Lessons from Today's Liturgy

In the Entrance Antiphon of today's liturgy, Saturday of the first week of Lent, , we pray: "The law of the Lord is perfect; it revives the soul. the decrees of the Lord are steadfast; they give wisdom to the simple"  (cf. Ps 19 [18]: 8). How absolutely true! Whenever I  do what the Spirit directs me to do,  even in the smallest of things, my soul is revived. I am uplifted and energized by following the Spirit's inspirations in something as insignificant, perhaps, as keeping my plants watered--insignificant, that is, in regard to tasks to be done but certainly not insignificant to the plants that depend upon my charity towards them!  In the Collect of today's liturgy, I am reminded 1) to turn my heart to God, my eternal Father, and 2)  to always do the one thing necessary: carry out works of charity and that doing so dedicates me to the worship of God, my Creator! Yes, even watering the plants is an act of charity pleasing to the Lord, my God, and an act of worship!

Being obedient to the Spirit is also addressed in today first reading, Deuteronomy 26: 16-19. In this passage from Deuteronomy Moses says to the Chosen People, and that includes you and me:  "This day the Lord, your God, commands you to observe these statues and decrees. Be careful, then, to observe them," Moses says, "with all your heart and with all your soul," not haphazardly, by any stroke of the imagination!  God wants our all! This agreement "to walk in [God's] ways...and to hearken to his voice," includes a stipulation and a promise from God Himself.  God says to us through Moses: "You are to be a people peculiarly his own...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."

Being risen on high in praise and renown and glory is yours, and mine, as we have been made "sacred to the Lord" through the blood of Jesus poured out for us on Calvary. Through God's mercy poured out upon us in Jesus' death on Mount Calvary, you and I have been raised high with  Christ.  Like Him, we, too, following our death, will rise to new life in our resurrection. Death will have no power over us anymore than it had any power over Jesus.  We belong to Him, and to Him alone. We truly are "peculiarly his own."

Being "peculiarly his own" means that we are expected to step up to the plate in terms of following Jesus' example. In today's gospel, Matthew 5: 43-48, Jesus spells out what that means: "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." Yes, as Jesus did on the cross in praying for His executioners, not condemning them but forgiving them and welcoming the sinner into eternity, we, too, are to intercede for and wish our enemies well, treating them the same way we treat our friends!