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The Word today, Lent3C


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March 24 - March 29, 2025



2 Kings 5:1-15 A very lively, realistic story prepares us for the Gospel reading. There are comic elements: the disappointment of Naaman and the utterly sensible advice of his servants.


Luke 4:24-30 Our reading is really the second part of an integrated scene in Luke’s Gospel. Jesus preaches in Nazareth and is initially well received. What we really have here is a symbolic tableau, giving us the whole Gospel story of Jesus in a nutshell. The last elusive line points to Easter.


The Annunciation to the BVM


Isaiah 7:10-14, 8:10 The birth of a child—as in this reading—is always a sign of hope. Hebrews 10:4-10 Our reading today reects on the death of Jesus, in the light of the incarnation.


Luke 1:26-38 In the Bible, there are stories of couples who cannot have children. An annunciation resolves the situation. Our annunciation is similar, yet signicantly different on account of the child to be born — son of the Most High, descendant of Jacob and David, Jesus the Messiah.



Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9 Our reading reects on God’s grace to Israel and on the consequent responsibility of the Israelites to live lives consistent with that grace. It was true long ago in Judaism; it is true today in our Christian proclamation.


Matthew 5:17-19 Matthew can disconcert with his quite conservative attitudes. It is important to remember that the Law (the Torah) meant three things at the time. It meant rst of all the Pentateuch, which has lost none of its relevance for Christians. It also meant the Ten Commandments, which, in the time honoured phrase, have not gone away. Finally, it meant the rules governing the marks of Jewish identity, such as circumcision and the dietary laws. While these latter are indeed suspended for Christians, the moral law is, if anything, sharpened.



Jeremiah 7:23-28 The ministry of Jeremiah encountered tremendous opposition. In fact, his book is divided into two parts, the rst devoted to a rehearsal of the collapse of the independent kingdom of Judah. Within that, Jeremiah points out that the very faithlessness of the people was one of the causes of that calamity.


Luke 11:14-23 Just as the prophets encountered opposition, so did the Jesus. In the case of Jesus, the opposition accuses God’s prophet of aligning himself with the forces of evil. Already in Luke’s Gospel, we hear the story of the temptation, wherein Jesus resolutely rejects the devil.



Hosea wrote in the 8th century BC, at a time of immense pressure from Assyria. He can be trenchant but is also a marvellous poet of the love of God. Listen by letting any of the moving metaphors touch our hearts.


Mark 12:28-34 This great passages takes us to the hear to of the preaching of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah.



Hosea 5:15-6:6 This is really a sarcastic reading. But, behind the biting sarcasm, is the beating heart of God, reaching out to us again and again.


Luke 18:9-14 The risk for us in reading this parable is that we nd ourselves sitting in judgment on the Pharisee—that is, copying him in sitting in judgment on the tax collector. The latter’s heart-felt prayer for mercy is at the centre of the parable: can I make it my own?


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025y, March 23). Third Sunday of lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032325-YearC.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings


 
 
 

The Word today, Lent2C

Updated: Mar 15


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March 17 - March 22, 2025


See special notes for St Patrick’s Day)


Daniel 9:4-10 Daniel prays a great prayer which we could make our own today. The Psalm takes up the same theme of forgiveness.


Luke 6:36-38 Pardon is free from God — but it is truly “ours” only when we pardon in return.



Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 Following an opening command to wash and make ourselves clean, no fewer than seven imperatives help us to think practically of changes in our lives.


Matthew 23:1-12 Matthew is aware that religious leaders can “lose the run of themselves,” as we say. This is true in our Gospel of the Pharisees, but the the Gospel goes on to issue a warning also to Christian leaders: they are not to be called rabbi or father or teacher. Why is that the case?


St Joseph, husband of the BVM


2Samuel 7:4-5, 12-14, 16 God’s delity through time is expressed in his commitment to the family of David, of which Jesus will be born.


Romans 4:13,16-18,22 Abraham trusted against all the odds — as did his later descendant Joseph.


Matthew 1:16,18-21,24 Joseph of the Gospels reminds us of Joseph of Genesis, who dreamed and who saved his family.



Jeremiah 17:5-10 Two ways of life are contrasted today and, as always, the choice is ours. The contrast is sharply drawn. We do know that things are not so black and white in reality; however, the offer of two different ways of life still stands. The psalm going with this reading is perfect.


Luke 16:19-31 The story of the rich man (Dives in Latin) and the poor man, Lazarus, is unique to this Gospel. The story is pretty clear and it would be hard to miss the message. The exploration of the parable in the last paragraph, however, is larded with irony…are we among those who would not be convinced even in someone should rise from the dead?



Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28 The ordinary mass goer might well ask why this reading and what is it about? The story of the rejection of Joseph by his brothers is interesting and signicant of itself. Today, however, it is told to anticipate a similar rejection in the Gospel, the rejection of Jesus and his mission. In the case of Joseph, the rejected one became the saviour when there was a famine in the land of Canaan. Likewise, the rejected Jesus became a saviour but not merely to one family but to the whole human race.


Matthew 21:33-43, 45-46 In the Old Testament, there are passages which talk about Israel as God’s vineyard, a metaphor which undergirds today’s parable. The parable on the lips of Jesus may have been simpler. The version we have in the Gospel reects the context of Matthew’s community and the later application of Psalms to Jesus’ own death and resurrection.



Micah 7:14-15,18-20 Today we hear a great prayer for forgiveness, a condent prayer because the Lord is our shepherd. It would make a terric reection on God’s mercy and compassion. It does prepare us to hear with fresh ears the parable of the prodigal son.


Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 As often, it can be hard to hear what is so familiar so that we are addressed again, so a special effort is needed. It might be good to focus on the stay-athome brother and his resentments. Do I nd such inty resistance in myself ? In my community? In our society? Even as we nd this in ourselves, it is good to recall that the parable ends without resolution, open-ended, so that forgiveness and compassion are always possible.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025w, March 16). Second Sunday of lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031625.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings


 
 
 

The Word today, Lent1C

Updated: Mar 15


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March 10 - March 15, 2025



Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-18 Sometimes, we tend to think that Israelite faith was somehow more external that Christian faith. This readings both put us right on that and lands us with a direct challenge for ourselves today.


Matthew 25:31-46 There are different ways to read this socalled parable. Firstly, it is not a parable but a kind of teaching on how we will be judged. The purpose is not so much a description of the last judgment as warning to change how we live our lives. Part of the meaning is that the church (as the least of my brothers and sisters) discloses Christ himself through our vulnerability.



Isaiah 55:10-11 This short reading (only one sentence) proclaim the effectiveness of God’s word. It is as effective, almost as automatic, as rain falling on the ground. But we are the ground, so it does depend too on letter the word into my heart.


Matthew 6:7-15 The opening words are a clear warning that prayer is not informing or cajoling the divinity. If not that, then what? According to St Augustine, it is the opening of the heart so that we may be capable of receiving God’s gifts.



Jonah 3:1-10 The book of Jonah—a comic shot across the bows of Ezra and Nehemiah—is taken at face value today. It is difcult to imagine the cows as converting! Nevertheless, the seriousness of response invite reection on the seriousness of our project of conversion through Lent.


Luke 11:29-32 Jesus refers to the people of Nineveh and in a way redoubles the challenge to us today. We know Jesus is greater than Jonah et al, and yet what does this knowledge prot is if we remain unmoved?



Esther 4:17 The topic in today’s readings is really prayer of intercession. In our rst reading, we see a women in earnest prayer, not just for herself but for her people. Esther reminds God to be true to himself!


Matthew 7:7-12 This kind of passage—so plain and direct—can be problematic for us today on several levels. Firstly, we all have experience of interceding and apparently not being heard. We do not always get what we want. Secondly, we don’t really think God must be informed or, worse, persuaded. Again, Augustine helps: we pray not to change God but to change ourselves, so that we choose what God wants for us.



Ezekiel 18:21-28 Conversion, turning to God with our whole selves, is the teaching here. Ezekiel puts before us two ways, life and death. It is not quite so simple—we do believe that one sin cannot really ruining all the good we have done in the past. Nevertheless, the point is not lost: God calls us to conversion, to renounce our sins, so that we may live and be truly alive.


Matthew 5:20-26 In keeping with the rst reading, the gospel is direct: If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees… It is easy to confuse religion with practice and morality with actions. Jesus, however, takes us to the heart of ethical living—it is all from within. In this, Jesus is very much in line with prophets of the Hebrew Bible.



Deuteronomy 26:16-19 True faithfulness is a matter of the heart, as we hear from the book of Deuteronomy. The Law is to be kept rst of all with our hearts and our souls. It may help to recall that the word Torah means instruction or path of life. It is, therefore, much more than a set of regulations or commandments. The psalm is a big help here: Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all day long. (Ps 119:97) Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble. (Ps 119:165).


Matthew 5:43-48 Jesus continues his teaching on the roots of ethical behaviour in attitudes of the heart. The comparison are sharp, especially in a culture where being Christian is reduced to be being decent or wellbehaved. As Jesus points out even nonbelievers manage that, so it is no great credit. Something deeper is being asked us, something more costly.


References

-United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2025t, March 9). First Sunday of lent. USCCB. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/030925.cfm

-Sunday readings. (n.d.-s). Hearers of the Word. https://www.tarsus.ie/SundayReadings


 
 
 
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