Home Bible CATHOLIC MASS: Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent 2.24.15 – TV Videos, Links, Scripture

CATHOLIC MASS: Tuesday of the 1st Week of Lent 2.24.15 – TV Videos, Links, Scripture

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Bible-200“‘This is how you are to pray: Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done, on earth as in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; and do not subject us to the final test, but deliver us from the evil one'”

 

Mass Readings 2.24.15 – FIRST READING: Isaiah 55:10-11 – PSALM 34:4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19 – GOSPEL: Matthew 6:7-15 – Find a Mass: MassTimes.org – Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com

 

 

GOSPEL

GOSPEL: Matthew 6:7-15

Jesus instructs His Disciples how to pray. He teaches them what has become known as the Lord’s Prayer, or the Our Father.

This is how you are to pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your Name,
Your Kingdom come,
Your Will be done, on earth as in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread;
and forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors;
and do not subject us to the final test,
but deliver us from the evil one

(In the lectionary, the translation is adjusted to reflect the custom of using Middle English for the Our Father at Mass. The latest version of the New American Bible, ordinarily used for Mass Readings, sets out the translation as above.)

Jesus goes on to caution that, if we wish God to forgive our transgressions, we should forgive the transgressions of others.

Prior to imparting the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus explains that we are not to “babble” like pagans, because sheer repetition will not gain God’s Hearing.

At the same time, recall how, elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus does counsel us to persevere in prayer.

So the net effect of these two instructions likely is that we should strive to pray with sincerity and meaning.  And with the Lord’s Prayer, we are exhorted to focus on:

  • coming to God together (using the plural “Our”)
  • acknowledging, praising and adoring God’s Holiness
  • seeking to live under God’s Law and God’s Will, and desiring for society and the world to be reordered in that way
  • asking God for our needs, acknowledging that He is the Source of all that is good and needed to sustain us
  • asking for forgiveness, and praying for the forgiveness of others, and even to be spared from temptation
  • seeking deliverance from evil, in particular personified evil, acknowledging the existence of the devil, rejecting him, asking God to deliver us from the evil one

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALM 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

From all their distress God rescues the just.

FIRST READING

FIRST READING: Isaiah 55:10-11

God sends forth His Word to change us, and to bear Fruit for the Kingdom, as part of His Divine Plan.

Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down
And do not return there till they have watered the earth,
making it fertile and fruitful …
So shall My Word be that goes forth from My Mouth;
It shall not return to me void, but shall do My Will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

We are reminded that the Word of God is not static, or a mere academic subject, yet an action undertaken by His Choice. We hear It because He Chooses to Speak it to us.

And we interact and cooperate with God in a Personal Way when we seek to let His Word take root and blossom forth in our hearts, minds and souls, bearing fruit with our actions, taking shape in how we seek to change the world by His Command and in accord with His Law of Love.

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