Friday, March 13, 2026

 

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

(Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34)

 The name “social media” sounds promising.  It speaks of people coming out of their shells to know others.  The reality of social media – it turns out – has been as much harmful as helpful.  From the first, on apps like Facebook many have used social media for exaggerated self-promotion. With more sophisticated apps like X (formerly Twitter), WhatsApp, Instagram, and Tic Tok along with Facebook, social media has enabled groups to foment common prejudices and hatred.  

As much as anything else, social media is a human invention that is given godlike attention. In today’s first reading the prophet Hosea foresees a time when such artificial creations will cease to enthrall people to distort truth.  He hopes that society “… shall say no more, 'Our god,' to the work of (its) hands.”  Condemning social media, however, is no more a remedy to the problem than condemning television was fifty years ago when sociologists became aware of all the violence it projected.  Rather than that, there must be a reform that takes society back to the first priorities of a vibrant social life.

Jesus names these priorities in today’s gospel.  First, people must strive to do God’s will.  Then, proceeding from this principle, they must treat others like they want to be treated.  This is a tall order in a pluralistic society where many do not know God and many others understand Him in different ways.  It calls for us to pray that God acts in His mysterious ways.  It also summons our testimony to Jesus Christ through public worship and sacrifice of self on behalf of those in need.

Thursday, March 12, 2026

 

Thursday of the Third Week of Lent

(Jeremiah 7:23-28; Luke 11:14-23)

In today’s gospel, the expression “finger of God” is likely the same earthy metaphor that Jesus used when preaching in his own Aramaic tongue.  In the Matthean parallel of this passage Jesus says that he casts out demons “by the Spirit of God.”  It may be worthwhile to meditate on our use of finger and Jesus’ use.

Beyond the vulgar expression “giving another a finger,” pointing one’s finger in the air often is a way of boasting one’s supremacy.  Around championship time or even in midseason, students whose college team (football, basketball, whatever) will raise their finger and proclaim, “We’re number one!”  Sacred artists have painted God’s finger with an entirely different motivation.  In the center of the ceiling of the Sistine chapel Michelangelo painted God creating Adam by pointing His finger.  In what is said to be a take-off on Michelangelo’s creation scene, Caravaggio painted Jesus’ call of his disciple Matthew with a pointed finger.  The lesson is obvious.  Humans are apt to use the finger to promote oneself or one’s group where God would use His finger to create or promote another.

Hopefully, during this holy season we are becoming more God-like.  That is, we are using not just our fingers but our whole bodies to assist others to know God's love.

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

 

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9; Matthew 5:17-19)

In the Gospel of Mark Jesus tells the Pharisees, “The law was made for man, not man for the Law’” (2:27).  This statement is readily misunderstood.  Jesus does not mean that the law is endlessly malleable such that humans might do whatever they want.  Rather, Jesus wants to assure his disciples that the law is meant for human development.  They are fulfilled when they follow it.  In today’s gospel from Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells his disciples that he has come to fulfill the law.  His disciples should see in him how the law is to be lived so that they might live their humanity to the fullest.

Jesus shows himself the law’s fulfilment in two ways.  First, he teaches that the law is best expressed by two commandments very much related to each other.  Humans are to love God above all and to love their neighbor as themselves. In loving God and neighbor and in accepting the love of God and others, humans achieve full realization of what being human means.

Severely limited by pride, we find it difficult to love.  This is so because God cannot be readily seen and touched.  Also, it is true that human faults can repel as much as they draw us to one another.  But we have access to the grace of the Holy Spirit which enables us to transcend these difficulties.  The Spirit moves close to God in prayer.  Likewise, the Spirit moves us to make sacrifices for one another which fosters the growth of our love. 

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

 Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

 (Daniel 3:25.34-43; Matthew 18:21-35)

 Protestants often criticize the Catholic practice of confessing to a priest.  They ask, “Why do you have to tell your sins to a man?  It is God who forgives sins.”  Yes, certainly sins offend God, and He alone can forgive them, but Jesus has given his apostles authority to function as God’s regular agents (Matthew 18:18).  There is a further reason.  When a Christian sins, she or he does harm to the Church which is entrusted with the mission of announcing God’s love to the world.  Gossiping, viewing pornography, cheating on taxes or whatever sin obstructs the deliverance of this message.  The readings today present examples of a sincere confession and what proves to be a faulty one.

 The first reading pictures Azariah, one of the three Jewish youths chosen to serve the king of Persia, expressing contrition for the sins of his people.  As the prophets tell, God desires such a contrite heart more than sacrifices.  The servant in the gospel parable sounds like he has undergone a change of heart as he pleads with his master for an extension of his debt, but actually he has not.  If he were sincere, he would show the same understanding to a fellow servant who is indebted to him.

 It is recommendable that all Catholics go to Confession during Lent whether or not they are in mortal sin.  The Sacrament of Reconciliation humbles us to admit that we make mistakes -- sometimes grave ones -- that divert us from the path of holiness.  Also significant, Reconciliation reminds us that religion is not just a personal affair between God and me but a communal enterprise in which all of us have a role to carry out.

 

Monday, March 9, 2026

 

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

(II Kings 5:1-5ab; Luke 4:24-30)

It may seem odd, but Jesus is speaking to us when he preaches repentance.  We know that it is a vital message for drug dealers, Internet trawlers, and the porn industry.  But we may not think that it applies to ordinary sinners like you and me.  After all, our contempt, lustful suspicions, dismissive remarks, and slothful habits don’t do much harm, do they?

In today’s gospel when Jesus does not perform a wonderwork for his compatriots of Nazareth, they show no interest in his call to reform.  He tries to open their eyes with stories of the prophets of old.  Still they pay him no heed.  He warns that rejection will cause him to reach out to others as did Elijah and Elisha.  Jesus’ scenario will be realized after his death and resurrection.  Having been mostly spurned by the Jewish nation, Jesus’ apostles will turn to Gentiles with his message. 

Hopefully, we are doing better than the Nazoreans in listening to Jesus.  Heeding his call to reform this Lent, we look for the good in others, pray to keep our chastity, and get on top of our work.  Lent was not meant to be easy, but the struggle will bring us closer to the One near whom we want to be.