Mass Reading: Sunday - 27th March 2022

First reading
Joshua 5:9-12
The Israelites celebrate their first Passover in the Promised Land

    The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I have taken the shame of Egypt away from you.’ 

    The Israelites pitched their camp at Gilgal and kept the Passover there on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening in the plain of Jericho. On the morrow of the Passover they tasted the produce of that country, unleavened bread and roasted ears of corn, that same day. From that time, from their first eating of the produce of that country, the manna stopped falling. And having manna no longer, the Israelites fed from that year onwards on what the land of Canaan yielded.

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 33(34):2-7

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

I will bless the Lord at all times,
    his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
    The humble shall hear and be glad.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Glorify the Lord with me.
    Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
    from all my terrors he set me free.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

Look towards him and be radiant;
    let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
    and rescued him from all his distress.

Taste and see that the Lord is good.

________

Second reading
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
God reconciled himself to us through Christ

For anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God’s work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men’s faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Lk15:18

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

I will leave this place and go to my father and say:
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’

Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!

________

Gospel
Luke 15:1-3,11-32
The prodigal son

    The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he spoke this parable to them:

    ‘A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.” So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

    ‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.” So he left the place and went back to his father.

    ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

    ‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.” He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

    ‘The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 27th March 2022

 

For too many of us, Lent is a season of doom and gloom, a time to feel bad about all the ways we are not “measuring up” in our spiritual lives. But this view could not be further from the truth. Lent is a season of refreshment and love, of awakening and rebirth. In fact, the word “lent” comes from the Old English word, “lencten,” which means spring. Lent is intended to be a springtime for us in our spiritual lives where all can become new again.

St. Paul tells us in the Second Reading today, “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ.” The Gospel Reading, too, is filled with this theme of awakening and the extravagant, life-changing love that the Father has for each one of us; it is the well-known parable of the Prodigal Son.

We are all familiar with this amazing story — the bratty younger son who has the audacity to ask his dad for his inheritance early, only to squander it sinfully away. It makes us bristle instinctively at his nerve when we read it. But isn’t that exactly what we do when we selfishly turn away from God (in big or small ways) in our own lives? We squander away the inheritance of grace He has given us. 

In desperation from the mess he had made of his life, the son finally “comes to his senses” — awakening to the truth that he is a beloved son of a loving and merciful father and decides to return home. His contrition is faltering and imperfect and seems motivated in large part by his growling stomach. 

But it was enough for the loving father. “While still a long way off, the father caught sight of him.” The son was still a long way off from a deep understanding of what he had lost and what he was about to gain. But that small and imperfect openness to the father’s love was enough. In fact, the father is “filled with compassion for him” and immediately sets about preparing feast and fine clothes for this son. What an extravagance of love! What a beautiful picture Jesus gives us of our Father’s love and mercy.

Oh, how this should fill us with gratitude for such a Father! Be refreshed in this love. We are new creations thanks to this reconciling love.

And what comfort this passage gives to those of us who watch with sorrowful hearts for a return to faith for own “prodigal” loved ones. Our Father is watching and waiting for their return to Him even more eagerly and patiently than we are.

We owe God everything! But let’s start by giving him one little thing. Take even a faltering step closer to Him — go to confession, join in the Stations of the Cross, call a family member or friend you are at odds with and try to reconcile. With just the tiniest bit of spiritual “spring cleaning” we can be sure we will be swept up in our Father’s loving embrace and find ourselves feasting in His presence. That is what lent is all about.

Mass Reading: Sunday - 20th March 2022

First reading
Exodus 3:1-8,13-15

'I AM has sent me to you'

    Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up. ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said, ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’ Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am,’ Moses answered. ‘Come no nearer,’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,’ he said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.

    And the Lord said, ‘I have seen the miserable state of my people in Egypt. I have heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. Yes, I am well aware of their sufferings. I mean to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them up out of that land to a land rich and broad, a land where milk and honey flow, the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.’

    Then Moses said to God, ‘I am to go, then, to the sons of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you.” But if they ask me what his name is, what am I to tell them?’ And God said to Moses, ‘I Am who I Am. This’ he added ‘is what you must say to the sons of Israel: “I Am has sent me to you.”’ And God also said to Moses, ‘You are to say to the sons of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name for all time; by this name I shall be invoked for all generations to come.’

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 102(103):1-4,6-8,11

The Lord is compassion and love.

My soul, give thanks to the Lord
    all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
    and never forget all his blessings.

The Lord is compassion and love.

It is he who forgives all your guilt,
    who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
    who crowns you with love and compassion,

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord does deeds of justice,
    gives judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses
    and his deeds to Israel’s sons.

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord is compassion and love,
    slow to anger and rich in mercy.
For as the heavens are high above the earth
    so strong is his love for those who fear him.

The Lord is compassion and love.

________

Second reading
1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12
The life of the people under Moses in the desert was written down to be a lesson for us

    I want to remind you, brothers, how our fathers were all guided by a cloud above them and how they all passed through the sea. They were all baptised into Moses in this cloud and in this sea; all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink, since they all drank from the spiritual rock that followed them as they went, and that rock was Christ. In spite of this, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.

    These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain: some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.

    All this happened to them as a warning, and it was written down to be a lesson for us who are living at the end of the age. The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Mt4:17

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

Repent, says the Lord,
for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!

________

Gospel
Luke 13:1-9
'Leave the fig tree one more year'

    Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

    He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”’

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 20th March 2022

 

Today’s readings capture the essence of God’s Lenten message to us, His people, offering words of compassion and mercy as well as warning of the need to repent and make the most of the gift of time He has given us.

The First Reading, from Exodus, recounts Moses’ first encounter with the living God who provides reassurance of His nearness to the people in their suffering and tells of His desire to deliver them from slavery into freedom and fullness of life. He tells Moses, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore, I have come down to rescue them… and lead them… into a land flowing with milk and honey.” This compassionate God goes even farther, revealing His name to the people as a sign of intimacy with them and telling them, “This is my name forever; thus am I to be remembered through all generations.”

Our Second Reading, from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that God, though full of mercy and compassion, is also just, and that there will be consequences for our behavior. He admonishes us, “whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.”

Today’s Gospel passage includes the familiar parable of the unfruitful fig tree. It is preceded by an interesting dialogue between Jesus and some people reporting the news of the day, asking for His “take” on the matter. They tell Jesus about a bloody massacre that some Galileans had suffered at the hands of Pilate. They expected Him to confirm their view that the Galileans had done something to deserve such a death. But Jesus defies their expectation, telling them that the people who died such an awful death were no more sinful than they themselves are. He goes on to say the same of another recent event in which a group of people had been killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. They, too, Jesus says, were no more sinful than anyone else. They were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time when tragedy struck. 

The point He is making is that life is precious and the gift of time on this earth is just that — a gift. None of us knows how much time will be granted to us, so we must use this gift intentionally to glorify God and serve our neighbor. 

Jesus offers the parable of the fig tree to further illustrate this truth. The owner of the orchard came searching for fruit on a fig tree he had planted in his orchard. Finding no fruit on the tree after three years, he told the gardener to cut it down. But the gardener intercedes and asks for one more year to cultivate and fertilize the tree in hopes it would bear fruit in the future. The fig tree was not dying; it simply wasn’t doing much of anything at all. Can this be said of us and our lives as well?

The season of Lent is a time to reflect carefully on the way we spend our time. Do we give first priority to God, tending to our spiritual growth and sacramental life with diligence? Do we give next priority to our loved ones, focusing intentionally on them each day without distractions from phones, screens, or thoughts of work? If not, now is the moment to repent of our waste of time or of misplaced priorities on our use of time. God is merciful but just. Let’s turn to Him and ask Him to make our lives fruitful while we still have time to do so.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 13th March 2022

 

GN 15:5-12, 17-18; PS 27:1, 7-9, 13-14; PHIL 3:17-4:1 or PHIL 3:20-4:1; LK 9:28B-36

In last week’s Gospel, we followed Jesus into the desert where He fasted and prayed. This week, He leads us up a mountain to witness His Transfiguration. Why both of these experiences?  

He is preparing us to go with Him in a few short weeks to a hilltop, Golgotha, where He will lay down His life for our sake — and finally to take us to an empty cave where He triumphed over sin and death once and for all. 

Jesus perfectly understands our humanity. He knows we need desert experiences — times of self-denial and testing — in order to arrive at mountain-top moments when we see and feel His glorious presence in our lives. The purpose of these two types of experiences is summed up in the description of the Apostles who were with Jesus at that mountain-top experience in today’s Gospel: “Peter and his companions had been overcome by sleep, but becoming fully awake, they saw his glory….”

The reason for all of our fasting and prayer and almsgiving during lent is to be reawakened to all God has done for humanity and to all that He has done for each of us personally. It is all too easy to get lulled into complacency in our daily routines, to “sleepwalk” through life, getting up and getting ourselves and maybe kids out the door, going to work, returning home for dinner and dishes, meetings, or sports activities, and finally flopping on the couch to watch TV until bedtime. While there is nothing inherently sinful in this routine, as Christian stewards we are called to so much more!

We are called to be fully awake and fully alert to the love of the Holy Trinity that dwells within us through our Baptism and surrounds us at every moment. How do we know this is true? We wouldn’t be alive at all but for the love of God that sustains us second by second! And we would not have eternal salvation and the perfect joy of heaven awaiting us if Jesus had not come and died for us.

The disciplines of lent are not meant to make us miserably “hangry” until Easter arrives, and we can eat chocolate in peace once again. The prayer and fasting and offering of ourselves to the poor are intended to shake us free from any apathy that has crept into our lives so that we can see His glory in everyday moments. 

When we intentionally set aside time for prayer, He will give us exactly the wisdom we need to face what comes later in the day. When we bring a little discomfort into our lives by the sacrifices we make, we realize just how weak and dependent we are on Him. When we reach out to those who have less materially, we realize the abundance of blessings we have. These are mountain-top moments. They bring us back to our senses and fill us with gratitude to God — which in turn spurs us on to give Him more of ourselves in the sharing of our time, talents, and treasure. 

In this way, we train ourselves, or more precisely, we allow Him to train us to say “Yes” to His will and to offer our lives back to Him. In so doing we, too, become “transfigured.” This is what it means to live fully awake; this is a stewardship way of life and it is glorious indeed.

Mass Reading: Sunday - 13th March 2022

First reading
Genesis 15:5-12,17-18
God enters into a Covenant with Abraham, the man of faith

Taking Abram outside, the Lord said, ‘Look up to heaven and count the stars if you can.’ ‘Such will be your descendants,’ he told him. Abram put his faith in the Lord, who counted this as making him justified.

    ‘I am the Lord’ he said to him ‘who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldaeans to make you heir to this land.’ ‘My Lord,’ Abram replied ‘how am I to know that I shall inherit it?’ He said to him, ‘Get me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove and a young pigeon.’ He brought him all these, cut them in half and put half on one side and half facing it on the other; but the birds he did not cut in half. Birds of prey came down on the carcases but Abram drove them off.

    Now as the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep, and terror seized him. When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, there appeared a smoking furnace and a firebrand that went between the halves. That day the Lord made a Covenant with Abram in these terms:

‘To your descendants I give this land,

from the wadi of Egypt to the Great River.’

The word of the Lord.

________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 26(27):1,7-9,13-14

The Lord is my light and my help.

The Lord is my light and my help;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    before whom shall I shrink?

The Lord is my light and my help.

O Lord, hear my voice when I call;
    have mercy and answer.
Of you my heart has spoken:
    ‘Seek his face.’

The Lord is my light and my help.

It is your face, O Lord, that I seek;
    hide not your face.
Dismiss not your servant in anger;
    you have been my help.

The Lord is my light and my help.

I am sure I shall see the Lord’s goodness
    in the land of the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and take heart.
    Hope in the Lord!

The Lord is my light and my help.

________

Second reading
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes Christ to transfigure us

My brothers, be united in following my rule of life. Take as your models everybody who is already doing this and study them as you used to study us. I have told you often, and I repeat it today with tears, there are many who are behaving as the enemies of the cross of Christ. They are destined to be lost. They make foods into their god and they are proudest of something they ought to think shameful; the things they think important are earthly things. For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.

So then, my brothers and dear friends, do not give way but remain faithful in the Lord. I miss you very much, dear friends; you are my joy and my crown.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Mt17:5

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

From the bright cloud the Father’s voice was heard:
‘This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him.’

Glory and praise to you, O Christ!

________

Gospel
Luke 9:28-36
Jesus is transfigured before them

Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up the mountain to pray. As he prayed, the aspect of his face was changed and his clothing became brilliant as lightning. Suddenly there were two men there talking to him; they were Moses and Elijah appearing in glory, and they were speaking of his passing which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. Peter and his companions were heavy with sleep, but they kept awake and saw his glory and the two men standing with him. As these were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ – He did not know what he was saying. As he spoke, a cloud came and covered them with shadow; and when they went into the cloud the disciples were afraid. And a voice came from the cloud saying, ‘This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.’ And after the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. The disciples kept silence and, at that time, told no one what they had seen.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Mass Reflection: Sunday - 06th March 2022

 

And so, it begins — the holy and, for some, daunting, season of Lent. This is the season in our liturgical year when the Church encourages us to increase our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to enter more deeply into the mystery of our Lord’s Passion and Death and to celebrate more fully His Resurrection. Our outlook as Christian stewards can help us embrace this season with enthusiasm and even joy.

The First Reading, from Deuteronomy, presents a beautiful and positive way to approach Lent. The passage begins with Moses speaking to the people. He reminds them that the Lord saw their affliction and responded mercifully to their cry by delivering them from oppression in Egypt, and by bringing them to a land flowing with milk and honey. Moses teaches the people how they should respond to such a wonderful God. He instructs them to approach the Lord with these words: “Therefore, I have now brought you the firstfruits of the products of the soil which you, O Lord, have given me.” In other words, Moses teaches the people to respond as grateful stewards for all that God has done for them.

As grateful stewards ourselves, we can look at these 40 days as “soil” that God is giving us as a gift to grow closer to Him and become more like Him. We can choose to use each of these days intentionally to make a generous response to our God, who sent His own Son to deliver us from the affliction and oppression caused by sin. 

Jesus, by His own example in today’s Gospel, demonstrates the necessity of setting aside a period devoted especially to prayer and fasting as a means of strengthening our spiritual muscles. Just before the launch of His public ministry, He is “led by the Holy Spirit into the desert for forty days, to be tempted by the devil.” In imitation of Jesus, we should ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into the desert, too — the desert of our interior lives where our thoughts and desires reside.

While our Lord was strong enough to withstand the temptations of the devil on His own, we most certainly are not! We must turn to the Holy Spirit and ask Him to show us where we need to grow interiorly and then rely on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance throughout these forty days of growth.

We may discover we are weak in our knowledge of the faith and can devote these Lenten days to spiritual reading or Bible study. We may discover our prayer life has gone by the wayside and we must discipline ourselves anew and commit to a regular, daily time for prayer. Perhaps we have given in to selfishness and comfort-seeking and we can determine to give up our favorite coffee drink or social media “fix” and find a project that serves the poor in our community. 

If these spiritual exercises hurt a little, that means we are doing them right!  It means we will have some wonderful “first fruits” to present to our Lord at the close of this season; we will be prepared to enter into the grace-filled days of the Triduum and we will, through the power of the Holy Spirit, be resurrected as a new creation with our Lord come Easter. Let us begin!

Mass Reading: Sunday - 06th March 2022

The Liturgy of the Word

First reading
Deuteronomy 26:4-10
The creed of the Chosen People

Moses said to the people: ‘The priest shall take the pannier from your hand and lay it before the altar of the Lord your God. Then, in the sight of the Lord your God, you must make this pronouncement:

    ‘“My father was a wandering Aramaean. He went down into Egypt to find refuge there, few in numbers; but there he became a nation, great, mighty, and strong. The Egyptians ill-treated us, they gave us no peace and inflicted harsh slavery on us. But we called on the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and honey flow. Here then I bring the first-fruits of the produce of the soil that you, the Lord, have given me.”

    ‘You must then lay them before the Lord your God, and bow down in the sight of the Lord your God.’

The word of the Lord.

___________

Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 90(91):1-2,10-15

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    and abides in the shade of the Almighty
says to the Lord: ‘My refuge,
    my stronghold, my God in whom I trust!’

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

Upon you no evil shall fall,
    no plague approach where you dwell.
For you has he commanded his angels,
    to keep you in all your ways.

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

They shall bear you upon their hands
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.
On the lion and the viper you will tread
    and trample the young lion and the dragon.

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

His love he set on me, so I will rescue him;
    protect him for he knows my name.
When he calls I shall answer: ‘I am with you,’
    I will save him in distress and give him glory.

Be with me, O Lord, in my distress.

________

Second reading
Romans 10:8-13
The creed of the Christian

Scripture says: The word (that is the faith we proclaim) is very near to you, it is on your lips and in your heart. If your lips confess that Jesus is Lord and if you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, then you will be saved. By believing from the heart you are made righteous; by confessing with your lips you are saved. When scripture says: those who believe in him will have no cause for shame, it makes no distinction between Jew and Greek: all belong to the same Lord who is rich enough, however many ask his help, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

The word of the Lord.

________

Gospel Acclamation
Mt4:4

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Praise to you, O Christ, king of eternal glory!

_______

Gospel
Luke 4:1-13
The temptation in the wilderness

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit through the wilderness, being tempted there by the devil for forty days. During that time he ate nothing and at the end he was hungry. Then the devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to turn into a loaf.’ But Jesus replied, ‘Scripture says: Man does not live on bread alone.’

    Then leading him to a height, the devil showed him in a moment of time all the kingdoms of the world and said to him, ‘I will give you all this power and the glory of these kingdoms, for it has been committed to me and I give it to anyone I choose. Worship me, then, and it shall all be yours.’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Scripture says:

You must worship the Lord your God,
and serve him alone.’

Then he led him to Jerusalem and made him stand on the parapet of the Temple. ‘If you are the Son of God,’ he said to him ‘throw yourself down from here, for scripture says:

He will put his angels in charge of you
to guard you,

and again:

They will hold you up on their hands
in case you hurt your foot against a stone.’

But Jesus answered him, ‘It has been said:

You must not put the Lord your God to the test.’

Having exhausted all these ways of tempting him, the devil left him, to return at the appointed time.

The Gospel of the Lord.

Marriage Encounter - Saturday, 26 March 2022

The Marriage Encounter   (Johor-Melaka) under the Diocesan Commission Family,  Life & Laity together in unity with Marriage Encounter (Malaysia), is having very interesting and unique ongoing Marriage Enrichment talks. Below is the poster. Please do send it to all your parishioners,  parish groups, etc.

Thank you, and God bless you!

-Diocesan Commission Family,  Life & Laity-