURDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF LENT (2024)

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’ LK 15:18

MICAH 7:14-15,18-20 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

How great is our Father's love for us, we deserve death, we deserve eternal death for we sin gravely, constantly, and willfully. We know that we must strive always to be like Him, holy and perfect but we prefer to indulge our flesh, pander to the culture, and allow the wiles of the Tempter to weaken our will. The Father's mercy far outweighs His justice - justice demands that He obliterate us from the face of this earth. We deserve nothing but condemnation yet He loves us. He says to each of us tenderly, 'Can a woman forget her nursing-child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.’ 

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your obedience to the will of the Father and for saving us by Your redeeming Sacrifice. O Lamb of God, Savior of the world, thank You for Your infinite mercy, thank You for taking away the sins of the world and for making us co-heirs with You to the Kingdom of God.

What god can compare with you: taking fault away,

pardoning crime,
not cherishing anger for ever
but delighting in showing mercy?
Once more have pity on us,
tread down our faults,
to the bottom of the sea
throw all our sins.

PSALM 102(103):1-4,9-12 ©

My soul, give thanks to the Lord

all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.

It is he who forgives all your guilt,

who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.

His wrath will come to an end;

he will not be angry for ever.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.

For as the heavens are high above the earth

so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.

The Lord is compassion and love.

LUKE 15:1-3,11-32 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

What do we possess that is not a given to us as a gift from the Father except our sins, our frailties, our failures? Thank You, Lord, that You are a God of mercy and compassion slow to anger and overflowing with love for us miserable sinners. 

It is no wonder that tax collectors and sinners came flocking to You - they were ostracized and marginalized by the scribes, Pharisees, and the religious elite. They were unwelcome in respectable circles and treated as the very dregs of society. Now, for the first time, a charismatic rabbi with divine powers actually sought them out and taught them, healed them, interacted with them. In our world too there are so many who are wounded, lonely, suffering from all kinds of illness mental, spiritual, and physical. In our encounters with them may we look at them with the same love that You did. May we seek Your Face reflected in theirs and may they see Your Face reflected in ours.

Each of us at some stage in our lives have been the prodigal son taking all that we have received as pure gift as if it were a right. We have squandered our baptismal graces and lost our innocence and wandered far from home. At first we were happy to live a life of self-indulgence but soon it left a bitter taste. The more we squander our lives on passing things the more decadent we become and more unhappy.

In this parable You point out to the lost who have wandered far from home that there is always a way back not matter how low we have fallen in the miry pit of sin and evil. The father in the parable is a beautiful image of God whom You taught us to address as Abba, Dad, Papa.

How often we can be self-righteous, pompous, a spiritual prig like the older son whose heart is cold, selfish, and mean-spirited. Even then You remind us to be generous and merciful just as He is because all He has is ours as well for we are co-heirs with You.

Thank You, Lord, for the glorious sacrament of reconciliation and for the grace that is readily available to every humble and contrite heart who resolves to sin no more. Thank You for our priests, thank You for the Church You established, and thank You for assuring us that You will remain with her until the end of time.

“My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”