Category: Scripture

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Why do the readings change during some Sundays of Lent?

During the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent, some years the readings change from its corresponding liturgical cycle to readings from cycle A, why is this change? In order to answer this question, we must go back to two moments in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ where He leaves us a responsibility, one of them is on Thursday when he celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus, took bread, blessed it, broke it and distributed it to his disciples, saying to them “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:18-20), and it is because of these words that we celebrate the Mass, the readings of which our Holy Mother Church has established in three annual cycles.

Between these words and the following ones that we must evaluate, the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ occurs. His death and resurrection are the most important events in Christian theology. They form the point in Scripture where Jesus gives His ultimate demonstration that He has power over life and death, so He has the ability to give people eternal life.

The second moment comes from the words that our Lord pronounces after his resurrection: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19), this is the call to our mission of evangelization.

When there are people who wish to enter the Catholic Church and receive these three sacraments, the church brings us readings from the Gospel of St. John during these Sundays, to focus on the spiritual journey of those who are preparing to be received into the Catholic faith, emphasizing themes of healing, conversion, and the promise of eternal life.

These readings are part of one of the rites of Christian initiation known as scrutinies. The first scrutiny focuses on Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well, which symbolizes the thirst for spiritual truth and the offering of Christ as living water.

The second scrutiny focuses on Jesus’ healing of the man born blind, emphasizing the gift of sight and overcoming spiritual darkness, since Christ is the light of the world.

The third scrutiny presents Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, representing Christ’s power over death and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth, and the life.

Let us rejoice when we hear these readings outside of their liturgical cycle, for this means that we are fulfilling the mission that our Lord Jesus Christ entrusted to us before His ascension into heaven: to evangelize people of all nations and to make them disciples of our Lord.

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What kind of disciple of Christ do I want to be?

As Christians we have heard the parable of the sower: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold” (Matthew 13:3-8)

Now, what does this parable tells me today? What kind of disciple of Christ do I want to be? Am I like that seed that falls on the road, that hearing the word of God at mass, but once I leave the church, I am already judging my neighbor and forget the Gospel? Am I one of those who receive the word with joy, but as soon as my faith is questioned, I have doubts and walk away? Am I one of those who receive the teachings of Jesus Christ with enthusiasm, but the trivialities of the world do not allow me to practice them and I leave them aside? Or am I like that seed that falls on fertile ground, and that I bear fruit with my actions for the glory of the Lord a hundred, sixty or thirty times one?

Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, “every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.” (Matthew 7:17-20)

Let us always be fertile soil for the seed of the Gospel, let us proclaim the good news with our words and actions, so that we can be a tree that bears good fruit and that by that good fruit we are to be known.

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How are the readings at Mass selected?

When you enter an old-style Church, it usually has stained-glass windows. In medieval churches, for a populace that couldn’t read, they often beautifully communicated biblical truths essential to the Catholic Faith. 

While literacy is no longer rare, we sometimes remain like the medieval faithful. If we are a bit lackadaisical, it can happen that we are mostly exposed to the essential narrative of our Faith at church. That means the readings we hear from Scripture must be selected like stained glass windows.

The narrative of biblical history can’t fit into individual window frames, so scenes are chosen, capable of imprinting themselves on the mind and stirring the imagination to meditation. If the only place we hear the Word of God is at Mass, the Church in her wisdom does something similar for us. She selects complementary scenes. 

On Sundays, these consist of a reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, a Psalm, a New Testament reading, and a reading from the Gospels. These are chosen to fit beautifully into the frame of the Mass. We’re obligated to be present on Sundays, so the Church knows this is her chance to reach us with an exposure to God’s Word that will leave a lasting impression on our hearts, usually with an apprehendable theme.

Did you ever notice how the readings we hear at any one Mass seem to make special sense when taken together? On the seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary time of Cycle B, we heard about Solomon as a youth (1 Kings 3:5-7). Daunted by his own inexperience, he asked God for wisdom. So moved by the humble insight of his prayer, which sought God’s will above material things, God grants him the surpassing wisdom for which he is remembered.

When we then hear God’s Word from his very own lips in the Gospel, it is after meditating on this wisdom. Jesus speaks to us about the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:44-46). Its value is such a treasure—like a pearl of great price—that one who recognizes it would rid himself of everything else he has to obtain it. This recognition is wisdom par excellence, and the sentiment echoes the Psalm, which joyfully exclaimed that God’s law “is more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces” (Psalm 119).

It’s quite amazing how often this happens. To do it, while also meeting the goal of ensuring that even the most lukewarm souls present are guaranteed as complete an exposure to the whole of the Bible as possible if they meet their minimal obligations as a Catholic, the Church has organized the Lectionary .  

In short, Sunday readings repeat every three years, called A, B, and C.  In year A, the Gospels are mostly from Matthew, year B is mostly Mark, and year C is mostly Luke. The Old Testament reading is selected to reflect a theme from the Gospel, and the Psalm often does the same. The second reading, usually an Epistle, typically follows in order of the Sunday preceding. Where’s John’s Gospel, you may ask? We mostly hear the Gospel of John during the Easter season of every year. 

Let’s be attentive every Sunday to the Word of God, Lectures, Psalm and Gospel as they are being read, as our mother Church has prepared them to fit a theme of the history of salvation and to elevate our soul to our God and Savior.

Cardinalli, AnnaMaria. “How to Understand the Cycle of Readings at Mass”, Ascension Press, 20 August 2020, Accessed 19 August 2024, https://media.ascensionpress.com/2020/08/20/how-to-understand-the-cycle-of-readings-at-mass/

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Are we open to God’s call?

During our daily lives we sometimes ask ourselves, what is the mission that the Lord has for us? But we would really have to reflect if we are attentive to the call that the Lord makes to us. Have we fed the homeless person who begs at the supermarket door? Do we donate clothes in good condition that we no longer wear? Do we collaborate with the offering during mass? Do we donate our time to any of our parish ministries or in the community? Am I willing to form a new ministry that is needed? Do I accept my neighbor as an image of Jesus Christ?

And if we have heard the call, are we willing to follow it unconditionally as were Andrew and John (John 1:35-39), Simon-Peter and James (Luke 5:1-11), Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13) or Paul (Acts 9:1-22)?

Our Lord will come to meet us no matter what path we are taking. The important thing is that when He calls us, we make the decision to follow Him, because He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and through Him we can know the Father, because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:11).

As Catholics we must be willing to listen to the call of our Lord with an open heart, and even more be willing to answer said call with our actions following his teachings, commemorating the Paschal sacrifice, and above all participating in said sacrifice that is the Sacred Communion.

Let us be attentive to the call of our Lord, and let us respond like the prophet Samuel, who after many times hearing the call of the Lord, finally said: “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:1-10)

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What does Epiphany mean for us Catholics?

The word Epiphany comes from Greek, whose meaning is ‘revelation’, which in these Christmas times alludes to the revelation that the wise men of the East received about the birth of the King among the Jews. We must emphasize that the wise men of the East not only recognize Jesus Christ as King but as prophet and high priest, due to the nature of the offerings presented when they arrived at the place where the baby Jesus was (Matthew 2:11).

The wise men from the east made the pilgrimage to Judea to worship the King following the light of the star that appeared in the sky (Matthew 2:1-2). Likewise, we make the pilgrimage from our homes to the new Jerusalem, the temple of God, following the light of Jesus Christ; to worship Him, recognize Him as King, Priest and Prophet, and enter in communion with Him.

But we must ask ourselves, why do we do it? Have we really had the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the one who takes away the sin of the world? Do we truly believe that the consecrated bread and wine are now His Body and Blood?

Let us take advantage of this time to meditate on these questions, and ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of understanding and just as the light of a star revealed the birth and royal lineage of our Lord, so also, may the light of the Gospel reveal in us the divine nature of our Lord Jesus Christ, to be able to receive Him in body, blood, soul and divinity in Holy Communion.

Just as the wise men of the East recognized in Jesus Christ the promised Messiah, God’s new alliance with the whole world, let us also recognize the body and blood of Jesus in the consecrated bread and wine, source of eternal life, which was offered as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins so we can achieve eternal life.

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Should I accept him as a brother when he is so different from me?

“But they are so different… Their customs are so different… they behave strangely…” these are some of the justifications that we sometimes give to ourselves when we encounter cultural or ethnic groups, different from the one we belong to, even in our own mother Church. Let us remember that the Catholic Church, from its beginnings, has welcomed the diversity of cultures, has made them its own and has not denied them the Gospel (Acts 2:1-11).

The grace of the sacrament of baptism, the door to salvation, and the good news of Jesus Christ was also extended to minorities, foreigners and according to the old law, imperfect. Just as Philip evangelized and baptized the Ethiopian eunuch by the advice of the angel of the Lord (Acts 8:26-39), we must extend the grace of the gospel to minorities who feel rejected from the Church, maybe by our own blindness of not wanting to see them as children of God.

The diversity of the Church is even immersed in its own name, when Saint Paul gives the name “ekklesia” (church) to the communities of Christians. In Greek “ekklesia” means “called-out assembly”, this assembly was made up of all those called out to the way of the Lord regardless of their previous affiliation. The apostle himself recognizes in several of his epistles the diversity of the charismas with which the Holy Spirit blesses the faithful (1 Corinthians 12:8-10, 1 Corinthians 12:28-30, Romans 12:6-8).

Let us recognize our Lord Jesus Christ in each of our brothers in faith, no matter how different from us they seem or how different their customs are. Let us welcome with mercy those who feel rejected and find themselves on the peripheries, keep in mind that everything we do for the least of God’s children, we are doing for Jesus Christ himself (Matthew 25:30-41)

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Why is there so much suffering in this world?

Sometimes, when we see what is happening in the world, we think the following: “I am a fervent believer, but when I look around me and what is happening in this world, I cannot help but see evil around me.” This should make us remember the words of the devil in the second temptation to our Lord Jesus Christ, after showing Him all the kingdoms of the Earth: “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to” (Luke 4:5-7), the devil did not receive the nations of the Earth from God, God gave the Earth to us (Genesis 2:15), but it was us who gave the power to the devil by falling into the same temptations that were presented to Jesus: temptation to pleasures of the flesh (Luke 4:3), temptation to earthly power (Luke 4:6), or temptation to arrogance (Luke 4:9-11).

When these thoughts invade our reflections, we must also remember what our Lord told us: “…Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven…” (Luke 6:20-23). Let us remember that our objective is not in this world, but rather it is the dwelling place in the Kingdom of Heaven that our Lord has prepared for us (John 14:2). Those who suffer in this world will have their reward in Heaven with our Lord and the love of God the Father.

Let us avoid falling into the temptations of the enemy, and let us do the God’s will here on Earth as it is done in Heaven, let us work to earn that abode that Jesus Christ has reserved for us and let us wait with faith for our just reward according to our actions.

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How am I to follow Jesus Christ?

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering how we should follow Christ in our lives, and sometimes we wonder if we are really worthy of following Christ because of the weight of our sins.

We must in those moments find our way looking at the call of the apostles, we can begin to follow Jesus Christ on the recommendation of others and then stay by his side as happened with Andrew and John, initially disciples of John the Baptist (John 1:35- 39). We can witness his miracles and even feeling unworthy, we follow Jesus Christ; just as Simon-Peter and James did (Luke 5:1-11). We can find ourselves immersed in our work, but a call from Jesus Christ makes us follow him despite the sins we have committed; just as it happened to Matthew (Matthew 9:9-13). We can even be on a totally opposite path to Jesus Christ, but an encounter with Him is enough for us to change our lives and proclaim his works, as happened to Paul (Acts 9: 1-22).

Our Lord Jesus Christ will come to meet us regardless of the path we are, the important thing is that once He calls us, we make the decision to follow Him, because He is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6), and with Him we can know the Father, because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (John 14:11).

Following Jesus Christ implies following his teachings, commemorating the paschal sacrifice, and above all participating in said sacrifice, which is the Holy Eucharist, since we have to eat the body of Christ because He is the living bread that came down from heaven, and the one who eats from that bread will have eternal life. (John 6:51)