Saturday, April 02, 2011 (Lenten Weekday)

READINGS FOR THE DAY
First Reading: Hosea 6:1-61     "Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up.
2     After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
3     Let us know, let us press on to know the LORD; his going forth is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth."
4     What shall I do with you, O E'phraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? Your love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that goes early away.
5     Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6     For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

Psalms: Psalm 51:3-4, 18-21
3     For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4     Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in thy judgment.
18     Do good to Zion in thy good pleasure; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19     then wilt thou delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on thy altar.

Gospel: Luke 18:9-14
9     He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others:
10     "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11     The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, `God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12     I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I get.'
13     But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, `God, be merciful to me a sinner!'
14     I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for every one who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."


REFLECTIONS FOR THE DAY
The soul united to God and transformed in him draws from within God a divine breath, much like the most high God himself. And God, abiding in the soul, breathes forth the life of the soul as its exemplar. This I take to be what Paul meant when he said: because you are children of God, God has sent to the Spirit of his Son into your heart's crying, Abba, Father; this is what takes place in those who have achieved perfection.

-- St. John of the Cross