5 MARCH – TUESDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

Lesson – 4 Kings iv. 1‒7

In those days, a certain woman cried to Eliseus, saying: “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that your servant was one that feared God, and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sous to serve him.”And Eliseus said to her: “What will you have me do for you? Tell me what have you in your house?” And she answered: “I your handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil to anoint me.” And he said to her: “Go, borrow of all your neighbours empty vessels not a few. And go in, and shut your door, when you are within, with your sons, and pour out thereof into all those vessels, and when they are full take them away.” So the woman went, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons. They brought her the vessels and she poured in. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: “Bring me yet a vessel.” And he answered: “I have no more.” And the oil stood, and she came and told the man of God. And he said: “Go, sell the oil, and pay the creditor, and you and your sons live of the rest.”

Thanks be to God.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

It is not difficult to unravel the mystery of this day’s Lesson. Man’s creditor is Satan. Our sins have made him so. “Go,” says the Prophet, “and pay the creditor.” But how is this to be done? —We will obtain the pardon of our sins by works of mercy, of which oil is the symbol. Blessed are the merciful, for they will obtain mercy (Matthew v. 7). Let us, then, during these days of salvation, secure our reconciliation and forgiveness by doing all we can to assist our brethren who are in want. Let us join alms-deeds to our fasting, and practise works of mercy. Thus will we touch the heart of our Heavenly Father. Putting our debts into His hands, we will take away from Satan all the claims he had upon us. Let us learn a lesson from this woman. She lets no one see her as she fill the vessels with oil. Let us also shut the door when we do good, so that our left hand will know not what our right hand does (Matthew vi. 3). Take notice, too, that the woman goes on pouring out the oil as long as she has vessels to hold it. So our mercy towards our neighbours must be proportionate to our means. The extent of these means is known to God, and He will not have us fall short of the power He has given us for doing good. Let us, then, be liberal in our alms during this holy Season. Let us make the resolution to be so at all times. When our material resources are exhausted, let us be merciful in desire, by interceding with those who are able to give, and by praying to God to help the suffering and the poor.

Gospel – Matthew xviii. 15‒22

At that time, Jesus said to His disciples: “If your brother offends against you, go and rebuke him between you and him alone. If he hears you, you will gain your brother. But if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them, tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatever you will bind on earth will be bound also in Heaven, and whatever you will loose on earth will be loosed also in Heaven. Again, I say to you, that if two of you will consent on earth concerning anything whatever they will ask, it will be done to them by my Father, who is in Heaven, for where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Then came Peter to Him and said: “Lord, how often will my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?” Jesus said to him: “I say not to you, till seven times, but till seventy times seven times.”

Praise be to you, O Christ.

Dom Prosper Guéranger:

The mercy which God commands us to show to our fellow-creatures does not consist only in corporal and spiritual alms-deeds to the poor and the suffering. It includes, moreover, the pardon and forgetfulness of injuries. This is the test by which God proves the sincerity of our conversion: With the same measure that you will mete withal, it will be measured to you again (Luke vi. 38). If we, from our hearts, pardon our enemies, our Heavenly Father will unreservedly pardon us. These are the days when we are hoping to be reconciled with our God. Let us do all we can to gain our brother, and for this end, pardon him, if needs be, seventy times seven times.

Surely, we are not going to allow the miserable quarrels of our earthly pilgrimage to make us lose heaven! Therefore, let us forgive insults and injuries, and thus imitate our God Himself, who is ever forgiving us. But how grand are these other words of our Gospel: Whatever you will loose on earth will be loosed also in Heaven! Oh! the hope, and joy they bring to our hearts! How countless is the number of sinners, who are soon to feel the truth of this consoling promise! They will confess their sins and offer to God the homage of a contrite and humble heart, and, at the very moment that the hand of the Priest will loosen them on earth, the hand of God will loosen them from the bonds which held them as victims to eternal punishment.

And lastly, let us not pass by unnoticed this other sentence, which has a close relation with the one we have just alluded to: If a man hears not the Church, let him be to you as a heathen and publican. What is this Church? Men, to whom Jesus Christ said: “He that hears, you hear me, and he that despises you, despises me” (Luke x. 16). Men, from whose lips comes to the world the truth without which there is no salvation: Men, who are the only ones on earth who have power to reconcile the sinner with his God, save him from the Hell he has deserved, and open to him the gates of Heaven. Can we be surprised, after this, that our Saviour — who would have these men to be His instruments, and as it were, the communication between Himself and mankind — should treat as a heathen, as one that has never received Baptism, him that refuses to acknowledge their authority? There is no revealed truth except through their teaching. There is no salvation except through the Sacraments which they administer. There is no hoping in Christ Jesus except where there is submission to the spiritual laws which they promulgate.