{"id":18968,"date":"2020-03-20T08:29:14","date_gmt":"2020-03-20T12:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/?p=18968"},"modified":"2020-03-20T08:38:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-20T12:38:36","slug":"returning-to-the-lord-with-our-whole-heart-and-mind-and-soul-and-strength-third-friday-of-lent-march-20-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/returning-to-the-lord-with-our-whole-heart-and-mind-and-soul-and-strength-third-friday-of-lent-march-20-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning to the Lord with Our Whole Heart, and Mind, and Soul, and Strength, Third Friday of Lent, March 20, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"\">Fr. Roger J. Landry<br class=\"\" \/>Friday of the Third Week of Lent<br class=\"\" \/>March 20, 2020<br class=\"\" \/>Hos 14:2-10, Ps 81, Mk 12:28-34<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please click below:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-18968-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.20.20-Homily-1.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.20.20-Homily-1.mp3\">https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/3.20.20-Homily-1.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"\"><em class=\"\">The following points were considered:\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<ul class=\"\">\n<li class=\"\">On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, God made a special appeal to each of us through the Prophet Joel: \u201cReturn to me with your whole heart.\u201d He asked us to \u201crend our hearts,\u201d to rip them open to receive his merciful love and to share his compassion with others, a summons\u00a0that not only can influence the way we read today\u2019s Gospel, but is also important in this second phase of Lent \u2014 from the 3rd Sunday through the end of the 4th week \u2014 when we ponder the meaning of baptism. We can read today\u2019s reading in a baptismal key, for this is one of the most commonly chosen readings for the celebration of baptism, since it shows us what the purpose of a Christian life is and how we can keep our end of the baptismal Covenant with the Lord. When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus\u00a0responds, \u201cThe first is this: \u2018Hear, O Israel!\u00a0The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.\u2019 The second is this: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u00a0There is no other commandment greater than these.\u2019\u201d Today Jesus reminds us that the whole point of the Lenten season, the whole point of the Christian life to which Lent is meant to restore us, is to return with our whole heart in love to God, and not just our heart, but to return to him with our whole soul, mind and strength as well, to receive his mercy without any obstacles and then to learn how to let that mercy we\u2019ve received become the way which we respond to others.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">It\u2019s important that we truly confront what Jesus is asking of us. There are many Christians who believe they love the Lord simply because they have good thoughts about him, they admire him, they think that he\u2019s kind, merciful and generous. But Jesus is calling for much more than this. Love is more than having good feelings or impressions about another; love is the unconquerable benevolence that leads to willing, to choosing consistently, the good of the other for the other\u2019s sake. Love is opting\u00a0as a habit to sacrifice oneself for another, putting someone else ahead of us, like Jesus would say during the Last Supper and put into action the following afternoon: laying down one\u2019s life for one\u2019s friends, in little ways or supremely.\u00a0There are many Christians who love God to the point of sacrificing for him, but as today\u2019s Gospel shows us, it\u2019s not enough to sacrifice\u00a0<em class=\"\">some<\/em>\u00a0of the time and gifts that he\u2019s given us\u00a0for him and his\u00a0glory. It\u2019s not enough to\u00a0give God\u00a0<em>some<\/em> of our mind, heart, soul and strength. Jesus is calling us to love God with <em>all<\/em> we\u2019ve got. Today he says that that\u2019s worth more than all sacrifices. To get to that type of love\u00a0requires a deep conversion on our part. It means that our hope is not just to be good people but to be really holy people.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">We should make this practical.\n<ul class=\"\">\n<li class=\"\">Jesus calls us to love him\u00a0<em class=\"\">with all our mind<\/em>. How much of our mind do we dedicate to God? Do we try to think as God thinks in our decisions? Do we truly fill our minds with his thoughts through prayer and reading the Bible and good spiritual books or do we fill them with the world\u2019s thoughts through reading the paper more than the Bible and surfing the internet or watching\u00a0television more than we pray?<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Jesus likewise calls us to love him\u00a0<em class=\"\">with all our heart<\/em>. Do we really love God more than we love everything and everyone else in our life? Jesus\u00a0says elsewhere in the Gospel that we\u2019re not fit to be his disciple unless we love him more than our family members, more than our stuff, more than even our own life. This is obviously challenging but do we try to love him with all our heart?<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">He calls us to love him\u00a0<em class=\"\">with all our strength<\/em>. How much effort do we make to love him? Do we battle through distractions in prayer? Do we prioritize Mass and adoration and make the effort to get there, especially during times like this when it is much more challenging to do so? When we do attend, do we give it 100 percent to try to pay attention?<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">He calls us to love him with\u00a0<em class=\"\">all our soul.\u00a0<\/em>That means he wants us full of grace. Do we seek to stay free of all sin or do we compromise with sin and give in to gossip, complaining, holding grudges and the like? Do we take advantage of the opportunities for the Sacrament of Confession so that whatever in our soul is not of God can be forgiven?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">In the Gospel today, however, Jesus goes a step further than that challenge. He tells us that our love for God will be shown in our love for neighbor. Jesus elsewhere does not say, \u201cLove me as I love you,\u201d but \u201cLove one another as I have loved you.\u201d When he asked St. Peter after the Resurrection, \u201cSimon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d and Peter replied that he did, Jesus didn\u2019t say, \u201cGreat! That\u2019s all I wanted!\u201d Rather he said, \u201cFeed my sheep. \u2026 Feed my lambs. \u2026 Tend my sheep.\u201d Peter\u2019s love for Jesus, just like ours, would be shown in our love for others.\n<ul class=\"\">\n<li class=\"\">And so we likewise have to ask whether we are striving to love our neighbor with all our mind: are we thinking about our neighbor, trying to understand our neighbor, and lead our neighbor to God through the neighbor&#8217;s own categories? Do we\u00a0think good things about them, noticing their good points rather than their weaknesses, giving them the benefit of the doubt rather than thinking the worst.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">How about with all of our heart? Do we only half-love, trying to keep appearances of loving while inside not loving with mercy and understanding for the things in our neighbor we don&#8217;t appreciate? Do we love them with affection, including those who are difficult to love, and making the effort to care for the wounds of their heart.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Do we strive to love our neighbor with all of our strength? Are we sacrificing for our neighbors and going the extra mile to help them with deeds? Do we summon the strength to forgive them?<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">Finally what about with all of our soul? Since when we&#8217;re in the state of grace, God is in our soul, do we strive to love our neighbor together with God? Do we care in a special way for their souls, that they be full of God?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Jesus says to the scribe in today\u2019s Gospel, \u201cYou are not\u00a0<em>far\u00a0<\/em>from the kingdom of God.\u201d He\u2019s close to it by his understanding, but he\u2019s not\u00a0<em>in <\/em>it<em>. <\/em>The reason is because faith requires more than understanding; it requires action. We need to do more than merely know that we\u2019re called to love God and our neighbor holding nothing back; we actually have to love.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">To paraphrase the end of the passage of the Prophet Hosea in today\u2019s first reading, this is the \u201cstraight path\u201d that the Lord wants us to take. This is the path that\u00a0those who are \u201cjust,\u201d who are in a right relationship with God, take. As demanding as the path is, the Lord calls us to it because he knows that this is the path of happiness. Someone who is loving the Lord with all he has and loving neighbor is the one who is really filled with joy and peace and Jesus wants us to have that joy. St. Therese Lisieux once famously said that we cannot become half a saint. That there\u2019s no way to become holy and eternally happy giving God fifty percent. We need to give him everything. That\u2019s the type of restoration that Lent seeks to bring about in us.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">But we need to ask: How can we actually love God and others with everything we are and have? Is God calling us to something impossible? Is it even possible to\u00a0<em class=\"\">command<\/em>\u00a0us to love; can love be forced? The answer to these questions was given to us in the Opening Prayer of today\u2019s Mass when we turned to God and said, \u201cPour your grace into our hearts, we pray, O Lord, that we may \u2026 obey\u00a0<em class=\"\">by your own gift\u00a0<\/em>the heavenly teaching you give us.\u201d God gives us his own love \u2014 his very self \u2014 \u00a0to make this type of love possible. He says to us through Hosea today, \u201cBecause of me you bear fruit!\u201d Pope Benedict spoke about this in his beautiful encyclical\u00a0<em class=\"\">Deus Caritas Est<\/em>. He wrote, \u201cThe \u2018commandment\u2019 of love is only possible because it is more than a requirement. Love can be \u2018commanded\u2019 because it has first been given. \u2026 on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter that\u00a0has become a communion of will, even affecting my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ. His friend is my friend. \u2026\u00a0Only my readiness to encounter my neighbour and to show him love makes me sensitive to God as well. Only if I serve my neighbour can my eyes be opened to what God does for me and how much he loves me. The saints\u2014consider the example of [Saint] Teresa of Calcutta\u2014constantly renewed their capacity for love of neighbour from their encounter with the Eucharistic Lord, and conversely this encounter acquired its realism and depth in their service to others. Love of God and love of neighbour are thus inseparable, they form a single commandment. But both live from the love of God who has loved us first. No longer is it a question, then, of a \u2018commandment\u2019 imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely-bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love.\u201d When we understand God\u2019s love \u2014 his\u00a0<i class=\"\">hesed,\u00a0<\/i>a word that can be translated \u201cmercy,\u201d \u201clove\u201d and \u201cgoodness\u201d \u2014 we can also see how it is possible, for when we love God with all our mind, heart, soul and strength, what that means fundamentally is that we have opened ourselves up to his mercy, to who he is and what he wants to do for us and in us, and that is to make us holy as he is holy, perfect as he is perfect, merciful as he is merciful. He wants us to open our mind to his merciful love, our heart to his merciful love, our soul to be forgiven by his merciful love, and our strength to persevere in seeking and receiving that merciful love. And then he wants us to love our neighbor not just by imitating God\u2019s merciful love, but by loving our neighbor precisely with it.<\/li>\n<li class=\"\">The great way she grew in the love of God and we will too, so that we may love God with all we are and have and love our neighbor with all we are and have is through the Mass. Here at Mass God\u00a0\u201cpour[s] [his]\u00a0grace into our hearts, \u2026 that we may \u2026 obey\u00a0<em class=\"\">by [his]\u00a0own gift\u00a0<\/em>the heavenly teaching\u201d he gives us. God the Father\u00a0gives us his mercy, he gives us his help, he plants within us Jesus, the Incarnate Love of the Father, so that we may, receiving the Father\u2019s love, incarnate in Jesus, love the Father in communion with Jesus\u00a0and love others with the very love of Jesus. Today let\u2019s ask Jesus to help us to pray this Mass with all our mind, heart, soul and strength and to be strengthened by Jesus in the Mass to \u201cdo this in memory of\u201d him, giving our bodies, our blood, our sweat, our tears, our mind, heart, soul and strength in mercy for the good of others as Jesus has given all he had for us and our salvation. Praised be Jesus Christ!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"\">The<em class=\"\">\u00a0readings for today\u2019s Mass were:\u00a0<\/em><\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<h4 class=\"\">Reading 1<br class=\"\" \/><a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/hosea\/14:2\">HOS 14:2-10<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"\">Thus says the LORD:<br class=\"\" \/>Return, O Israel, to the LORD, your God;<br class=\"\" \/>you have collapsed through your guilt.<br class=\"\" \/>Take with you words,<br class=\"\" \/>and return to the LORD;<br class=\"\" \/>Say to him, \u201cForgive all iniquity,<br class=\"\" \/>and receive what is good, that we may render<br class=\"\" \/>as offerings the bullocks from our stalls.<br class=\"\" \/>Assyria will not save us,<br class=\"\" \/>nor shall we have horses to mount;<br class=\"\" \/>We shall say no more, \u2018Our god,\u2019<br class=\"\" \/>to the work of our hands;<br class=\"\" \/>for in you the orphan finds compassion.\u201d<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">I will heal their defection, says the LORD,<br class=\"\" \/>I will love them freely;<br class=\"\" \/>for my wrath is turned away from them.<br class=\"\" \/>I will be like the dew for Israel:<br class=\"\" \/>he shall blossom like the lily;<br class=\"\" \/>He shall strike root like the Lebanon cedar,<br class=\"\" \/>and put forth his shoots.<br class=\"\" \/>His splendor shall be like the olive tree<br class=\"\" \/>and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.<br class=\"\" \/>Again they shall dwell in his shade<br class=\"\" \/>and raise grain;<br class=\"\" \/>They shall blossom like the vine,<br class=\"\" \/>and his fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">Ephraim! What more has he to do with idols?<br class=\"\" \/>I have humbled him, but I will prosper him.<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cI am like a verdant cypress tree\u201d\u2013<br class=\"\" \/>Because of me you bear fruit!<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">Let him who is wise understand these things;<br class=\"\" \/>let him who is prudent know them.<br class=\"\" \/>Straight are the paths of the LORD,<br class=\"\" \/>in them the just walk,<br class=\"\" \/>but sinners stumble in them.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<h4 class=\"\">Responsorial Psalm<br class=\"\" \/><a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/psalms\/81:6\">PS 81:6C-8A, 8BC-9, 10-11AB, 14 AND 17<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"\">R. (see 11 and 9a)\u00a0I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.<br class=\"\" \/>An unfamiliar speech I hear:<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cI relieved his shoulder of the burden;<br class=\"\" \/>his hands were freed from the basket.<br class=\"\" \/>In distress you called, and I rescued you.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>R.\u00a0I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cUnseen, I answered you in thunder;<br class=\"\" \/>I tested you at the waters of Meribah.<br class=\"\" \/>Hear, my people, and I will admonish you;<br class=\"\" \/>O Israel, will you not hear me?\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>R.\u00a0I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cThere shall be no strange god among you<br class=\"\" \/>nor shall you worship any alien god.<br class=\"\" \/>I, the LORD, am your God<br class=\"\" \/>who led you forth from the land of Egypt.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>R.\u00a0I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cIf only my people would hear me,<br class=\"\" \/>and Israel walk in my ways,<br class=\"\" \/>I would feed them with the best of wheat,<br class=\"\" \/>and with honey from the rock I would fill them.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>R.\u00a0I am the Lord your God: hear my voice.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\">\n<h4 class=\"\">Gospel<br class=\"\" \/><a class=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/mark\/12:28\">MK 12:28-34<\/a><\/h4>\n<div class=\"\">One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him,<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cWhich is the first of all the commandments?\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>Jesus replied, \u201cThe first is this:<br class=\"\" \/><em class=\"\">Hear, O Israel!<br class=\"\" \/>The Lord our God is Lord alone!<br class=\"\" \/>You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,<br class=\"\" \/>with all your soul,<br class=\"\" \/>with all your mind,<br class=\"\" \/>and with all your strength<\/em>.<br class=\"\" \/>The second is this:<br class=\"\" \/><em class=\"\">You shall love your neighbor as yourself<\/em>.<br class=\"\" \/>There is no other commandment greater than these.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>The scribe said to him, \u201cWell said, teacher.<br class=\"\" \/>You are right in saying,<br class=\"\" \/><em class=\"\">He is One and there is no other than he<\/em>.<br class=\"\" \/>And\u00a0<em class=\"\">to love him with all your heart,<br class=\"\" \/>with all your understanding,<br class=\"\" \/>with all your strength,<br class=\"\" \/>and to love your neighbor as yourself<\/em><br class=\"\" \/>is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>And when Jesus saw that he answered with understanding,<br class=\"\" \/>he said to him,<br class=\"\" \/>\u201cYou are not far from the Kingdom of God.\u201d<br class=\"\" \/>And no one dared to ask him any more questions.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/850px-Werken_van_Barmhartigheid_Meester_van_Alkmaar_1504.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-18970\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/850px-Werken_van_Barmhartigheid_Meester_van_Alkmaar_1504.jpg?resize=300%2C77&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"77\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fr. Roger J. LandryFriday of the Third Week of LentMarch 20, 2020Hos 14:2-10, Ps 81, Mk 12:28-34 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The following points were considered:\u00a0 On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, God made a special appeal to each of us through the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11775,1063,3,4],"tags":[445,2059,5201,5199,2254,5205,2194,5194,316,5197,5203,5204,2727,5196,5198,1757,979,2173,4893,5195,5200,2549,5202,2105,11464],"class_list":["post-18968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2019-2020-year-ii","category-audio-homily","category-homily","category-year-ii","tag-ash-wednesday","tag-confession","tag-distractions-in-prayer","tag-do-this-in-memory-of-me","tag-forgiveness","tag-giving-all","tag-gossip","tag-hos-142-10","tag-lent","tag-loving-enemies","tag-loving-jesus-more-than-family-members","tag-loving-jesus-more-than-our-life","tag-loving-others","tag-loving-the-lord","tag-loving-with-affection","tag-mercy","tag-mk-1228-34","tag-ps-81","tag-rending-our-hearts","tag-returning-to-the-lord-with-our-whole-heart","tag-simon-son-of-john","tag-st-therese","tag-state-of-grace","tag-the-eucharist","tag-you-are-not-far-from-the-kingdom-of-god"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Returning to the Lord with Our Whole Heart, and Mind, and Soul, and Strength, Third Friday of Lent, March 20, 2020 - Catholic Preaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/returning-to-the-lord-with-our-whole-heart-and-mind-and-soul-and-strength-third-friday-of-lent-march-20-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Returning to the Lord with Our Whole Heart, and Mind, and Soul, and Strength, Third Friday of Lent, March 20, 2020 - Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fr. Roger J. LandryFriday of the Third Week of LentMarch 20, 2020Hos 14:2-10, Ps 81, Mk 12:28-34 &nbsp; To listen to an audio recording of today\u2019s homily, please click below:\u00a0 &nbsp; The following points were considered:\u00a0 On Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, God made a special appeal to each of us through the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/returning-to-the-lord-with-our-whole-heart-and-mind-and-soul-and-strength-third-friday-of-lent-march-20-2020\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic Preaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-20T12:29:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-20T12:38:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/catholicpreaching.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/850px-Werken_van_Barmhartigheid_Meester_van_Alkmaar_1504.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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