THURsday  09 MARCH

SAINT FRANCES OF ROME

She was born in Rome in 1384 and was married at the age of 13. She distributed gifts to the poor and ministered to the sick. After her husband’s death she retired to a convent she had founded.

Entrance Antiphon: Cf. Ps 138: 23-24

Test me, O God, and know my thoughts. See that my path is not wicked, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Collect

O God, who delight in innocence and restore it, direct the hearts of your servants to yourself, That, caught up in the fire of your Spirit, we may be found steadfast in faith and effective in works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

First reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10

The Lord says this: “A curse on the man who puts his trust in man, who relies on things of flesh, whose heart turns from the Lord. He is like dry scrub in the wastelands: if good comes, he has no eyes for it, he settles in the parched places of the wilderness, a salt land, uninhabited. A blessing on the man who puts his trust in the Lord, with the Lord for his hope. He is like a tree by the waterside that thrusts its roots to the stream: When the heat comes it feels no alarm, its foliage stays green; It has no worries in a year of drought, and never ceases to bear fruit. The heart is more devious than any other thing, perverse too: who can pierce its secrets? I, the Lord, search to the heart, I probe the loins, to give each man what his conduct and his actions deserve.”

Psalm 1:1-4,6

R/Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.

He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; And all that he does shall prosper.

Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind. For the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Gospel Acclamation: Lk 15: 18

Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.’ Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

Gospel: Luke 16: 19-31

Jesus said to the Pharisees, “There was a rich man who used to dress in purple and fine linen and feast magnificently every day. And at his gate there lay a poor man called Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to fill himself with the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even came and licked his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his bosom. So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ ‘My son,’ Abraham replied, ‘remember that during your life good things came your way, just as bad things came the way of Lazarus. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to stop anyone, if he wanted to, crossing from our side to yours, and to stop any crossing from your side to ours.’ ‘The rich man replied, ‘Father, I beg you then to send Lazarus to my father’s house, since I have five brothers, to give them warning so that they do not come to this place of torment too.’ ‘They have Moses and the prophets,’ said Abraham, ‘let them listen to them.’ ‘Ah no, father Abraham,’ said the rich man, ‘but if someone comes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they will not listen either to Moses or to the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Prayer over the Offerings

By this present sacrifice, we pray, O Lord, sanctify our observance, that what Lenten discipline outwardly declares, it may inwardly bring about. Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon: Ps 118: 1

Blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord.

Prayer after Communion

May this sacrifice, O God, remain active in its effects and work ever more strongly within us. Through Christ our Lord.

Prayer over the People

Abide with your servants, O Lord, who implore the help of your grace, that they may receive from you the support and guidance of your protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Meditation

In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus challenges and invites us to practice charity. The problem of the rich and the poor is a living reality in our societies and in our families, and a major challenge to us all. Faced with so much inequality and injustice, we must ask ourselves why our humanity is going so badly. And today’s Gospel makes us understand that the world is like this because man has shut himself away from charity. If there are many “Lazarus” in the world and in our families today, it is because we, the rich of this time, refuse to share. Each of us has received freely from the Lord; a gift, a talent or a special faculty to put to the service of all. Every time we close our eyes to the sufferings of others, we are lacking in charity. We must practice it today because tomorrow it will be too late.