March 7 Friday after Ash Wednesday Reflection What makes us sorry? That we have hurt someone rather then something, no? Often in our relationship with God we treat Him and think of Him as a thing more then a person How often have we heard some say to us, Youre not listening! We may address Him as Father or Lord but our interior connection and lack of interior sorrow is proof that we easily have objectified Him. Whatever, however doesnt matter as much as responding in this season of grace to know Him as a person, either again or more deeply, that we may truly be contrite in sorrow and miss and even desire to follow better then we ever have. May our relationship with the Spirit of the invisible God and Lord of of our lives manifest its sorrow from our objectification of Him and rejoice that our hearts again are one because we are listening. Lord, I am sorry if I have failed in my relationship with You, In this season of grace, may we find time to spend together, that we again may walk together As heart speaking to heart, Heart listening to heart. We ask this through Your heart of love and mercy, Amen Reading 1 Is 58:1-9a Thus says the Lord GOD: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; Tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, Like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; They ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance: That a man bow his head like a reed and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; Your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am! Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always: “Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Gospel Mt 9:14-15 The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 12:52:06 +0000
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