SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY - Gospel (Luke 5:27-32) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYvvxgL-JEI

“Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do.” (Lk 5:31)

FIRST READING - Is 58:9b-14

"If you lavish your food on the hungry, then your light shall rise in the darkness."

A reading from the Book of Isaiah

⁹ Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer,    

you shall cry for help, and he will say: “Here I am!”

If you remove the yoke from among you,    

the accusing finger, and malicious speech;

¹⁰ If you lavish your food on the hungry    

and satisfy the afflicted;Then your light shall rise in the darkness,    

and your gloom shall become like midday;

¹¹ Then the Lord will guide you always    

and satisfy your thirst in parched places,    

will give strength to your bones

And you shall be like a watered garden,    

like a flowing spring whose waters never fail.

¹² Your people shall rebuild the ancient ruins;    

the foundations from ages past you shall raise up;

“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,    

“Restorer of ruined dwellings.”

¹³ If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,    

from following your own pursuits on my holy day;

If you call the sabbath a delight,    

the Lord’s holy day glorious;

If you glorify it by not following your ways,    

seeking your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs—

¹⁴ Then you shall delight in the Lord,    

and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,    

for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 5:27-32

"I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

✠From the Gospel according to Luke

²⁷ After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And leaving everything behind,^[a] he got up and followed him. ²⁹ Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. ³⁰ The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY - Gospel (Luke 5:27-32)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear people of God,

In today's Word of God, God reveals to humanity that the purpose of Jesus’ coming to earth to become human, dying, and rising again is to save all mankind.

God's love for humanity is vast and infinite. He does not discriminate against any group of people; for in the sight of God, all humans are sinners; no one is righteous.

Today's Word of God states that Jesus comes to every group of people in the Church and society.

He calls and grants each person a different vocation, including sinners.

God places each person in a position to have the opportunity to repent and return to Him.

However, human hearts are full of arrogance, envy, and judgment; they consider themselves holy and righteous before God like the Pharisees and scribes in today’s Gospel, so their question contains discrimination: “Why does your Teacher eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”.

This question comes from the proud, who consider themselves righteous, holy, and sinless before God.

Therefore, Jesus taught them a lesson: He came into the world not to call the righteous, but to call sinners, to help the sick return to God. Jesus’ teaching for people of the past as well as the present is this:

• Acknowledge oneself as a sinner before God, recognize one’s faults, and repent before God in order to live with humility, love, and forgiveness.

• Learn and follow the example of Jesus by loving all people, without distinguishing between the holy and the sinful.

• Run to plead for God’s mercy: ask Him to have mercy on one’s soul, to heal and forgive one’s sins, so that one may repent and return to God, to obtain eternal happy life hereafter.

God always loves humanity; therefore, He always accompanies and teaches people in all places and at all times.

But today, people turn a deaf ear to God’s Word, following the pride of Satan: considering themselves holy and righteous; their hearts are always envious and judging others: distinguishing between the sinful and the holy.

God is not pleased when human hearts have such evil thoughts. Therefore, today, God wants all people to repent of their sins and wholeheartedly love and help their fellow human beings return to God, the Father rich in mercy.

Thanks be to God. Amen.