Monday of the First Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

“Most young people think of virtue as something negative. They think that by avoiding sin they are being good. They think of purity as an absence of impurity. Yet we should think of purity as a shining positive virtue, rather than as a negative one – one that makes itself felt, that stands out glowingly” (From Union Square to Rome, by Dorothy Day).

Today’s readings at Mass are familiar. The Commandments which God first gave to Moses in the Book of Exodus are restated for emphasis. And the Gospel speaks of judgment, when sheep (the “Good Ones”) and goats (the “Bad Ones”) get what’s coming to them.

We know these stories well. They are clear and easy to understand, even though they may sound harsh.

But what makes a sheep? “What you did for the least ones, you did for me.” What makes a goat? “You saw, but you did nothing.”

Our choices and actions matter. Our virtues, which influence our choices and actions, have a more firm foundation when they come from a deep conviction.

Reflection by Br. Jacob Kubajak, OSB