PRAYER OF THE DAY
Saint Katharine Drexel Prayer
Ever loving God, you called Saint Katharine Drexel
to teach the message of the Gospel and
to bring the life of the Eucharist to
the Black and Native American peoples.
By her prayers and example,
enable us to work for justice
among the poor and oppressed.
Draw us all into the Eucharistic community
of your Church, that we may be one in you.
Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son, who lives and reigns with you and
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
DAILY MASS READINGS
Third Sunday of Lent
Reading 1
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, AMoses! 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 Psalm
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.
Reading 2
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.
Gospel
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.’”
SAINT OF THE DAY
March 3
March 3
St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955)
If your father is an international banker and you ride in a private railroad car,
you are not likely to be drawn into a life of voluntary poverty.
But if your mother opens your home to the poor three days each week
and your father spends half an hour each evening in prayer,
it is not impossible that you will devote your life to the poor and give away millions of dollars.
Katharine Drexel did that.
She was born in Philadelphia in 1858.
She had an excellent education and traveled widely.
As a rich girl, she had a grand debut into society.
But when she nursed her stepmother through a three-year terminal illness,
she saw that all the Drexel money could not buy safety from pain or death,
and her life took a profound turn.
She had always been interested in the plight of the Indians,
having been appalled by what she read in Helen Hunt Jackson’s A Century of Dishonor.
While on a European tour,
she met Pope Leo XIII and asked him to send more missionaries to Wyoming for her friend Bishop James O’Connor.
The pope replied,
“Why don’t you become a missionary?”
His answer shocked her into considering new possibilities.
Back home, Katharine visited the Dakotas,
met the Sioux leader Red Cloud and began her systematic aid to Indian missions.
She could easily have married. But after much discussion with Bishop O’Connor, she wrote in 1889,
“The feast of St. Joseph brought me the grace to give the remainder of my life to the Indians and the Colored.”
Newspaper headlines screamed “Gives Up Seven Million!”
After three and a half years of training, she and her first band of nuns
(Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored) opened a boarding school in Santa Fe.
A string of foundations followed. By 1942 she had a system of black Catholic schools in 13 states,
plus 40 mission centers and 23 rural schools.
Segregationists harassed her work, even burning a school in Pennsylvania.
In all, she established 50 missions for Indians in 16 states.
Two saints met when Katharine was advised by Mother Cabrini about the “politics”
of getting her Order’s Rule approved in Rome.
Her crowning achievement was the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans,
the first Catholic university in the United States for African Americans.
At 77, she suffered a heart attack and was forced to retire.
Apparently her life was over.
But now came almost 20 years of quiet, intense prayer from a small room overlooking the sanctuary.
Small notebooks and slips of paper record her various prayers, ceaseless aspirations and meditation.
She died at 96 and was canonized in 2000.
OFFICE OF READINGS
O Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth will proclaim your praise.
Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 23 (24)
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all who live in it.
He himself founded it upon the seas
and set it firm over the waters.
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
Who will climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who will stand in his holy place?
The one who is innocent of wrongdoing and pure of heart,
who has not given himself to vanities or sworn falsely.
He will receive the blessing of the Lord
and be justified by God his saviour.
This is the way of those who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of might and power.
The Lord, strong in battle.
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
Gates, raise your heads. Stand up, eternal doors,
and let the king of glory enter.
Who is the king of glory?
The Lord of hosts
– he is the king of glory.
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us.
Come, let us adore him.
Hymn
Forty days and forty nights
thou wast fasting in the wild
forty days and forty nights
tempted still, yet undefiled.
Shall not we thy sorrow share,
and from earthly joys abstain,
fasting with unceasing prayer,
strong with thee to suffer pain?
And if Satan, vexing sore,
flesh or spirit should assail,
thou, his vanquisher before,
grant we may not faint or fail.
So shall we have peace divine;
holier gladness ours shall be;
round us too shall angels shine,
such as ministered to thee.
Keep, O keep us, Saviour dear,
ever constant by thy side;
that with thee we may appear
at the eternal Eastertide.
Psalm 144 (145)
The greatness and goodness of God
I will bless you day after day, O Lord.
I will praise you to the heights, O God, my king –
I will bless your name for ever and for all time.
I will bless you, O God, day after day –
I will praise your name for ever and all time.
The Lord is great, to him all praise is due –
he is great beyond measuring.
Generation will pass to generation the praise of your deeds,
and tell the wonders you have done.
They will tell of your overwhelming power,
and pass on the tale of your greatness.
They will cry out the story of your great kindness,
they will celebrate your judgements.
The Lord takes pity, his heart is merciful,
he is patient and endlessly kind.
The Lord is gentle to all –
he shows his kindness to all his creation.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
I will bless you day after day, O Lord.
Psalm 144 (145)
Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom.
Let all your creatures proclaim you, O Lord,
let your chosen ones bless you.
Let them tell of the glory of your reign,
let them speak of your power –
so that the children of men may know what you can do,
see the glory of your kingdom and its greatness.
Your kingdom stands firm for all ages,
your rule lasts for ever and ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Your kingdom, Lord, is an everlasting kingdom.
Psalm 144 (145)
The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord is faithful in all his words,
the Lord is holy in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who are falling,
the Lord lifts up all who are oppressed.
All look to you for help,
and you give them their food in due season.
In your goodness you open your hand,
and give every creature its fill.
The Lord is just in all his ways,
the Lord is kind in all that he does.
The Lord is near to those who call on him,
to all those who call on him in truth.
For those that honour him,
he does what they ask,
he hears all their prayers,
and he keeps them safe.
The Lord keeps safe all who love him,
but he dooms all the wicked to destruction.
My mouth shall tell the praises of the Lord.
Let all flesh bless his holy name,
for ever and ever.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.
He was given the bread of life to eat
– and the water of wisdom to drink.
First Reading
Exodus 22:19-23:9
The Lord said to Moses:
“Anyone who sacrifices to other gods shall come under the ban.
“You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.
You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them,
they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry;
my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword,
your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans.
“If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you,
you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him.
“If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset.
It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in;
what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.
“You shall not revile God nor curse a ruler of your people.
“Do not be slow to make offering from the abundance of your threshing-floor and your winepress.
You must give me the first-born of your sons;
you must do the same with your flocks and herds.
The first-born must remain with its mother for seven days;
on the eighth day you must give it to me.
“You are to be men consecrated to me.
You must not eat the flesh of an animal that has been savaged by wild beasts;
you must throw it to the dogs.
“You must not make false assertions.
You must not support a guilty man by giving malicious evidence.
You must not take the side of the greater number in the cause of wrong-doing
nor side with the majority and give evidence in a lawsuit in defiance of justice;
nor in a lawsuit must you show partiality to the poor.
“If you come on your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you must lead it back to him.
If you see the donkey of a man who hates you fallen under its load,
instead of keeping out of his way, go to him to help him.
“You must not cheat any poor man of yours of his rights at law.
Keep out of trumped-up cases.
See that the man who is innocent and just is not done to death,
and do not acquit the guilty.
You must not accept a bribe,
for a bribe blinds clear-sighted men and is the ruin of the just man’s cause.
“You must not oppress the stranger; you know how a stranger feels,
for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.”
Responsory
Do justice for the weak and the orphan,
defend the afflicted and the needy.
Rescue the weak and the poor; set them free from the hand of the wicked.
Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world
to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom?
Rescue the weak and the poor;
set them free from the hand of the wicked.
Second Reading
From a treatise on John
by Saint Augustine, bishop
A Samaritan woman came to draw water
A woman came. She is a symbol of the Church not yet made righteous. Righteousness follows from the conversation.
She came in ignorance, she found Christ, and he enters into conversation with her.
Let us see what it is about, let us see why a Samaritan woman came to draw water.
The Samaritans did not form part of the Jewish people: they were foreigners. T
he fact that she came from a foreign people is part of the symbolic meaning,
for she is a symbol of the Church.
The Church was to come from the Gentiles, of a different race from the Jews.
We must then recognise ourselves in her words and in her person, and with her give our own thanks to God.
She was a symbol, not the reality; she foreshadowed the reality, and the reality came to be.
She found faith in Christ, who was using her as a symbol to teach us what was to come.
She came then to draw water.
She had simply come to draw water; in the normal way of man or woman.
Jesus says to her: Give me water to drink. For his disciples had gone to the city to buy food.
The Samaritan woman therefore says to him:
How is it that you, though a Jew, ask me for water to drink, though I am a Samaritan woman?
For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.
The Samaritans were foreigners; Jews never used their utensils.
The woman was carrying a pail for drawing water.
She was astonished that a Jew should ask her for a drink of water,
a thing that Jews would not do.
But the one who was asking for a drink of water was thirsting for her faith.
Listen now and learn who it is that asks for a drink.
Jesus answered her and said:
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,”
perhaps you might have asked him and he would have given you living water.
He asks for a drink, and he promises a drink. He is in need, as one hoping to receive,
yet he is rich, as one about to satisfy the thirst of others.
He says: If you knew the gift of God.
The gift of God is the Holy Spirit.
But he is still using veiled language as he speaks to the woman and gradually enters into her heart.
Or is he already teaching her?
What could be more gentle and kind than the encouragement he gives?
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you,
“Give me a drink,” perhaps you might ask and he would give you living water.
What is this water that he will give if not the water spoken of in Scripture:
With you is the fountain of life?
How can those feel thirst who will drink deeply from the abundance in your house?
He was promising the Holy Spirit in satisfying abundance.
She did not yet understand.
In her failure to grasp his meaning, what was her reply?
The woman says to him:
Master, give me this drink, so that I may feel no thirst or come here to draw water.
Her need forced her to this labour, her weakness shrank from it.
If only she could hear those words:
Come to me, all who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you.
Jesus was saying this to her,
so that her labours might be at an end;
but she was not yet able to understand.
Responsory
Jesus cried out,
If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!
Let the man come and drink who believes in me!
From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.
He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.
Anyone who drinks the water that I shall give will never be thirsty again.
He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive.
Let us pray.
God our Father,
in your infinite love and goodness
you have shown us that
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving
are remedies for sin.
Accept the humble admission of our guilt,
and when our conscience weighs us down
let your unfailing mercy raise us up.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.
