March 11, 2007: Third Sunday of Lent

Back to Back Issues Page

March 11, 2007: Third Sunday of Lent
March 09, 2007

A Newsletter of My Catholic Tradition

To subscribe to the newsletter, please follow this link.

Towering Figures of the Old Testament

Abraham

Introduction

Abraham is regarded as the founding patriarch of the Israelites and is the great spiritual father of many peoples. He was brought by God from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan where he entered into a covenant to solely recognize Yahweh as supreme universal authority. In return, Abraham will be blessed through innumerable progeny. His life is narrated in the book of Genesis (chapters 11–25).

The Calling of Abram
When Terah is seventy years old, he becomes the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. Haran becomes the father of Lot. Haran dies before Terah in Ur of the Chadeans. Abram takes as his wife Sarai. Sarai is barren. Nahor takes as his wife Milcah.

Terah takes his son Abram and Abram’s wife Sarai, his grandson Lot and brings them out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan. They travel until they reach Haran, where they settle. Here Teran dies at the age of two hundred and five years.

The LORD commands Abram to leave the land of his father's house to a land that He will show him. The LORD promises that He will make of Abram a great nation. The LORD also promises that He will bless those who bless Abram and

Abraham called by God - by Guy Rowe

curse those who curse him.

So Abram, as the LORD directed him, leaves for the land of Canaan. He takes with him his wife Sarai, his brother's son Lot, and all that belonged to him and his household. When he arrives at the land of Canaan, Abram passes through the sacred place at Shechem, by the terebinth of Moreh. The Canaanites are then living in the land.

Then the LORD appears to Abram and says to him that He will give land of Canaan to his descendants. Abram builds an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him. From there he moves on to the hill country east of Bethel, and pitches his tent with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He builds an altar there to the LORD and invokes the LORD by name.

The Journey to and Departure from Egypt

Abraham and Sarah before Pharaoh by Comnenian Byzantine miniature painter

There is severe famine in the land so Abram proceeds to Egypt. When he is about to enter Egypt, knowing how beautiful a woman she is, he tells to his wife Sarai that if the Egyptians ask for her to tell them that he is her brother so that they will not kill him.

Indeed when Abram comes to Egypt, the Egyptians see how beautiful a woman Sarai is and they praise her to the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh orders her to his palace as his wife, which made Abram’s wealth grow. But the LORD strikes the Pharaoh and his household with severe plagues because of Abram's wife Sarai.

Upon learning that Sarai is the wife of Abram, the

Pharaoh confronts Abram, and eventually he sends him out of Egypt, with his wife and all that belonged to him.

Abram then leaves Egypt to Negeb with his wife and his nephew Lot, and with all his possessions, livestock and riches. He goes through the same route he used when he came to Egypt, passing through the land where he had first built the altar and where he invoked the LORD by name.

Lot Separates from Abram

Lot also has at this time his own flocks, herds and tents, so that the land could not support them if they stay together. Quarrels develop between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and those of Lot's. At this time the Canaanites and the Perizzites are occupying the land.

So Abram asks Lot to separate from him. Lot observes how lush and fertile the whole plain of Jordan is so he chooses to go to the plain of Jordan. Lot settles among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom. (This is before the LORD had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) Now the inhabitants of Sodom are very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.

After Lot leaves, the LORD tells Abram to look about him, and from where he is, gaze to the north

Abram Makes Lot Choose

and south, east and west; all the land that he sees the LORD will give to him and his descendants forever.

Abram moves his tents and goes on to settle near the terebinth of Mamre, which is at Hebron. He builds an altar to the LORD.

The Vision of Slavery

The Great Sphinx of Giza with Khafre's pyramid

After this the LORD appears to Abram in a vision telling him that his reward will be great. But Abram says to the LORD that what good will His gifts be, if he is childless and have as his heir Eliezer the servant of his house.

The LORD assures Abram the he will have his own heir and his descendants will be as countless as the stars in the sky. The LORD then tells Abram to offer a sacrifice on the altar. As the sun is about to set a trance falls upon Abram and a deep and terrifying darkness envelopes him.

Then the LORD tells Abram that his descendants shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years in a land not their own. But the LORD will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and in the end they will depart with great wealth.

The LORD tells Abram that he shall join his forefathers in peace, and that Abram will be buried at a contented old age. In the fourth generation the others shall come back here; the wickedness of the Amorites will not have reached its full measure until then.

When the sun sets there is a dark mist. A smoking furnace and a lamp of fire appear. Now, the LORD makes a covenant with Abram, and says that to Abram’s descendants He gives this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River (the Euphrates), the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

The Birth Ishmael

Ten years after they arrive in the land of Canaan, Abram's wife Sarai, who is barren, in keeping with the laws of the time offers her servant, an Egyptian named Hagar, to Abram so perhaps she can have sons through her.

Abram heeds Sarai's request. But when Hagar becomes pregnant, she starts looking on her mistress with disdain. Sarai tells Abram that he is responsible for this outrage against her. Abram tells Sarai that she can do to her as she pleases. Sarai then abuses her and Hagar runs away.

The LORD'S messenger finds her by a spring in the wilderness, the spring on the road to Shur. The LORD'S messenger tells her to go back to her mistress. LORD'S messenger tells her that she will give birth to a son, whom she will call Ishmael. He says that he shall be a wild man; his hand will be against all men, and all men’s hands against him. LORD'S messenger adds that he shall pitch his tents over against all his brethren.

Hagar bears Abram a son, and Abram names him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Ishmael is born.

The Covenant

When Abram is ninety-nine years old, the LORD appears to him. The LORD tells Abram to walk in His presence and be blameless. Abram falls and prostrates himself. The LORD continues to tell him that His covenant with him is that Abram will become the father of many nations. The LORD tells him that he will no longer be called Abram but his name shall be Abraham. The LORD promises Abraham that He will make nations of him and that kings shall stem from him.

The LORD tells Abraham that he will maintain His everlasting covenant with him and his descendants after him throughout the ages, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him. The LORD promises that He will give to Abraham and to his descendants the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession, where he is currently living.

In return, the LORD tells Abraham that he and his descendants must keep His covenant throughout the ages. The LORD also tells Abraham that he and his descendants must have every male be circumcised as the mark of the covenant. The LORD tells Abraham that every male when he is eight days old, shall be circumcised, including all the servants. A male who is uncircumcised will have broken His covenant.

The Promise of the Birth of Isaac

Abraham Promised a Son by Provost Jan

The LORD further says to Abraham that his wife Sarai shall be called Sarah, and he will have a son by her. The LORD also says that from his son, nations will rise, and rulers of peoples shall come from his descendants.

Abraham laughs and says to himself how a child can be born to a man who is a hundred years old or how Sarah can give birth at ninety. God replies that his wife Sarah will bear him a son, and he shall call him Isaac.

Then Abraham says to God to let Ishmael live on by His favor, which the LORD grants. The LORD says that Ishmael shall become the father of twelve chieftains, and He will make of him a great nation. But the LORD continues that His covenant will only be with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to Abraham by this time next year.

When the LORD finishes speaking He departs from Abraham. Then Abraham circumcises his son Ishmael and every male members of his household and all his servants, as God had told him to do. Abraham is ninety-nine years old then and his son Ishmael was thirteen years.

The LORD Visits Abraham

The LORD appears to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sits in the entrance of his tent. Looking up, he sees three men standing nearby, so he runs from the entrance of the tent to greet them. Bowing to the ground, Abraham asks them to stay and rest.

Abraham rushes into the tent and tells Sarah to bake rolls from fine flour. He runs to the herd, picks out a tender, choice steer, and gives it to a servant, who quickly prepares it. Then he sets the steer that had been prepared as well as some curds and milk, before them. He waits

Abraham with Three Heavenly Strangers

on them under the tree while they eat.

The Birth of Isaac

Then the LORD tells Abraham that about this time next year He will return and Sarah will then have a son. Sarah who is listening at the entrance of the tent, laughs because she is now old had stopped having her womanly periods.

The LORD assures Abraham that nothing is too marvelous for the LORD to do.

As the LORD had promised Sarah becomes pregnant and bears Abraham a son when he is a hundred years old. Abraham names his son Isaac. When Isaac is eight days old, Abraham circumcises him, as God had commanded.

To read more of the Story of Abraham, please go this this link.

Read more about this towering figure of the Old Testament.

The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch (The Navarre Bible: Old Testament) This volume helps you make the first five books of the Old Testament a vital part of your spiritual reading and practical growth in the Christian life. It contains the full English and Latin texts of these books, along with extensive and faithfully Catholic commentaries. Like other volumes in the world-renowned Navarre Bible series, these commentaries draw on Church

documents, the exegesis of Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and the works of contemporary spiritual writers — particularly St. Josemaría Escrivá, who initiated the Navarre Bible project.

The Sunday Readings

March 11, 2007: The Third Sunday of Lent

First Reading From the Book of Genesis:

Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to Moses in fire flaming out of a bush.

As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned."

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!"

He answered, "Here I am."

God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."

Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering.

Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians
and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey."

Moses said to God, "But when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?"

God replied, "I am who am."

Then he added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you."

God spoke further to Moses, "Thus shall you 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; thus am I to be remembered through all generations."

Responsorial From the Book of Psalms:

Ps 103: 1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 11

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills,
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

R. The Lord is kind and merciful.

Second Reading From the Letter to the Romans:

1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.

All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ.

Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.

These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did.

Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer.

These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come.

Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.

Notes:

Paul embarks unexpectedly upon a panoramic survey of the events of the Exodus period. The privileges of Israel in the wilderness are described in terms that apply strictly only to the realities of the new covenant ("baptism," "spiritual food and drink"); interpreted in this way they point forward to the Christian experience (1 Cor 10:1-4). But those privileges did not guarantee God's permanent pleasure (1 Cor 10:5).

A spiritual rock that followed them: the Torah speaks only about a rock from which water issued, but rabbinic legend amplified this into a spring that followed the Israelites throughout their migration. Paul uses this legend as a literary type: he makes the rock itself accompany the Israelites, and he gives it a spiritual sense. The rock was the Christ: in the Old Testament, Yahweh is the Rock of his people (cf Deut 32, Moses' song to Yahweh the Rock). Paul now applies this image to the Christ, the source of the living water, the true Rock that accompanied Israel, guiding their experiences in the desert.

From the Gospel of Luke:

Lk 13:1-9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.

Jesus said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?

By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?

By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!"

And he told them this parable: "There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?'

He said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'"

Notes:

The death of the Galileans at the hands of Pilate (Luke 13:1) and the accidental death of those on whom the tower fell (Luke 13:4) are presented by the Lucan Jesus as timely reminders of the need for all to repent, for the victims of these tragedies should not be considered outstanding sinners who were singled out for punishment.

The slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate is unknown outside Luke; but from what is known about Pilate from the Jewish historian Josephus, such a slaughter would be in keeping with the character of Pilate. Josephus reports that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim with a slaughter of the participants (Antiquities 18, 4, 1 #86-87), and that on another occasion Pilate had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (Jewish War 2, 9, 4 #175-77; Antiquities 18, 3, 2 #60-62).

Like the incident mentioned in Luke 13:1 nothing of this accident in Jerusalem is known outside Luke and the New Testament.

Following on the call to repentance in Luke 13:1-5, the parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance (see Luke 3:8). The parable may also be alluding to the delay of the end time, when punishment will be meted out, and the importance of preparing for the end of the age because the delay will not be permanent (Luke 13:8-9).

Coming Soon!

The Religious Squirrels

There were five country churches in a small TEXAS town: The Presbyterian Church , the Baptist Church , the Methodist Church , the Catholic Church, and the Jewish Synagogue. Each church was overrun with pesky squirrels.

One day, the Presbyterian Church called a meeting to decide what to do about the squirrels. After much prayer and consideration they Determined that the squirrels were predestined to be there and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will.

In The BAPTIST CHURCH the squirrels had taken up habitation in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a cover on the baptistery and drown the squirrels in it. The squirrels escaped somehow and there were twice as many there the next week.

The Methodist Church got together and decided that they were not in a position to harm any of God's creations. So, they humanely trapped the Squirrels and set them free a few miles outside of town. Three days later, the squirrels were back.

But -- The Catholic CHURCH came up with a most effective solution. They baptized the squirrels and registered them as members of the church.

Now they only see them on Christmas and Easter!

Not much was heard about the Jewish Synagogue, but rumor has it that they took one squirrel and had a short service with him called circumcision. And they haven't seen a squirrel on the property since!

Comments and Contributions are Most Welcome.

If you have any comments or contributions, please use the form in this link.

Our Engine

This newsletter and the website is powered by Site Build It! It really is a "Genie In A Box."

Don't forget to check out the Quick Tour Slide Show!

Want to try to win a free copy of the "Genie In A Box?" Click right here!

My Prayer Box Newsletter

My Prayer Box newsletter is published weekly and contains the readings for that Sunday. It has reflections, stories and reader contributions, prayers and news relevant to living a proud Catholic life.

The reader contributions include announcements, interesting articles, pictures and greetings. We also solicit news regarding activities and events your parishes that you might useful for others.

The newsletter has over 1000 subscribers.