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Wednesday, Third Week of Lent B (March 10 /2021)
Your Daily Blessing: May God grant you the grace of faithfulness and holiness. Amen!
Read Deut 4:1-9; Matt 5:17-19; pray psalm 95[94].
NARRATION: The Old law says, ‘Thou shall NOT kill…” but the law of the new covenant says, “love one another as I have loved you…” If the people of Israel failed to keep the ‘negative’ law Moses gave to them, how easy is it for us to keep the ‘positive’ law of love?
St. Peter Chrysologus provides us the answer in his homily which I want to share with you in full. It clearly reveals what we must do if we want to please God.
“There are three things, my brethren, by which faith stands firm, devotion remains constant, and virtue endures. They are prayer, fasting and mercy.
"Prayer knocks at the door, fasting obtains, mercy receives. Prayer, mercy and fasting: these three are one, and they give life to each other.
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"Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. Let no one try to separate them; they cannot be separated. If you have only one of them, or not all together, you have nothing.
So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God’s ear to yourself. When you fast, see the fasting of others.
If you want God to know that you are hungry, know that another is hungry. If you hope for mercy, show mercy. If you look for kindness, show kindness. If you want to receive, give. If you ask for yourself what you deny to others your asking is a mockery.” […to be completed tomorrow].
Note however, that fasting for older folks and the sick may not be food but little ‘dainties and pleasures.’
PRAYER: Dear Lord, you told us that without you we can do nothing. Help me see the place of prayer in living a holy life. Without prayer, we cannot keep your commands. Grant me the graces of prayer, fasting, and mercy. Amen.
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