Letters From Home

Readings:
Joshua 5:9–12
Psalm 34:2–7
2 Corinthians 5:17–21
Luke 15:1–3, 11–32

In today’s First Reading, God forgives “the reproach” of the generations who grumbled against Him after the Exodus. On the threshold of the promised land, Israel can with a clean heart celebrate the Passover, the feast of God’s firstborn son (see Joshua 5:6–7; Exodus 4:22; 12:12–13).

Reconciliation is also at the heart of the story Jesus tells in today’s Gospel. The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of Israel and of the human race. But it is also the story of every believer.

In Baptism, we’re given a divine birthright, made “a new creation,” as Paul puts it in today’s Epistle. But when we sin, we’re like the Prodigal Son, quitting our Father’s house, squandering our inheritance in trying to live without Him.

Lost in sin, we cut ourselves off from the grace of sonship lavished upon us in Baptism. It is still possible for us to come to our senses, make our way back to the Father, as the prodigal does.

But only He can remove the reproach and restore the divine sonship we have spurned. Only He can free us from the slavery to sin that causes us—like the Prodigal Son—to see God not as our Father but as our master, One we serve as slaves.

God wants not slaves but children. Like the father in today’s Gospel, He longs to call each of us “My son,” to share His life with us, to tell us: “Everything I have is yours.”

The Father’s words of longing and compassion still come to His prodigal children in the Sacrament of Penance. This is part of what Paul today calls “the ministry of reconciliation” entrusted by Jesus to the Apostles and the Church.

Reconciled like Israel, we take our place at the table of the Eucharist, the homecoming banquet the Father calls for His lost sons, the new Passover we celebrate this side of heaven. We taste the goodness of the Lord, as we sing in today’s Psalm, rejoicing that we who were dead are found alive again.

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Saturday of the Third Week of Lent by Mr. Clement Harrold.

Lenten Weekday First Reading: Hosea 6: 1-6
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 51: 3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab
Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8
Gospel: Luke 18: 9-14

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord by Dr. John Bergsma.

ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD Solemnity, Day of abstinence from meat (age 14 and up) First Reading: Isaiah 7: 10-14; 8: 10
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 40: 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
Second Reading: Hebrews 10: 4-10
Verse Before the Gospel: John 1: 14ab
Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent by Dr. John Bergsma.

Lenten Weekday / Toribio de Mogrovejo, Bishop First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 147: 12-13, 15-16, 19-20
Verse Before the Gospel: John 6: 63c, 68c
Gospel: Matthew 5: 17-19

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent by Mr. Rob Corzine.

Lenten Weekday First Reading: Daniel 3: 25, 34-43
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 25: 4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
Verse Before the Gospel: Joel 2: 12-13
Gospel: Matthew 18: 21-35

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Monday of the Third Week of Lent by Dr. Scott Hahn. Lenten Weekday First Reading: Second Kings 5: 1-15
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 42: 2, 3; 43: 3, 4
Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 130: 5, 7
Gospel: Luke 4: 24-30

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Readings:
Exodus 3:1–8, 13–15
Psalm 103:1–4, 6–8, 11
1 Corinthians 10:1–6, 10–12
Luke 13:1–9

In the Church, we are made children of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God who makes known His name and His ways to Moses in today’s First Reading.

Mindful of His covenant with Abraham (see Exodus 2:24), God came down to rescue His people from the slave drivers of Egypt. Faithful to that same covenant (see Luke 1:54–55, 72–73), He sent Jesus to redeem all lives from destruction, as today’s Psalm tells us.

Paul says in today’s Epistle that God’s saving deeds in the Exodus were written down for the Church, intended as a prelude and foreshadowing of our own Baptism by water, our liberation from sin, our feeding with spiritual food and drink.

Yet the events of the Exodus were also given as a “warning”—that being children of Abraham is no guarantee that we will reach the promised land of our salvation.

At any moment, Jesus warns in today’s Gospel, we could perish, not as God’s punishment for being “greater sinners” but because, like the Israelites in the wilderness, we stumble into evil desires, fall into grumbling, forget all His benefits.

Jesus calls us today to “repentance”—not a one-time change of heart, but an ongoing, daily transformation of our lives. We’re called to live the life we sing about in today’s Psalm, blessing His holy name, giving thanks for His kindness and mercy.

The fig tree in His parable is a familiar Old Testament symbol for Israel (see Jeremiah 8:3; 24:1–10). As the fig tree is given one last season to produce fruit before it is cut down, so too Jesus is giving Israel one final opportunity to bear good fruits as evidence of its repentance (see Luke 3:8).

Lent should be for us like the season of reprieve given to the fig tree, a grace period in which we let “the gardener,” Christ, cultivate our hearts, uprooting what chokes the divine life in us, strengthening us to bear fruits that will last into eternity.

The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Saturday the Solemnity of St. Joseph by Mr. Clement Harrold.

JOSEPH, HUSBAND OF MARY Solemnity First Reading: Second Samuel 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 89: 2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29
Second Reading: Romans 4: 13, 16-18, 22
Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 84: 5
Gospel: Matthew 1: 16, 18-21, 24 or Luke 2: 41-51a

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Friday of the Second Week of Lent by Dr. John Bergsma.

Lenten Weekday / Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Doctor, Day of abstinence from meat (age 14 and up) First Reading: Genesis 37: 3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 105: 16-17, 18-19, 20-21
Verse Before the Gospel: John 3: 16
Gospel: Matthew 21: 33-43, 45-46

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The St. Paul Center's daily scripture reflections from the Mass for Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time by Dr. James Merrick.

Jer 17:5-10, Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6, 9, Lk 16:19-31

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