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The Easter Cycle
responsibility during Lent. The Lord has assured us, “I desire not the death of the wicked, but
that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ez 33:11).
In the Communion prayer of the Mass the liturgy reminds us again, “Amen I say to you:
What you did to one of My least brethren, you did to Me. Come ye blessed of My Father, possess
you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The Church never tires
of repeating this truth. The first fruit of Holy Communion should be an abiding love for others.
“By their fruits you shall know them” (Mt 7:16). The fruit of Holy Communion is love. Love
is tolerant, it forgives easily, it places itself at the service of the one beloved. Love covers the
multitude of sins and faults in the one loved with a veil of charity. Has our frequent reception
of Holy Communion produced this spirit of charity in us?
“I will lift up my eyes and consider Thy wonders, O Lord” (Offertory). The wonders here
referred to are the wonders worked by the love of Christ, who has offered Himself up for us in
the Sacrifice of the Mass. We have also the wonders of His love in the sacraments of baptism,
penance, and Holy Communion. “Teach me Thy justices; give me understanding, and I will
learn Thy commandments” (Offertory), especially Christ’s commandment of love.
Prayer
Convert us, O God, our salvation, and that the lenten fast may profit us, instruct our minds
with Thy heavenly instructions.
Loose the bonds of our sins, we beseech Thee, O Lord, and do Thou mercifully avert
whatever we deserve for them. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday
Renounce whatever displeases God or prevents your approach to Him. This is the invitation
extended to us by the liturgy in today’s Mass. We celebrate the divine mysteries in the church
of the holy martyr and virgin, St. Anastasia. We pass down the crooked little street through the
noisy, boisterous cattle market which now lies near the church, to the home of the virgin martyr.
We brush aside the turmoil of the mundane things going on about us, and press forward to the
Anastasis, the resurrection of Easter.
“Seek ye the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unjust man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and He will have
mercy on him; and to our God, for He is bountiful to forgive” (Epistle). Jesus enters solemnly
into Jerusalem. “The whole city was moved, saying: Who is this? And the people said: This is
Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee” (Gospel). They recognized Him to be the Messias.
Jesus enters the temple and there finds the money changers, the merchants, and those who
bought and sold the animals of sacrifice. They are too absorbed by their worldly occupation to
observe that the Lord has appeared among them. They ignore Him; they cannot be bothered
with Him. Christ turns on them with wrath and drives them all from His temple. “It is written,
My house shall be called the house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Gospel).
Having disposed of the money changers, Christ turns His attention to the Pharisees.
These are the wise ones of Israel, the self-satisfied teachers, who look upon themselves as
divinely inspired. They indeed have heard of Him and do not fail to notice His approach.
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