3rd Week of Lent 2026 - Wednesday (school mass) - Be careful!

 

“Be careful”. Oftentimes as a kid, my parents and grandparents would warn me, “be careful”. “Be careful, the food is hot”, “be careful, that object is sharp”, “be careful walking on that patch of ice, you might slip”, “be careful with holding your baby sister, she is delicate”, “be careful with that object, it can break easily”.

One of the most important lessons we are to learn in life is to be careful. Be careful with your body, how you handle things, where you walk so you don’t get hurt. Be careful with your words, lest you say something that you shouldn’t and hurt someone with your words. Be careful, be mindful, make extra effort to think about what you are doing.

As we practice being careful, we get better at it. One of the reasons you have to be 16 in order to drive a car, is because 16 year olds have developed a certain amount of carefulness. Because if you get in a car, and you are careless with how you drive, you will seriously hurt, or even kill someone.

Being careful with your words is important. Would you trust someone with a secret, if they are careless with their words? No, because if they are careless with their words, then they are likely to tell your secret to those they shouldn’t.

In the first reading today, Moses is explaining to the people that they are to observe the laws of God carefully. “Observe them carefully,” he says, “for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations…and take care not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children."

Just as we are to be careful with our words, and careful with our actions, and careful with delicate objects, we are to be careful about keeping God’s commandments. We should not treat God’s commandments carelessly, casually, or as though they do not matter. If something is precious, you handle it with care. And God’s commandments are precious, because they come from God Himself and they show us the way to live.

That is why Moses says in the first reading, “Observe them carefully.” He does not just say to know them, or talk about them, or admire them. He certainly doesn’t say, “let them go in one ear and out the other”. “Observe them carefully.”

Why? Being careless has consequences. If we are careless on ice, will slip and fall. If we are careless with a car, we can really hurt someone. If we are careless with the commandments of God, that shows that we don’t really care about the one who gave them.

Being careless with God’s commandments hurts our friendship with Him. But being careful with them helps us grow in holiness. And helps others to know about him as well. So today let us ask the Lord for a careful heart: a heart that pays attention to His word, takes His commandments seriously, and wants to please Him in all things. Because that is the kind of carefulness that leads to heaven, for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

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Trusting in God, who teaches us to walk carefully in His ways, let us offer Him our prayers.

For the Church, that she may faithfully teach God’s commandments and help all people to follow them with love and care. Let us pray to the Lord.

For our leaders and all who make laws, that they may act with prudence, justice, and care for the good of every human person. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all parents, grandparents, and teachers, who help children learn to be careful in their words and actions, that God may bless them in their work. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those who have grown careless in their friendship with God, that this holy season of Lent may lead them to repentance and a new beginning. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the sick, the suffering, and all those in need, that Christ may strengthen them and surround them with loving care. Let us pray to the Lord.

For the faithful departed, that they may be welcomed into the joy of heaven. Let us pray to the Lord.

Priest: Heavenly Father, you have shown us the path of life in your commandments. Give us careful hearts, so that we may love your will, walk in your ways, and one day come to the joy of your kingdom. Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

 

3rd Week of Lent 2021 - Wednesday - Words on the Threshold

Having led the Israelites out of Egyptian slavery, and delivering unto them the 10 commandments, then having traveled 40 years in the desert, Moses finally brings the Israelites to the threshold of the promised land. 

In the powerful book of Deuteronomy, Moses stands at that threshold and speaks, as we heard in today’s reading, the words, and statutes and decrees, that will enable them to live, to survive in this new land. The name of the 5th book of Moses, Deuteronomy, comes from the Hebrew word, debarim, which means “the words”— that is, the words, the laws—that will enable the Israelites to live as the people God was calling them to be.

In the Gospel, the Lord references these words, these commands and laws, “I haven’t come to do away with the law”, he says, and not letter of it, not the smallest part of a letter of it, not even the little dot over the i. 

Sometimes you hear the strange idea that because Jesus died for us, that frees us from having to follow God’s laws. That because we are forgiven of our sins past, present, and future, we aren’t bound to follow any sort of law or rule of conduct. That’s certainly not the biblical message, nor the teaching of the Church.

The Law of Moses was for the purpose of teaching people to live in righteousness, in right relationship with God. Right relationship, righteousness, involves our moral conduct—doing good and avoiding evil.

Regarding the law of Moses, the Old Law, the Catechism says that the law of Moses, was a “preparation for the Gospel” which of course also involves moral conduct, in fact, the Lord Jesus, has raised the bar of moral conduct for us Christians in many ways.

Not only are we to follow the moral law found in the Old Testament, but we are to strive for the way of perfection of Jesus Christ. I have not come to abolish the law, the Lord says, but to complete it. Catechism says, “the New Law or the Law of the Gospel is the perfection here on earth of the divine law, natural and revealed.”

Smack dab in the middle of Lent, we have the readings about moral conduct, no doubt, because Lent is about helping us right what is wrong in our lives, to help us identify this sins that we have not quite turned away from, and to strive for the perfection that is Jesus Christ—the word made flesh. Hence, making good Lenten examinations of conscience and a good Lenten confession.

Lent is a threshold. Like Moses standing at the threshold of the promised land, we are invited to examine our conduct, and to bring our conduct, and our hearts into deeper union with the law of love taught by and fulfilled by Our Lord, that we may live, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That obedience to all the commands of Christ and the Church may mark the life of every Christian. 

For all those preparing to enter into Christ through the saving waters of Baptism and those preparing for full initiation this Easter, may these final Lenten weeks bring about purification from sin and enlightenment in the ways of holiness.

For those who have fallen away from the Church, who have become separated through error and sin, for those who reject the teachings of Christ, for their conversion and the conversion of all hearts.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. 

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy.