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Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – March 6, 2024

Bishop’s Reflections

March 6, 2024

Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Click HERE for the readings.

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent – March 6, 2024

In the Book of Deuteronomy, God tells the people of ancient Israel:

“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children's children."

The memories of the Israelite people are still important to them today. They remember how God promised that Abraham would be the father of a great nation: theirs. They remember the time when their people were enslaved in Egypt, and how God saved them by the hand of Moses. They remember the laws that God gave to them on Mount Sinai – all ten of them. And they remember their wandering in the desert for 40 years until Joshua brought them into the Promised Land of Israel.

They remember the goodness of God’s favor to them.

As Christians, we have been grafted onto the history of the Israelite family. Their history of the Exodus is now our history. Their wanderings are our wanderings. The favor of God in their lives is now ours too.

But we have added to their memory. For we also remember that Jesus was the one sent by God to release us from our slavery to sin and remedy our death. We remember his virgin birth in Bethlehem and his baptism in the Jordan. We remember his teaching and his law of love. We remember his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. We recall his ascension into Heaven and his promise to return to us.

And we remember that on the night before he died for us, he took bread, blessed, and broke it and gave it to us with the words, “This is my Body, which is broken for you.” And in the same way he took the cup of wine and said, “This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be shed for you.” And he made clear what we should do from then on: “Do this in memory of me.”

So, whenever we begin to forget God’s love for us, we need to remember the stories of God’s love again. At every Mass we remember God’s love for us as Jesus died to set us free. But not only at Mass do we remember God’s love. We also recall it every time we begin a prayer with the sign of the cross over our bodies and over our entire lives, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” May we never forget what God has done for us in Christ Jesus, Our Lord. He died for us sinners on the cross – and gave new life to us in his triumphant Resurrection, which one day will be our own Resurrection from the dead.

Let us teach this to our children and our children’s children.

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