Texts taken from the Missal “On Your Word” March-April 2022

3rd Sunday of Lent (C)
3rd week, psalter

FIRST READING

From the Book of Exodus (Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15)
In those days, while Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, he led the flock beyond the desert and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold: the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Moses thought: “I will draw near to observe this great spectacle: why does the bush not burn?”. The Lord saw that he had drawn near to look; God called to him from the bush: “Moses, Moses!”. He answered: “Here I am!”. He continued: “Do not come any closer! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground!”. And he said: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob”. Moses then covered his face, because he was afraid to look toward God. The Lord said: “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters: I know their sufferings. I have come down to free them from the power of Egypt and to bring them up from that land to a beautiful and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey”. Moses said to God: “Behold, I am going to the Israelites and saying to them: ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’. They will say to me: ‘What is his name?’. And what shall I answer them?”. God said to Moses: “I am who I am!”. And he added: “Thus you shall say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you’”. God said again to Moses: “You shall say to the Israelites: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’. This is my name forever; this is the title by which I shall be remembered from generation to generation”. - The word of God.

Commentary on the first reading

To lead the people out of Egypt and free them from slavery, it is necessary that the name of the one who commands this undertaking be clear. Facing the difficulties of the escape and the journey through the desert toward the unknown with an entire people is no joke. Moses asks God to know his name, so that he can tell it to the people. Thus we come to know that God's name is “I am who I am”. From the moment God addresses this word to him, Moses relates differently to God, to the people, and to himself. He feels called by name and becomes aware of God's otherness and holiness. He is the creator of all things. We creatures thus discover that we possess what we have because someone else gave it to us. Even my breath does not belong to me: it comes from God. The things I possess I may have earned, but they nevertheless have their origin in God, the creator of all things. And when Jesus comes, repeating the divine name, he invites us to enter into him and share in his essence (“partakers of the divine nature”, says Saint Peter in the second letter [1:4]). For our soul, greater solidity than this is impossible.

SECOND READING

From the first letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12)
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank from a spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. But most of them were not pleasing to God, and therefore they were struck down in the desert. These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they desired them. Do not grumble, as some of them did, and they were struck down by the destroyer. All these things happened to them as examples, and they have been written for our admonition, upon whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing must be careful not to fall. - The word of God.

Commentary on the second reading

Although they witnessed continual and daily wonders in the desert, the Israelites did not believe in God and bowed down before other idols. The entire story of the exodus from Egypt and the journey is an extraordinary account of divine providence and charity, but it requires faith and complete surrender. That is not what happened: the Jews complained continually and wanted to return to Egypt. So that this may not happen to us as well, the apostle Paul gives us an original and bold interpretation of the symbol of the rock: Moses strikes the stone they carry with them with his staff, and from it comes all the water they want; well, that rock “is Christ”. In what way? Jesus is the living water that springs forth, refreshes us, and enables us to survive in the desert of the world. Moreover, this water comes from the rock, and there is nothing harder to scratch than the rock itself. Jesus is therefore stable like a stone, hard as granite, strong as a mountain, and at the same time, by merely touching him, he gives us rivers of living water. Can we be afraid on our earthly journey? No, if we have the rock, we are not afraid.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Luke (Lk 13:1-9)
At that time, some people came to report to Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. He addressed them and said: “Do you think that those Galileans were greater sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered such a fate? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than all the other inhabitants of Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way”. He also told this parable: “A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard and came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the gardener: ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, but have found none. Cut it down, then! Why should it exhaust the soil?’. But he answered him: ‘Master, leave it this year also, until I have dug around it and put in manure. We shall see if it bears fruit in the future; if not, you can cut it down’”. - The word of the Lord.

Commentary on the Gospel of the day

Lent is a time of conversion, and Jesus takes well-known news events from the people of that time as an opportunity to call them to a radical change of direction. Whenever someone dies violently or by accident, we are invited to recall life's fragility, the possibility that we too may die at any moment, to reflect on heavenly life and eternal damnation, and therefore to remain ever watchful. In this way, we do not stop at the sterile observation of fatality (the tower that collapsed on the people), nor do we take it out on the Pilate of the moment, who suppresses the revolt; instead, we transform events into messages of life. How difficult it is to see everything with God's eyes! Let us therefore not stop at the surface of events and human considerations: God's warnings, reminders, and invitations can reach us through the things that happen in the world. To see events with God's eyes and judge them rightly, Saint Paul says, we must “have the mind of Christ” (cf. 1 Cor 2:16), that is, live humbly and always in a state of grace. Let us not postpone this, because the Lord gives us additional time to dig and add manure, but it is nevertheless a short time.