Saturday, February 25, 2012 (Saturday after Ash Wednesday)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ is, according to Our Lord's own words, that of renouncing himself - that is, his own senses, his own passions, his own will, his own judgement, and all the movements of nature, making to God a sacrifice of all these things, and of all their acts, which are surely sacrifices very acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary of this; for if anyone having, so to speak, one foot already in Heaven, should abandon this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other there, he would run much risk of being lost.
-- St. Vincent de Paul

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Isaiah 58:9-14
9 Then shall you call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;
10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday;
11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail.

12 Those who shall be of you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
13 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy of Yahweh honorable; and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
14 then shall you delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.
Psalms: Psalm 86:1-6
(A Prayer for help)
1 Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, For I am poor and needy.
2 Preserve my soul, for I am godly. You, my God, save your servant who trusts in you.
3 Be merciful to me, Lord, For I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to the soul of your servant, For to you, Lord, do I lift up my soul.
5 For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; Abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
6 Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.
Gospel: Luke 5:27-32
(Jesus Calls Levi)
27 After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!”
28 He left everything, and rose up and followed him.
29 Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
30 Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.
32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”