February 18
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Give a Mass Offering
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Verse before the Gospel
Matthew 4:17
Repent, says the Lord;
the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Gospel
Luke 9:22-25
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all, “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?”
“Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.”
Reflection
It is so easy to say we are followers of Christ. It can roll off our tongue, that is, until we really understand the implications that being a follower has for us.
Jesus reminds us that he is going to suffer greatly, be rejected, and killed. Should we, as followers of Christ, expect the same treatment? It seems that Jesus is warning his disciples that they should expect this same treatment. So goes the cost of discipleship.
During Lent, we have an opportunity to recall the cost that we experience as followers of Jesus. We should not think of these costs as negatives in our life, but as blessings. Often, people refer to the cost of discipleship as a cross. When we think about it in this way I always think about the progression of the Stations of the Cross. How difficult that had to be for Christ, to not only bear the weight of our sins, but to bear the physical weight of the wood of the cross. I would hope that we would see that what Jesus has accomplished for us makes our “cross” much lighter. Perhaps we can see the challenges of faith in our world as great blessings that serve to remind us that Christ loved us so much he was willing to die for us and for all.
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
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