Today is the Third Sunday of Lent and I wanted to go over today’s Mass . As many non Catholics are not familiar with the Mass, I want to go over what the readings were today.
The first reading was Exodus 17:3-7. The second reading was. Romans 5:1-2 ,5-8. The Holy Gospel was John 4: 5-42
All the readings are chosen because they have something in common.
The first reading deals with Moses bringing forth water from the rock for the thirsty Israelites in the desert.
The second reading deals with the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
The Gospel discusses how Jesus gives us a living water that will cause us to never thirst.
All three have a common theme. God in all the cases provides us water to quench our thirst. In the first reading it was water that quenched the thirst of the Israelites in the desert. This is a foreshadowing of the water that would cause us to never thirst. The living water talked about in the Gospel and the second reading is the Holy Spirit in which we will never thirst. When we have the Holy Spirit in us, we will never thirst!
On another topic, today at Mass was the First Scrutiny: This is for those to be Baptized into the Church at Easter. Being that I have only been back into the Church about three years, I was not totally familiar with the Scrutinies. The Bulletin states that :
In the “Scrutiny”, what is weak, defective, or sinful in the hearts of the elect is uncovered and then healed; what is upright, strong, and good is strengthened. The Scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect from the power of evil, to protect them from temptation and to give them strength in Christ, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
The First Scrutiny follows this form:
Call of the Elect
Invitation to Prayer
Intercessions for the Elect
Exorcism
Response
Rite of Sending of the Catechumens
At the Easter Vigil the Catechumens will at last be able to partake of the Eucharist! Please pray for all the Catechumens that will be baptized this coming Easter into the Church of Jesus Christ aka the Catholic Church!
