Thursday after Ash Wednesday

“Christ Carrying the Cross”
by Jan Sanders van Hemessen, 1553

Readings for Thursday after Ash Wednesday [1]
 
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible [2]
 
Readings and Commentary:[3]
 
Reading I: Deuteronomy 30:15-20
 
Moses said to the people:
“Today I have set before you
life and prosperity, death and doom.
If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,
which I enjoin on you today,
loving him, and walking in his ways,
and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,
you will live and grow numerous,
and the LORD, your God,
will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,
but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
I tell you now that you will certainly perish;
you will not have a long life
on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:
I have set before you life and death,
the blessing and the curse.
Choose life, then,
that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,
heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.
For that will mean life for you,
a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore
he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
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Commentary on Dt 30:15-20
 
Moses is presenting the Law of the Lord to the Hebrew people whom he has led out of bondage in Egypt. He makes it clear that by following the Law, the body of which has been laid out in previous chapters of the book and detailed in Numbers and Leviticus, they will find favor in God’s eyes and they will prosper. If they disregard the law, they will find disfavor with God and will die out. He completes the ritualistic covenant phrasing by inviting them to choose life by following God’s law and statutes.
 
"The concluding exhortation (vv. 19-20) is particularly moving: 'choose life', loving the Lord, for 'that means life'. In the New Testament we find passages which echo the same ideas: 'I am the life,' our Lord will say (John 14:6); and St Paul: 'It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me' (Galatians 2:20); 'for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain' (Philippians 1:21)." [4]
 
CCC: Dt 30:15-20 1696; Dt 30:16 2057
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
 
R. (40:5a) Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
 
Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
 
He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
 
Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
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Commentary on Ps 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6
 
Psalm 1 serves as a preface to the whole book of the psalms. The psalmist here exalts those who follow the Lord’s commands, and reflects upon the blessings they will receive. As in Romans6:19ff, this selection emphasizes the contrast between the salvation of the just and the punishment of the wicked.
 
This wisdom psalm begins by extolling the virtue of those who follow the law. The focus is to look to God for guidance, and not to trust only in the counsel of men. Those who reject the law will be blown away like “chaff,” an image used in the Gospel as well (Matthew3:12).
 
This portion of the psalm is later echoed in Isaiah 48:17-19, like an overlapped formula of covenant.  Blessed is the man who “delights in the law day and night,” but “the way of the wicked vanishes.” It also takes up the theme of following right paths and staying true to the teachings of God: “Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night.”
 
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Gospel: Luke 9:22-25
 
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
Then he said to all,
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself
and take up his cross daily and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
What profit is there for one to gain the whole world
yet lose or forfeit himself?”
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Commentary on Lk 9:22-25
 
The Gospel takes up the theme of life and death as Jesus first informs his disciples that he will undergo his passion at the hands of the Jewish hierarchy and be raised. He then provides an invitation to life by contrasting, as Moses did in Deuteronomy30:15-20, the (spiritual) salvation brought about through faith, and the (eternal) death that awaits the faithless.
 
"Jesus prophesied His passion and death in order to help His disciples believe in Him. It also showed that He was freely accepting these sufferings He would undergo. 'Christ did not seek to be glorified: He chose to come without glory in order to undergo suffering; and you, who have been born without glory, do you wish to be glorified? The route you must take is the one Christ took. This means recognizing Him and it means imitating Him both in His ignominy and in His good repute; thus you will glory in the Cross, which was His path to glory. That was what Paul did, and therefore he gloried in saying, 'Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Galatians 6:14)' (St. Ambrose, "Expositio Evangelii Sec. Lucam, in loc.')." [5]
 
CCC; Lk 9:23 1435
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Reflection:
 
The initial lines from the reading from Deuteronomy feel like the Old Testament covenant formula.  If you follow the Lord faithfully, you will have life and all that God hopes for you.  If you don’t, you will be cursed and your life will be short and miserable.  This is an excellent example of the relationship between Israel and the “God of Justice” in the Old Testament.
 
The same sentiment is clearly echoed in the psalm, appropriately, Psalm 1.  Again we hear the covenant formula: blessed is the one who follows the Lord, and cursed the one who does not.
 
Contrast the Old Testament relationship with God to the New Covenant announced by Christ in the Gospel from Luke.  Jesus is the sacrifice that seals the covenant, in absolute obedience to God the Father. 
 
“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected
by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”
 
On day 39 of our Lenten countdown to Easter, we are given a reminder of our goal for the season.  It is given bluntly and without ambiguity.  We must, as our Savior says: “deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross daily and follow [him].”
 
What is denying oneself?  It is rejecting the animal instinct in ourselves that directs us to do only those things that feel good.  It is rejecting that feeling we all have that drives us to ignore the good, wellbeing, or safety of others, and do only what we feel is right for us.  If we can we can put others first as Christ did when he “picked up his cross,” then we are on the right track.
 
If we do as secular society seems to think is right, what is good for us, then we may have achieved secular success, but at what cost?  “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit himself?” (Luke 9:25)
 
Pax
 

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[1] The picture is “Christ Carrying the Cross” by Jan Sanders van Hemessen, 1553.

[2] S.S. Commemoratio

[3] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.

[4] The Navarre Bible, “Pentateuch,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 781.

[5] The Navarre Bible, “Gospels and Acts,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp. 410-11.