ISAIAH 1:10, 16-20; PSALM 50; MATTHEW 23:1-12
Isaiah 1:16 says “Cease to do evil; learn to do good.” Lent is a season we repent of our sins and firmly resolve to do good. We must learn to respect our resolves and do good. If we are willing to obey there is no sin too big for God to forgive. Isaiah says “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool ‘If we are willing to obey. Obedience also demands that we practice what we preach. So in the gospel reading Jesus had to condemn the Scribes and Pharisees for not practicing what they were preaching. Beloved, if we do not practice what we preach; then we are not in any way different from the Scribes and Pharisees. If we do not crown the fourteen Stations of the Cross by our lives; then we are present day Scribes and Pharisees.
Let us pray
Guard your Church, we pray, O Lord, in your unceasing mercy, and, since without you mortal humanity is sure to fall, and directed to all that brings salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
