Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 17th February, 2024
Lent-Saturday after Ash Wednesday
Optional memorial of the Seven Founders of the Servite Order
The following of Christ implies a leaving behind of what causes unhappiness in our own lives
and that of others and calls us to the greater service of God.
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Isaiah 58: 9-14
Your light will rise in the darkness.
The Lord says this:
If you do away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word,
if you give your bread to the hungry, and relief to the oppressed,
your light will rise in the darkness, and your shadows become like noon.
The Lord will always guide you, giving you relief in desert places.
He will give strength to your bones and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water whose waters never run dry.
You will rebuild the ancient ruins, build up on the old foundations.
You will be called ‘Breach-mender’, ‘Restorer of ruined houses’.
If you refrain from trampling the sabbath, and doing business on the holy day,
if you call the sabbath ‘Delightful’, and the day sacred to the Lord ‘Honourable’,
if you honour it by abstaining from travel, from doing business and from gossip,
then shall you find your happiness in the Lord
and I will lead you triumphant over the heights of the land.
I will feed you on the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 85
Response Show me, Lord, your way so that I may walk in your truth.
1. Turn your ear, O Lord, and give answer for I am poor and needy.
Preserve my life, for I am faithful: save the servant who trusts in you. Response
2. You are my God, have mercy on me, Lord, for I cry to you all the day long.
Give joy to your servant, O Lord, for to you I lift up my soul. Response
3. O Lord, you are good and forgiving, full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my voice. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 94: 8
Glory and praise to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God
Harden not your hearts today but listen to the voice of the Lord
Glory and praise to you, O Christ! you are the Word of God
or Ezek 33:11
Glory and praise to you, O Christ! you are the Word of God
I take pleasure, not in the death of a wicked man, it is the Lord who speaks –
but in the turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life
Glory and praise to you, O Christ! you are the Word of God
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 5: 27-32 Glory to you, O Lord
I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.
Jesus noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house,
and said to him, ‘Follow me‘. And leaving everything he got up and followed him.
In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said,
‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?‘
Jesus said to them in reply,
‘It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Scripture Reflection Saturday after Ash Wednesday Luke 5:27-32
The opening words of today’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah suggests that if the people of Israel behave in certain ways, such as doing away with the yoke, the clenched fist, the wicked word, feeding the hungry, then the Lord will be their guide and will give them relief in desert places. Jesus’ ministry seems to have taken a different shape. He revealed God’s unconditional love to people before they changed for the better, thereby empowering them to become the person God was calling them to be.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus called Levi, a tax collector, before he gave up his tax collecting. Such people were very unpopular because the payments they exacted from others often included large contributions for themselves. Certainly, the religious leaders of the time regarded people like Levi as ‘sinners’. Yet, the Lord called Levi to become one of his intimate disciples, thereby empowering him to leave his lucrative trade and become a follower of the one who had nowhere to lay his head. In gratitude, Levi invited Jesus to be his guest at a meal at which other tax collectors were present. This was the kind of company Jesus loved to keep because he knew such people, who were marginalized because of their profession, needed to know that God was calling out to them in his love, inviting them and empowering them to live in ways that were more in keeping with his desire for them and that would be truly life-giving for them. Like a doctor, Jesus knew his place was among the broken in body, mind and spirit.
The risen Lord continues to relate to us all in the same way. He continues to pour his love, God’s unconditional love, into our hearts so that we are empowered to become the new creation God needs us to be, if God’s kingdom is to make a breakthrough into our world.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
