6 March 2025 (Thursday) / Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

6 March 2025 (Thursday)

Thursday after Ash Wednesday.

First Reading: Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 1: 1-2, 3, 4 and 6

Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17

Gospel: Luke 9: 22-25

First Reading : 

Deuteronomy 30:15‐20

Moses said to the people: ‘See, today I set before you life and prosperity, death and disaster. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I enjoin on you today, if you love the Lord your God and follow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws, his customs, you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to make your own. But if your heart strays, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping other gods and serving them, I tell you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live, in the love of the Lord your God, obeying his voice, clinging to him; for in this your life consists, and on this depends your long stay in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob he would give them.’

Responsive Psalm : 

Psalm 1:1‐4,6

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Happy indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked; nor lingers in the way of sinners nor sits in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the Lord and who ponders his law day and night.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so! For they like winnowed chaff shall be driven away by the wind: for the Lord guards the way of the just but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Happy the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Second Reading :

There is no Second Reading.

Verse Before the Gospel: Matthew 4: 17

17 Repent, says the Lord; the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

(17. From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.')

Gospel : 

Luke 9:22‐25

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘The Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.’

Then to all he said:

‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross every day and follow me. For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, that man will save it. What gain, then, is it for a man to have won the whole world and to have lost or ruined his very self?’

Words of the Holy Father:

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (v. 24). In this way he indicates the way of the true disciple, showing two attitudes. The first is “to renounce oneself”, which does not mean a superficial change, but a conversion, a reversal of mentality and of values. The other attitude is that of taking up one’s own cross. It is not just a matter of patiently enduring daily tribulations, but of bearing with faith and responsibility that part of toil, and that part of suffering that the struggle against evil entails. The life of Christians is always a struggle. The Bible says that the life of Christians is a military undertaking: fighting against the evil spirit, fighting against Evil. Thus the task of “taking up the cross” becomes participating with Christ in the salvation of the world. Considering this, let us make sure that the cross hanging on the wall at home, or that little one that we wear around our neck, is a sign of our wish to be united with Christ in lovingly serving our brothers and sisters, especially the littlest and most fragile. The cross is the holy sign of God’s Love, it is a sign of Jesus’ Sacrifice, and is not to be reduced to a superstitious object or an ornamental necklace. Each time we fix our gaze on the image of Christ crucified, let us contemplate that he, as the true Servant of the Lord, has accomplished his mission, giving life, spilling his blood for the pardoning of sins. And let us not allow ourselves to be drawn to the other side by the temptation of the Evil One. Therefore, if we want to be his disciples, we are called to imitate him, expending our life unreservedly out of love of God and neighbour. (Angelus, 30 August 2020)

Santo Hesikios, Pengaku Iman.

Santo Hesikios, bertapa di gunung Maya, Turki. la terkenal namanya karena banyak mengerjakan tanda-tanda heran, berkuasa atas roh jahat dan binatang buas serta berhubungan erat dengan malaekat-malaekat.

Santo Fridolin, Pengaku Iman.

Santo Fridolin adalah seorang biarawan dan misionaris di Prancis, Jerman Selatan dan Swiss. la meninggal dunia pada tahun 540.

Santo Marsianus dari Konstantinopel, Imam.

Santo Marsianus berasal dari Konstantinopel (sekarang: Istambul, Turki), dan dikenal sebagai seorang imam. Hari kelahirannya tidak diketahui pasti. Pelayanannya lebih diarahkan kepada kaum fakir miskin. la sendiri menghayati hidup miskin itu sehingga ia bisa memberikan segala kepunyaannya kepada para miskin tanpa halangan batin yang berarti. Pelayanan karitatifnya kepada para miskin, ia tambahi dengan mengajari mereka tentang kebenaran-kebenaran iman Kristen.

Kehidupan rohaninya sungguh mendalam karena kebiasaannya berdoa, bertapa dan berpuasa. Oleh karena itu ia dibenci oleh para pengikut Novatianisme, sebuah aliran bidaah yang menyangkal pemberian ampun kepada orang-orang berdosa berat. la sangat berjasa dan dihargai dengan gelar 'Oikonomos', gelar tertinggi kedua dalam Gereja Yunani. Marsianus juga dikenal sebagai pendiri dan pembaharu banyak gedung gereja di Konstantinopel.

Hari Kamis sesudah Rabu Abu

Ul. 30:15-20; Mzm. 1:1-2,3,4,6; Luk. 9:22-25

Warna Liturgi Ungu

Ul 30:15  Ingatlah, aku menghadapkan kepadamu pada hari ini kehidupan dan keberuntungan, kematian dan kecelakaan,

Ul 30:16  karena pada hari ini aku memerintahkan kepadamu untuk mengasihi TUHAN, Allahmu, dengan hidup menurut jalan yang ditunjukkan-Nya dan berpegang pada perintah, ketetapan dan peraturan-Nya, supaya engkau hidup dan bertambah banyak dan diberkati oleh TUHAN, Allahmu, di negeri ke mana engkau masuk untuk mendudukinya.

Ul 30:17  Tetapi jika hatimu berpaling dan engkau tidak mau mendengar, bahkan engkau mau disesatkan untuk sujud menyembah kepada allah lain dan beribadah kepadanya,

Ul 30:18  maka aku memberitahukan kepadamu pada hari ini, bahwa pastilah kamu akan binasa; tidak akan lanjut umurmu di tanah, ke mana engkau pergi, menyeberangi sungai Yordan untuk mendudukinya.

Ul 30:19  Aku memanggil langit dan bumi menjadi saksi terhadap kamu pada hari ini: kepadamu kuperhadapkan kehidupan dan kematian, berkat dan kutuk. Pilihlah kehidupan, supaya engkau hidup, baik engkau maupun keturunanmu,

Ul 30:20  dengan mengasihi TUHAN, Allahmu, mendengarkan suara-Nya dan berpaut pada-Nya, sebab hal itu berarti hidupmu dan lanjut umurmu untuk tinggal di tanah yang dijanjikan TUHAN dengan sumpah kepada nenek moyangmu, yakni kepada Abraham, Ishak dan Yakub, untuk memberikannya kepada mereka."

Mzm 1:1 Berbahagialah orang yang tidak berjalan menurut nasihat orang fasik, yang tidak berdiri di jalan orang berdosa, dan yang tidak duduk dalam kumpulan pencemooh,

Mzm 1:2 tetapi yang kesukaannya ialah Taurat TUHAN, dan yang merenungkan Taurat itu siang dan malam.

Mzm 1:3 Ia seperti pohon, yang ditanam di tepi aliran air, yang menghasilkan buahnya pada musimnya, dan yang tidak layu daunnya; apa saja yang diperbuatnya berhasil.

Mzm 1:4 Bukan demikian orang fasik: mereka seperti sekam yang ditiupkan angin.

Mzm 1:6 sebab TUHAN mengenal jalan orang benar, tetapi jalan orang fasik menuju kebinasaan.

Luk 9:22 Dan Yesus berkata: "Anak Manusia harus menanggung banyak penderitaan dan ditolak oleh tua-tua, imam-imam kepala dan ahli-ahli Taurat, lalu dibunuh dan dibangkitkan pada hari ketiga."

Luk 9:23 Kata-Nya kepada mereka semua: "Setiap orang yang mau mengikut Aku, ia harus menyangkal dirinya, memikul salibnya setiap hari dan mengikut Aku.

Luk 9:24 Karena barangsiapa mau menyelamatkan nyawanya, ia akan kehilangan nyawanya; tetapi barangsiapa kehilangan nyawanya karena Aku, ia akan menyelamatkannya.

Luk 9:25 Apa gunanya seorang memperoleh seluruh dunia, tetapi ia membinasakan atau merugikan dirinya sendiri?

Prepared and updated by:

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Penampang, Sabah Malaysia.