• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province

The Love that Compels

  • Online Masses
    • Passionist Online Masses and Services
  • 300th Jubilee
    • Opening Mass of the Passionist Jubilee Year
    • Video: 300th Jubilee – English
    • Video: Jubileo Pasionista – Español
    • Jubilee Icon Itinerary
    • Jubilee Resources
    • Jubilee Song
  • Pray
    • Lent 2021
    • Daily Reflections
    • Prayer Request
    • Sunday Homily
    • Passionist Spirituality and Prayer
    • Stations of the Cross
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
  • Grow
    • Journey into the Mystery of Christ Crucified
    • Celebrating the Feast of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Subscribe to E-News
    • Passionist Magazine
      • Passionist Magazine, Spring 2020
    • Passionist Ministries
      • Preaching
      • Hispanic Ministry
      • Haiti
      • Parish Life
      • Earth and Spirit Center
      • Education
      • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Retreat Centers
    • Passionist Solidarity Network
    • Vision Fulfillment Newsletters
    • Sacred Heart Monastery
      • History of Sacred Heart Monastery
      • A Day in the Life of Senior Passionists
      • “Pillars” of the Community
  • Join
    • Nicholas Divine, CP, Ordination to the Diaconate
    • Are You Being Called?
    • Discerning Your Call
    • Pray With Us
    • Passionist Vocation Directors
    • Lay Partnerships
  • Connect
    • Find a Passionist
    • Passionist Websites
    • Fr. Cedric Pisegna, CP, Live with Passion!
    • Passionist Alumni Association
      • Reunions
      • 2019 Passionist Alumni Reunion
      • Welcome
      • Letter from the Provincial
        • These Men We Call Our Brothers
      • Mission Statement
      • CrossRoads Bulletin
      • Alumni Enrollment Form
        • Alumni Survey
      • Reunion Photo Gallery
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Monthly Giving
    • Leave a Legacy
      • Giving Matters
      • Ways to Give
      • Donor Relations
      • Testimonials
    • Prayer and Seasonal Cards
    • Privacy Policy Statement
  • Learn
    • Our Founder
    • History
    • The Letters of St. Paul of the Cross
    • The Diary of St. Paul of the Cross
    • Mission and Charism
    • Saints and Blesseds
    • FAQs
    • Find a Passionist
    • STUDIES IN PASSIONIST HISTORY AND SPIRITUALITY
  • Safe Environments

Daily Scripture, March 9, 2020

Scripture:

Daniel 9:4b-10
Luke 6:36-38

Reflection:

The Week of Good Works

We can see a difference in the book of readings during Lent. Each day there is a particular gospel with its complimentary first reading. The readings are selected to guide us during the Lenten season. This is different from ordinary time when we progress each day through the gospel and book chosen for the first reading. There we are using the system of ‘consecutive readings’.

Although the readings may seem to jump around, we have the wonderful ability to see patterns emerge, to relate God’s word each day to the Lenten season and allow it to enlighten and enrich us. Like waves on a body of water, there is a harmony as each moves along, quietly yet powerfully, picking us up, showing us the depths, at times giving us a commanding view.

In Lent, we do battle with the tempter of our human nature. We are fighting to live fully our Christian lives. We are armed with the weapons of prayer, fasting and good works. The readings of the first week of Lent were about prayer, now, this second week, we turn to good works.

We are to be compassionate. We are not to judge or condemn, but to forgive. And we are to give, to be directed outward, to share and enrich others with what we have been given.

The Book of Daniel tells us, “But yours, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!” Indeed this is the most positive and important line in our reading today. The setting of the Book of Daniel, its stories and hero Daniel are about trust in God during the most difficult time of the Babylonian defeat and persecution of Israel. However, the book was written 300 years later when the Greeks overran the Holy Land and brought great persecution against Israel in the time of the Maccabees. The faith of Daniel in God amidst great suffering gave its readers hope and perseverance.

Our reading of Daniel is a great lament. We have rebelled and not listened at all to God’s life-giving laws. So we begin to consider our good works of lent rather humbly. We may feel at the bottom of the wave, becoming aware of our failures in this area more than how good our works have been. But in the sorrow that arises within us we know Our God who is compassion and forgiveness. He sets us on sure ground. What better way to begin this week than remembering God’s compassion and forgiveness? We humbly realize that God gives to us generously. May we undertake our good works, imitating the God who gives generously to us, our God who is compassionate and forgiving.


Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.

Footer

Facebook Feed

Support the Passionists

Contact the Passionists

The Passionists of Holy Cross Province
660 Busse Highway | Park Ridge, IL 60068
Tel: 847.518.8844 | Toll-free: 800.295.9048 | Fax: 847.518.0461
Safe Environments | Board Member Portal | Copyright © 2021 | Log in