Today’s Readings – Saturday of Week 1 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Deuteronomy 26:16-19

Today’s reading comes from the last part of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is also the last of the five books forming the Pentateuch. It contains the covenant laws by which the lives of observant Jews were guided.

Moses reminds the people of the solemn agreement that has been made between God and them:

Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement...


And the declaration is that he will be their God and they are to:

...walk in his ways...keep his statutes, his commandments, and his ordinances...and to obey him.


It is a mutually binding contract. However, it does not mean that if the people fail, they will be abandoned by God. In fact the opposite is true: their subsequent back-sliding highlights the fidelity of God!

This is a … Continue

Yesterday’s Readings – Friday of Week 1 of Lent - First Reading

Commentary on Ezekiel 18:21-28

The prophet Ezekiel today makes a double point. On the one hand, if the man who has done evil genuinely repents of what he has done, he will be totally forgiven:

None of the transgressions that they have committed shall be remembered against them, for t … Continue