Lectionary: 423
Reading 1
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the LORD came upon me,
and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD
and set me in the center of the plain,
which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among the bones in every direction
so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.
How dry they were!
He asked me:
Son of man, can these bones come to life?
I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”
Then he said to me:
Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:
Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:
See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.
I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you,
cover you with skin, and put spirit in you
so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.
I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise;
it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.
I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them,
and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.
Then the LORD said to me:
Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD:
From the four winds come, O spirit,
and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them;
they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.
Then he said to me:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
“Our bones are dried up,
our hope is lost, and we are cut off.”
Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. (1) Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say,
those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the foe
And gathered from the lands,
from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They went astray in the desert wilderness;
the way to an inhabited city they did not find.
Hungry and thirsty,
their life was wasting away within them.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
from their straits he rescued them.
And he led them by a direct way
to reach an inhabited city.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercy
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men,
Because he satisfied the longing soul
and filled the hungry soul with good things.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Gospel
Matthew 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
THEME: ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT?
"You shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them, O my people! I will put my Spirit in you that you may live." –Ezekiel 37:13-14
The Lord made Ezekiel walk in every direction through a plain of dry bones (Ez 37:1-2). Then He asked Ezekiel if these bones could come to life (Ez 37:3). Ezekiel was not certain that they could, but after he obeyed the Lord's command to prophesy over the bones, they came to life (Ez 37:10).
The Lord raised up Pope John Paul II, the prophet-Pope, to point out the plain of dry bones upon which we walk. He called it a "culture of death." Pope John Paul II and Pope Paul VI prophesied that this culture of death will give way to a "civilization of love," if we are docile to the actions of the Holy Spirit (see Towards The Third Millennium, 18).
Therefore, repent (see Acts 2:38), obey (see Acts 5:32), and stir into flame the gift of the Holy Spirit (2 Tm 1:6-7). "Thus says the Lord God: From the four winds come, O Spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life. I prophesied as He told me, and the Spirit came into them; they came alive" (Ez 37:9-10). Come, Holy Spirit!
PRAYER: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Your love."
PROMISE: "Jesus said to him: ' "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. The second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." On these two commandments the whole law is based, and the prophets as well.' " –Mt 22:37-40
PRAISE: Mary, a lowly teenage girl, was raised to high places (Lk 1:52) as Queen of heaven and earth. Praise be to God Who rewards His beloved for their service to Him!
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