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Cycle of prayer: Mar. 3

1bl_gs_fresco_chnc_det Hosted on Zooomr

Good Samaritan Buon Fresco in Riverside Baptist Church, Charlotte NC (artist: Ben Long)

Found in the daily readings for Lent here.

Gospel
Mt 5:43-48

Jesus said to his disciples:
“You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

The Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God

————-

Daily Meditation:
Turn our hearts to you.
The Saturdays of Lent have a grateful and uplifting tone to them.
Our lesson today reminds us of the covenant God made long ago:
you be my people
and I will be your God.

In the new covenant, without condition,
God is faithful to us, even if we are not.
Jesus calls us to a new way of being -
loving others as we have been loved -
which includes loving those who do not love us.
We are to be as pure in our love,
as God is pure in loving us.

God loved the world so much,
he gave us his only Son,
that all who believe in him
might have eternal life.

———-

Closing Prayer:
Loving God,
Sometimes my heart
turns in every direction
except towards you.
Please help me
to turn my heart toward you,
to gaze upon you in trust
and to seek your kingdom with all of my heart.
Soften my hardened heart
so that I might love others
as a way to glorify and worship you.
Grant me this
with the ever-present guidance of your spirit.

May the Lord bless us,
protect us from all evil
and bring us to everlasting life.
Amen.

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