Warning! Long readings at Mass this weekend!!!

Dear Folks,

Every year I hear folks comment that they wished they had been warned about the long Gospel readings that they were going to “have to” hear. Well, here is your warning. This weekend most of us will hear the story from St. John’s gospel about the adulterous woman at the well whom Jesus accepts and forgives. Next week the Gospel is about the blind man, Bartimaeus, whom Jesus heals. On the fifth weekend of Lent we will hear of Jesus Raising Lazarus from the dead. And on Palm Sunday we will walk through St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ Passion. So, put your seat belts and your ears of faith on and prepare for a possibly life altering ride.


The question for me each year is how I listen better to the now familiar stories. The answer is preparation. With these stories especially it is always important to read and pray over them a few times before we encounter them at Mass on the weekend. It would be easy to take a look at what we are about to hear and then discount it by saying, “Oh! It’s the woman at the well again. I know what that one is about.” When we do that we do the scriptures and ourselves a huge disservice.

Some of the good news about any scripture passage is that it is always alive. Sometimes by praying over these holy words they do remind us of things God wants us to recall and live more fervently. But most of the time, if we give the Holy Spirit a little time and space, God makes us hear something brand new in the Word.

So, I invite you do practice praying the Word of God that you are going to hear over the next few weeks. In fact I invite you to stretch that practice out through Holy Week and Easter. I promise you that, if you give the Holy Spirit some time and space to pray the scriptures before you hear them at Mass, you will have a newer and more profound appreciation for this season of Lent.

Paz,
Fr. Chuck