Taking pity on our neighbor as God has had pity on us

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:21-35.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, «Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?»
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."


Commentary of the day : Byzantine and Eastern liturgies for the Great Lent
Taking pity on our neighbor as God has had pity on us

O Lord and Master of my life,
give me not a spirit of sloth, vain curiosity,
lust for power and idle talk.
(Prostration)

But give to me, Thy servant,
a spirit of soberness, humility, patience and love.
(Prostration)

O Lord and King,
grant me to see my own faults
and not to condemn my brother:
for blessed art Thou to the ages of ages. Amen.
(Prostration. Then three times with a bow after each.)
O God, be merciful to me a sinner.
O God, cleanse me, a sinner.
O God, my Creator, save me
and for my many sins forgive me!

"Whoever humbles himself will be exalted"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 23:1-12.
Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens (hard to carry) and lay them on people's shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen. They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues,
greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.'
As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.
Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.
Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah.
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.


Commentary of the day : The Imitation of Christ
"Whoever humbles himself will be exalted"

Don't think it a matter of great importance whether So-and-so agrees with you or disagrees with you; act in such a way as to make sure, whatever you are doing, that God is on your side. As long as you have a clear conscience, God will keep you clear of harm ... Not a doubt of it, if you will make up your mind to suffer in silence, you will find that he comes to your aid; he knows just when and how to bring you deliver­ance; you have only to put yourself in his hands. How you are to get out of this or that difficulty, this or that embarrassing situation, is God's business, not yours.

After all, what harm can it do, other people knowing about your weaknesses and taxing you with them? Often it's the best possible thing for you; it helps to keep you humble.
If a man will only be humble about his own short­comings, how little it takes to disarm ill-feeling, how little it costs to put things right!

It's humble people God protects and preserves, God loves and comforts; he stoops down and gives his grace lavishly, raising the humble man to heights of glory, as soon as neglect has done its work. Such a man he chooses for his confidant, beckons to him gently and calls him apart.
Only a humble man takes it calmly when he is put to the blush; what does it matter? It is God, not the world, that gives him countenance.
Never think that you have made any progress, till you have learned to regard all men as your betters.

Saint Joseph's vocation

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 1:16.18-21.24.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.
Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.


Commentary of the day : Saint José Maria Escriva de Balaguer
Saint Joseph's vocation

For Saint Joseph the life of Jesus was a continuous discovery of his own vocation... His first years were full of apparently contradictory events: glorification and flight, the royal presence of the magi and the poverty of the crib, the song of the angels and the silence of men. When the time came to present the child in the Temple, Joseph, who brought the poor offering of a pair of turtle doves, witnessed Simeon and Anna proclaim Jesus to be the Christ: «The Child's father and mother were amazed at what was said about him,» Saint Luke says (2,33). And later on, when the Child remains in the Temple without either Mary or Joseph knowing about it, the same evangelist relates that «they were astonished» when they found him again three days later (2,48).

Joseph is taken aback, amazed. God reveals his designs to him little by little and he tries hard to grasp them. Like any soul who wants to follow Jesus closely, he discovers at once that it is not possible to move forward carelessly and that there is no place for mere routine. To stop on reaching a certain level and rest on one's laurels is not enough for God. He demands ever more from us and his ways are not our ways. Saint Joseph learned from Jesus, as no other has done, to open his soul and  heart and keep on the watch to recognise God's wonderful works.

But if Joseph learned from Jesus to live divinely yet, if I may say so, at the human level it was he who taught many things to the Son of God... Joseph took care of this Child as he had been commanded to do and he turned Jesus into a workman by passing on his trade to him... At the human level, Joseph was Jesus' teacher. Every day he surrounded him with tender affection; he cared for him with joyful self-denial. Isn't this one good reason for considering this just man (Mt 1,19), this holy patriarch in whom the faith of the Old Testament is brought to fulfilment, to be a teacher of the interior life?

"At the preaching of Jonah they repented"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11:29-32.
While still more people gathered in the crowd, Jesus said to them, «This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.
Just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
At the judgment the queen of the south will rise with the men of this generation and she will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and there is something greater than Solomon here.
At the judgment the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because at the preaching of Jonah they repented, and there is something greater than Jonah here.


Commentary of the day : Saint John Chrysostom
"At the preaching of Jonah they repented"

Let us beware of losing all hope, but let us also avoid giving in too easily to carelessness... Despair hinders those who have fallen from getting up again and carelessness causes those who are standing to fall... If presumption casts us down from the heights of heaven, despair casts us into the infinite depths of evil, whereas a little hope is enough to hold us back...

This is how Nineveh was saved. However, the divine judgement pronounced against the Ninevites was of a nature to throw them into confusion since it did not say: «If you repent you will be saved» but simply: «Three more days and Nineveh will be destroyed» (Jon 3,4). Nevertheless, neither the Lord's threat, nor the prophet's preaching, nor even the severity of the judgement... caused their confidence to fail. God wants us to draw a lesson from this unconditional judgement,that taught by this example we may resist despair as much as passivity... Besides, divine good will does not only reveal itself in the forgiveness granted to the repentant Ninevites...: the respite granted them attests likewise to his unutterable goodness. Do you imagine that three days would have been enough to wipe out so much wickedness? God's good will is breaking out from behind these words and, besides, isn't it the principal worker of the whole city's salvation?

Let this example keep us from despairing. For the devil thinks of this form of weakness as his most successful weapon and, even when we sin, we could not give him greater pleasure than when we lose hope.

"Then they will fast"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 9:14-15.
The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, «Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?»
Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.


Commentary of the day : Pope Benedict XVI
"Then they will fast"

In the New Testament, Jesus brings to light the profound motive for fasting...: «man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God» (Mt 4,4). The true fast is thus directed to eating the «true food,» which is to do the Father's will (cf. Jn 4,34). If, therefore, Adam disobeyed the Lord's command: «of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,» (Gn 2,17) the believer, through fasting, intends to submit himself humbly to God, trusting in His goodness and mercy...
In our own day, fasting seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well-being, a therapeutic value for the care of one's body. Fasting certainly bring benefits to physical well-being, but for believers, it is, in the first place, a «therapy» to heal all that prevents them from conformity to the will of God...

Through fasting and praying, we allow Christ to come and satisfy the deepest hunger that we experience in the depths of our being: the hunger and thirst for God. At the same time, fasting is an aid to open our eyes to the situation in which so many of our brothers and sisters live. In his First Letter, Saint John admonishes: «If anyone has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need, yet shuts up his bowels of compassion from him – how does the love of God abide in him?» (3,17). Voluntary fasting enables us to grow in the spirit of the Good Samaritan, who bends low and goes to the help of his suffering brother (Lk 10,29f.). By freely embracing an act of self-denial for the sake of another, we make a statement that our brother or sister in need is not a stranger. It is precisely to keep alive this welcoming and attentive attitude towards our brothers and sisters that I encourage the parishes and every other community to intensify in Lent the custom of private and communal fasts, joined to the reading of the Word of God, prayer and almsgiving. From the beginning, this has been the hallmark of the Christian community.

The way to Christ's glory

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint 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?


Commentary of the day : Saint Anastasius of Antioch
The way to Christ's glory

«Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes to be scourged, mocked and crucified» (cf. Mt 20,18). When he said this to his disciples Christ was making known those things that conformed to the predictions of the prophets, for they had foretold how his death would necessarily take place in Jerusalem.... We understand why God's Word, who under other circumstances was incapable of suffering, had to undergo the Passion, because humankind could not have been saved in any other way. He alone had known about it together with those to whom he had revealed it. Indeed, he knew everything that comes from the Father; this is how «the Spirit sees even to the depths of the divine mysteries» (cf. 1Cor 2,10).

«It was necessary for the Christ to suffer» (Lk 24,26): it was absolutely impossible that the Passion should not have happened, as he himself affirmed when he called «slow to believe» and «foolish» those who did not understand that the Christ had to suffer in this way to enter into his glory (Lk 24,25). For he came to save his people by forsaking «the glory he had with the Father before the world began» (Jn 17,5). This salvation consisted in the perfection to be fulfilled through his Passion and bestowed on the author of our life who, according to Saint Paul's teaching: «became the author our life when he attained perfection through his suffering» (cf. Heb 2,10).

Now we see how the glory of the only-begotten Son from which, for a while, he had been separated for our sake, was restored to him through the cross in the flesh he had assumed. Effectively, Saint John speaks of it in his gospel when he explains what that water was of which our Lord said that it would: «flow from within the believer's heart like rivers. He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit as yet because Jesus was not yet glorified» (Jn 7,38-39). What he called his glory was his death on the cross. Which is why, when our Lord prayed before undergoing crucifixion, he begged the Father to grant him that «glory he had with him before the foundation of the world».

Whose image is this?

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:13-17.
Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech.
They came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone's opinion. You do not regard a person's status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?"
Knowing their hypocrisy he said to them, "Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius to look at."
They brought one to him and he said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?" They replied to him, "Caesar's."
So Jesus said to them, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.' They were utterly amazed at him.


Commentary of the day : Tertullian
«Whose image is this? »

At the beginning of the world all things were made by the Word of God «and without him nothing came to be» (Jn 1,3). Now man, too, had his existence from the Word of God because of the principle that there should be nothing without that Word. «Let us make man,» God said before he created him, and added, «with our hand» to express his pre-eminence so that he might not be compared to the rest of creation. «And God,» says Scripture, «formed man» (Gn 2,7)...

»And God formed man from the clay of the earth.» He now became man who was hitherto clay... That poor, paltry material, clay, found its way into the hands of God, happy enough at being merely touched by them. But why this honor? Was it that, without any further labor, the clay had instantly assumed its form at the touch of God? The truth is, a great matter was in progress out of which the creature  under consideration was being fashioned. It is honoured whenever it experiences the hands of God, when it is touched by them, and pulled, and drawn out, and moulded into shape. Imagine God wholly absorbed in it: in his hand, his eye, his labor, his purpose, his wisdom, his providence and, above all, in his love, which was dictating the lineaments of this creature. For whatever was the form and expression given to the clay, Christ was in God's thoughts as one day to become man, because the Word, too, was to be both clay and flesh even as the earth was then.

This is the meaning of the Father's first words to his Son: «Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness» (Gn 1,26). God made man, the creature which he moulded and fashioned, in the image of God, in other words of Christ... Thus, that clay that was even then putting on the image of Christ who was to come in the flesh, was not only the work but the pledge and surety given by God.

He shouted all the louder

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:46-52.
They came to Jericho. And as he was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a sizable crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind man, the son of Timaeus, sat by the roadside begging.
On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, son of David, have pity on me."
And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he kept calling out all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me."
Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called the blind man, saying to him, "Take courage; get up, he is calling you."
He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?" The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you." Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.


Commentary of the day : Saint Gregory the Great
« He shouted all the louder»

If anyone recognizes the darkness of his blindness... let him cry with his whole mind, let him say: «Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!» But let us hear what happened when the blind man was crying out: «And the people ahead rebuked him, that he should be silent» (Lk 18,39). What is meant by 'the people ahead' as Jesus comes if not the crowds of bodily desires and the uproar caused by our vices? Before Jesus comes into our hearts they disturb our thoughts by tempting us, and they thoroughly muddle the words in our hearts as we pray. We often wish to be converted to the Lord when we have committed some wrong. When we try to pray earnestly against the wrongs we have committed, images of our sins come into our hearts. They obscure our inner vision, they disturb our minds and overwhelm the sound of our petition...

But let us hear what the blind man, still unenlightened, did. «But he cried out all the more: 'Son of David, have mercy on me'»... In proportion to the tumult of our unspiritual thoughts must be our eagerness to persist in prayer... It is surely necessary that the more harshly our heart's voice is repressed, the more firmly it must persist to overcome the uproar of forbidden thoughts and break in on our Lord's gracious ears by its intrepid perseverance. I believe that everyone observes what I am saying in himself, and herself. When we turn our minds from this world to God, when we are converted to the work of prayer, what we once enjoyed doing we later endure in our prayer as demanding and burdensome. Holy desire only with difficulty banishes the recollection of them from our hearts... But when we persist ardently in our prayer, we fix Jesus to our hearts as he passes by. Hence: «But Jesus stopped and ordered him to be brought to him» (v.40).