Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Friday, 7 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Friday, 7 March 2014 - Catholic Meditations

Meditations: Meditation: Psalm 51: 3 For I know my transgressions.

    My sin is constantly before me.

4 Against you, and you only, have I sinned,

    and done that which is evil in your sight;

that you may be proved right when you speak,

    and justified when you judge.

5 Behold, I was born in iniquity.

    In sin my mother conceived me.

6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts.

    You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

18 Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.

    Build the walls of Jerusalem.

19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,

    in burnt offerings and in whole burnt offerings.

Then they will offer bulls on your altar.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit. (Psalm 51:19)

Have you ever tried to poke a plastic drinking straw through a raw potato? There’s a trick to it. In order to get the straw to penetrate the surface, you have to imagine that you are aiming for the space on the other side of the potato. You have to focus your energy on the goal, not the “obstacle” of the potato; then you’ll be able to pierce the tough exterior. If you focus on the outside of the potato, the straw will only hit the surface and bend or barely go in. It won’t work unless you intentionally “think beyond the potato.”

This idea of focusing intently on the other side can help illustrate a central point in today’s readings: when you do something sacrificial for the Lord, keep your eyes on the goal, not the sacrifice itself.

In the first reading, the prophet tells us that God doesn’t like it when his people fast for a few days but then fight as soon as the fast is over. It’s clear that their hearts have not been changed. They were fasting only because it was required, not because they wanted to draw closer to the Lord. He explains that fasting has value only if it results in a greater concern for the poor, the needy, and the oppressed. Likewise, in Psalm 51, David acknowledges that God loves the “sacrifice” of a contrite heart more than a “burnt offering” made out of duty or obligation. And finally, Jesus tells his opponents that fasting is appropriate only when we are far from him, the “bridegroom,” and want to come closer to him.

Clearly, God wants us to keep our fasting in perspective. He wants us to keep the goal in the forefront of our minds. He knows that if we lose sight of the goal, we will be like the straw bending and breaking at the first contact with the potato.

So as you fast and give up things this Lent, keep your eyes focused on the transformation that God wants to do in your heart. Keep envisioning the person he wants you to become, and you’ll find your way through to the other side.

“Lord, use this season to help me grow closer to you. Jesus, I want to embrace your plans for my life!” Amen!

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud, don’t spare.

    Lift up your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their disobedience,

    and to the house of Jacob their sins.

2 Yet they seek me daily,

    and delight to know my ways.

As a nation that did righteousness,

    and didn’t forsake the ordinance of their God,

they ask of me righteous judgments.

    They delight to draw near to God.

3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see?

    Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’

“Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,

    and oppress all your laborers.

4 Behold, you fast for strife and contention,

    and to strike with the fist of wickedness.

    You don’t fast today so as to make your voice to be heard on high.

5 Is this the fast that I have chosen?

    A day for a man to humble his soul?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under himself?

Will you call this a fast,

    and an acceptable day to Yahweh?

6 “Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen:

    to release the bonds of wickedness,

    to undo the straps of the yoke,

    to let the oppressed go free,

    and that you break every yoke?

7 Isn’t it to distribute your bread to the hungry,

    and that you bring the poor who are cast out to your house?

When you see the naked,

    that you cover him;

    and that you not hide yourself from your own flesh?

8 Then your light will break out as the morning,

    and your healing will appear quickly;

then your righteousness shall go before you;

    and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer;

    you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away from among you the yoke,

    finger pointing,

    and speaking wickedly;

Matthew 9:14 Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”

15 Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

-------