29 March 2025 (Saturday) / Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent / Lenten Weekday.

29 March 2025 (Saturday)

Saturday of the 3rd week of Lent.

Lenten Weekday.

First Reading: Hosea 6: 1-6

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 51: 3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab

Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8

Gospel: Luke 18: 9-14

First Reading : Hosea 5:15‐6:6

The Lord says this:

They will search for me in their misery.

‘Come, let us return to the Lord.

He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us;

he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds; after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence. Let us set ourselves to know the Lord; that he will come is as certain as the dawn: his judgement will rise like the light, he will come to us as showers come, like spring rains watering the earth.’ What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah?This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly disappears. This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets, why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth, since what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 50(51):3‐4,18‐21

What I want is love, not sacrifice. 

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness. In your compassion blot out my offence. O wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

For in sacrifice you take no delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

In your goodness, show favour to Zion: rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will be pleased with lawful sacrifice, burnt offerings wholly consumed.

What I want is love, not sacrifice.

Second Reading :

There is no Second Reading.

Verse Before the Gospel: Psalms 95: 8

8 If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

(1. Come, let us cry out with joy to Yahweh, acclaim the rock of our salvation.

2. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, acclaim him with music.

3. For Yahweh is a great God, a king greater than all the gods.

4. In his power are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are his;

5. the sea belongs to him, for he made it, and the dry land, moulded by his hands.

6. Come, let us bow low and do reverence; kneel before Yahweh who made us!

7. For he is our God, and we the people of his sheepfold, the flock of his hand. If only you would listen to him today!

8. Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as at the time of Massah in the desert,

9. when your ancestors challenged me, put me to the test, and saw what I could do!

10. For forty years that generation sickened me, and I said, 'Always fickle hearts; they cannot grasp my ways.'

11.Then in my anger I swore they would never enter my place of rest).

Gospel : Luke 18:9‐14

Jesus spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’

Words of the Holy Father:

The parable lies between two movements, expressed by two verbs: to ascend  and to descend. The first movement is to ascend. Indeed, the text begins by saying: “Two people went up into the temple to pray” (v. 10). This aspect recalls many episodes in the Bible, where in order to encounter the Lord, one goes up to the mountain of his presence (…). But in order to live the encounter with him and be transformed by prayer, to rise up to God, a second movement is necessary: to descend. Why? What does this mean? In order to ascend towards him, we must descend within ourselves: to cultivate the sincerity and humility of the heart that give us an honest outlook on our frailties and our inner poverty. (…) It will be he who raises us up, not us. The more we descend with humility, the more God raises us up. (…) The Pharisee and the publican concern us closely. When we think of them, let us look at ourselves: let us confirm whether, in us, as in the Pharisee, there is the intimate presumption of being righteous (cf. v. 9) that leads us to despise others. It happens, for instance, when we seek compliments and always make a list of our own merits and good works, when we concern ourselves with how we appear rather than how we are, when we let ourselves be trapped by narcissism and exhibitionism. Let us beware of narcissism and exhibitionism, based on vainglory, that lead even us Christians, priests and bishops, always to have one word on our lips. Which word? “I”. (Angelus, 23 October 2022)

Santo Bertold, Rahib.

Santo Bertold dikenal sebagai seorang rahib. Bersama kawannya Brokard, Bertold bertapa di Gunung Karmel, Palestina dan mendirikan Ordo Karmel pada awal abad ke 13. Brokard sangat dihormati oleh orang Islam.

Santo Yonah dan Berijesu, Martir.

Martir adik-beradik ini disiksa hingga mati karena meneguhkan iman banyak orang Kristen di berbagai penjara Persia. Yonah ditindih dengan press sampai mati, sedangkan adiknya Berikjesu menemui ajalnya setelah dituangkan ter panas kedalam mulutnya. Keduanya tak gentar sedikitpun menghadapi siksaan yang ditimpakan atas mereka. Mereka bahkan bersyukur karena turut serta bersama Yesus dalam penderitaannya untuk menyelamatkan manusia.

Hari biasa Pekan III Prapaskah

Hos. 6:1-6; Mzm. 51:3-4,18-19,20-21ab; 

Luk. 18:9-14

Warna Liturgi Ungu

Hos 6:1 "Mari, kita akan berbalik kepada TUHAN, sebab Dialah yang telah menerkam dan yang akan menyembuhkan kita, yang telah memukul dan yang akan membalut kita.

Hos 6:2 Ia akan menghidupkan kita sesudah dua hari, pada hari yang ketiga Ia akan membangkitkan kita, dan kita akan hidup di hadapan-Nya.

Hos 6:3 Marilah kita mengenal dan berusaha sungguh-sungguh mengenal TUHAN; Ia pasti muncul seperti fajar, Ia akan datang kepada kita seperti hujan, seperti hujan pada akhir musim yang mengairi bumi."

Hos 6:4 Apakah yang akan Kulakukan kepadamu, hai Efraim? Apakah yang akan Kulakukan kepadamu, hai Yehuda? Kasih setiamu seperti kabut pagi, dan seperti embun yang hilang pagi-pagi benar.

Hos 6:5 Sebab itu Aku telah meremukkan mereka dengan perantaraan nabi-nabi, Aku telah membunuh mereka dengan perkataan mulut-Ku, dan hukum-Ku keluar seperti terang.

Hos 6:6 Sebab Aku menyukai kasih setia, dan bukan korban sembelihan, dan menyukai pengenalan akan Allah, lebih dari pada korban-korban bakaran.

Mzm 51:3 (51-5) Sebab aku sendiri sadar akan pelanggaranku, aku senantiasa bergumul dengan dosaku.

Mzm 51:4 (51-6) Terhadap Engkau, terhadap Engkau sajalah aku telah berdosa dan melakukan apa yang Kauanggap jahat, supaya ternyata Engkau adil dalam putusan-Mu, bersih dalam penghukuman-Mu.

Mzm 51:18 (51-20) Lakukanlah kebaikan kepada Sion menurut kerelaan hati-Mu bangunkanlah tembok-tembok Yerusalem!

Mzm 51:19 (51-21) Maka Engkau akan berkenan kepada korban yang benar, korban bakaran dan korban yang terbakar seluruhnya; maka orang akan mengorbankan lembu jantan di atas mezbah-Mu.

Luk 18:9 Dan kepada beberapa orang yang menganggap dirinya benar dan memandang rendah semua orang lain, Yesus mengatakan perumpamaan ini:

Luk 18:10  "Ada dua orang pergi ke Bait Allah untuk berdoa; yang seorang adalah Farisi dan yang lain pemungut cukai.

Luk 18:11  Orang Farisi itu berdiri dan berdoa dalam hatinya begini: Ya Allah, aku mengucap syukur kepada-Mu, karena aku tidak sama seperti semua orang lain, bukan perampok, bukan orang lalim, bukan pezinah dan bukan juga seperti pemungut cukai ini;

Luk 18:12  aku berpuasa dua kali seminggu, aku memberikan sepersepuluh dari segala penghasilanku.

Luk 18:13  Tetapi pemungut cukai itu berdiri jauh-jauh, bahkan ia tidak berani menengadah ke langit, melainkan ia memukul diri dan berkata: Ya Allah, kasihanilah aku orang berdosa ini.

Luk 18:14  Aku berkata kepadamu: Orang ini pulang ke rumahnya sebagai orang yang dibenarkan Allah dan orang lain itu tidak. Sebab barangsiapa meninggikan diri, ia akan direndahkan dan barangsiapa merendahkan diri, ia akan ditinggikan."

Prepared and updated by:

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Penampang, Sabah Malaysia.