St Margaret Roman Catholic Church

3rd Week of Lent

If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? (Matthew 18:21)

So many important elements in life depend on a person’s point of view, don’t they? When Peter approached Jesus with a question about forgiving a particularly difficult brother, his focus was on the proper limits to forgiveness. Peter sets up the scene to make himself the injured party—how forgiving should I be? Certainly, mercy has its limits.

But Jesus turns the tables on him and tries to place him in the role of the forgiven party instead. He asks Peter to imagine what it would be like to have a huge debt removed from his account. How would he respond? With generosity toward his debtors? Or with the same cold calculus that should have landed him in jail? Will he let mercy transform him, or will he end up in prison despite his master’s forgiveness?

We are all recipients of God’s overflowing, transforming mercy. It’s a generosity that bursts forth from the Father’s heart. Like a river overflowing its banks, it cannot be contained. It flows everywhere and washes everyone clean who remains in its path and lets it wash over them.

The next time you are the injured party and you are thinking about what you consider the demands of justice to be, take a moment to widen your point of view. Remember that another person is involved—another recipient of God’s love and mercy. Remember the way that God looks at you, and try to look at the other person with the same love, compassion, and forgiveness. Ask yourself, How can I possibly withhold forgiveness when God never held back from me?

If we can keep God’s look of love in the forefront of our minds, mercy will burst forth from us. It may start as a trickle, and it won’t always be easy. But that doesn’t have to stop us from trying. God knows how hard this can be, and he is infinitely patient. After all, if he was so merciful as to give up his only Son for us, why would he not treat us the same way now?

“Father in heaven, give me my daily bread today, and forgive me as I strive to forgive the people indebted to me.”

Daniel 3:25, 34-43
Psalm 25:4-9

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The Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity)

May it be done to me according to your word. (Luke 1:38)

The Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth is built over the site of what is believed to be the home of the Virgin Mary. In the lower level of the church is an altar with the Latin inscription Verbum caro hic factum est: “Here the Word became flesh.”

Here. The Incarnation happened here, in a small town in Galilee. That inscription tells us that God became a man at a specific moment in time. He entered into the history of the human race, and his birth, death, and resurrection changed the course of history forever.

But think of this: Jesus also had a personal history. The moment Mary said her fiat, the Holy Spirit overshadowed her, and Jesus began growing in her womb. Mary gave birth to him and nursed him at her breast. He was surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. He learned his first words from his parents. He followed in Joseph’s footsteps and became a carpenter. He went to the synagogue each Sabbath and sat at the feet of rabbis.

You have a personal history as well—and because Jesus has become flesh, he has entered into that history. He lives in you—all the time!

Jesus is here with you as you read these words. He was with you when you woke up this morning, and he will be with you when you go to sleep tonight. He goes to work with you, and he cares for your family. Through every joy and sorrow of life, through every major and minor event, in all of your prayers for help and all of your words of praise and thanksgiving, he is there. And because he lives in you, he is present to everyone around you. He reaches out in love to everyone you encounter each day.

This is what our God has done for you. He will continue to do it for every person who says yes to God, as Mary did, until he comes again. So on this glorious feast, tell Jesus how grateful you are for his coming to earth, and for living his own personal history—and yours!

“Jesus, give me a constant awareness of your life in me.”

Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10
Psalm 40:7-11
Hebrews 10:4-10

Registration is now online. This year you can register online by going to

www.leaguelineup.com/bcyfac

For those not wishing to register online ther will be in person registration held on
DATE: Wednesday -april 3, 2019
PLACE: Berus Catholic High School – Cafeteria
TIME: 6-8 pm
This program is open to girls and boys enrolled om Berks County Parochial Schools age abe and grade restrictions do apply.
For more on eligibility and cost:
Go to www.leaguelineup.com/bcyfac
For any other questions contact: Danielle Fowler 601-374-1695 or email Dfowler@berkscatholic.org

3rd Sunday of Lent

I have witnessed the affliction of my people. (Exodus 3:7)

On Ash Wednesday, we began Lent with the age-old call to repentance: “Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning” (Joel 2:12). That theme continues in today’s second reading and Gospel. But the first reading is something different. It’s not about our need to repent; it’s about God’s free, overflowing mercy.

For the children of Abraham, God’s mercy came in the form of release from slavery in Egypt. For us, that mercy comes in the form of release from slavery to sin.

God showed mercy and grace to the Israelites, not because they were perfect, but because they were his people and he cared for them. Likewise, he shows mercy to us because we are his children, and he doesn’t want to see us bound in sin.

Exodus was just the beginning too. From age to age, God has shown himself to be merciful toward his people. He told Moses that this is how he should always be remembered: “The Lord, the Lord, a God gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and fidelity” (Exodus 34:6). Other prophets then continued the teaching, always referring to God as “gracious and merciful” (Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2). Even the psalms praise God’s mercy repeatedly.

When Jesus came, he focused his ministry on the mercy and graciousness of his heavenly Father as well (Matthew 5:7; Luke 6:36; 10:37). But even more important, he showed himself to be the very mercy of God. He refused to condemn a woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). He welcomed tax collectors and sinners as disciples (Luke 15:1-2). And best of all, he promised the thief on the cross, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (23:43).

It’s no wonder that one of the most common sentences Jesus heard while he was on earth was “Have mercy on me!” It’s a prayer he cannot help but answer!

Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy.”

Psalm 103:1-4, 6-8, 11
1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 
Luke 13:1-9