Saturday February 27

FIRST WEEK OF LENT

 

Gratuitous Covenant Love

 

Introduction

The life of a pious Jew could be summed up as a response to God’s covenant of love with a covenant loyalty. This is also the life of a Christian, even more so: as God takes the initiative of offering his gratuitous love to his people and to each of us, so we try to give him a response of faithful love and offer to our neighbor a spontaneous, gratuitous love which comes from the depth of our being and commits us beyond the call of the law. Christian life is then communion with God, communion with people, even with enemies, for there should be no enemies for Christians.

 

Opening Prayer

Lord God, from you comes the initiative of love.
You seek us out and you tell us:
“I am your God; you are my people.”
You love us in Jesus Christ, your Son.
God, may our response of love
go far beyond the demands of any law.
May we seek you and commune with you
in the deepest of our being
and may we express our gratitude to you
by going to our neighbor
with a love that is spontaneous like yours.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.

 

Reading 1: Dt 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.”

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8

(1b) Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R.  Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!

 

Verse before the Gospel: 2 Cor 6:2B

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

Gospel: Mt 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 and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

Intercessions

• That our Church and our Christian communities may be places of forgiveness, where we let God’s sun shine on good and bad alike, we pray:
• That all of us may let our conscience guide us to choose good above evil, also when it is uncomfortable, we pray:
• That love may remain or become again the key to our understanding of all laws and commandments, we pray:

 

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God, loving Father,
in this eucharist
your Son gives himself to you and to us
with a free response of total commitment.
May he share this kind of love with us,
that we may become inventive and creative
in committing ourselves to the happiness
of all those far and near,
that together we may be your people
and you our God for ever
in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have made us your priestly people
to proclaim to the whole world
that you are a saving and loving God.
Grateful for your spontaneous love,
may we be aware of our task,
and be your word that encourages and forgives,
your hands that bless,
your feet that seek out what is lost,
in the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Blessing

Love your enemies and pray even for those who hurt you. Not an easy task, but something that should be the mark of Christians. We have hurt God and he forgives. We should do the same for one another, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

 

Commentary

Racial profiling has become part of our modern vocabulary. It signifies suspicion regarding people of a particular ethnic or racial background solely on the basis of their appearance. It was indeed a problem in the past and it continues to be the curse of the present human society. Discrimination on the basis of gender, ethnicity and religion easily affect our own outlook of people around us. Discrimination on people on the basis of their economic and social status is rampant even in Church communities today.

Our Gospel today addresses this problem very directly. The law of the Old Testament commanded love of one’s fellow citi¬zens which implied hatred for the pagans. The mandate of Jesus in the New Testament calls us to love everyone. We may boast of having no enemies. But think of the times when we discriminated our brothers and sisters because of their socio-economic status or their religious beliefs or we felt discriminated and rejected because of these same reasons.

Cases of rejection and labelling people as “bad” or “good-for-nothing’ is no more Christian because they too are God’s own children as we are! Hatred, gossips and acts of violences are totally un-Christian. Extreme nationalism causing rejection and denial of those who disagree with one’s personal ideologies and projects is against the life principles of Jesus. He taught us to love; to love without conditions and boundaries.

Jesus sets us “the bar very high” to be a disciple of Jesus. Had the world listened to the voice of Christ, the world would never have heard about wars, killings and fighting. The crises of refugees and displaced people would never have occurred amidst us. Millions of people are displaced and are subjected to abuses and torture in this time of crises. Can we be a little more compassionate and empathetic towards people on the streets, migrant workers, low-income families…? The Gospel, particularly in the time of Lent challenges us.