Saturday after Ash Wednesday, March 8, 2025

 Saturday after Ash Wednesday, March 8, 2025

Today’s Readings, from the USCCB:

Reading 1

Isaiah 58:9b-14

Thus says the LORD: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the LORD will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake, and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; "Repairer of the breach," they shall call you, "Restorer of ruined homesteads."

If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight, and the LORD's holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice – Then you shall delight in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

 

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 86:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

Incline your ear, O LORD; answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. Keep my life, for I am devoted to you; save your servant who trusts in you. You are my God.

R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

Have mercy on me, O Lord, for to you I call all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer and attend to the sound of my pleading.

R. Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

 

Verse Before the Gospel

Ezekiel 33:11

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

Gospel

Luke 5:27-32

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus said to them in reply, "Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners."

 

A Seat at the Table

"I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners." – Luke 5:32

The Gospel today tells a simple story. Jesus calls Levi – a tax collector, a man viewed as corrupt, an outsider. And Levi doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t make excuses. He doesn’t ask for time to clean up his life first.

He just gets up and follows.

Then, he throws a banquet. And who’s at the table? Other tax collectors. Sinners. The kind of people the religious leaders wouldn’t be caught dead with.

And, of course, the Pharisees complain. Why is He eating with them? Doesn’t He know who they are?

Jesus doesn’t rebuke them with anger. He just tells them the truth – I didn’t come for the righteous. I came for the lost, the broken, the ones who know they need healing.

And for some reason, I find that both comforting and terrifying.

Would I Get Up and Follow?

I wonder what that moment felt like for Levi.

He was sitting at his customs post, living life the way he always had. Then Jesus came along and said two words: Follow me.

And just like that, he left everything behind.

I’d love to say I’d do the same. That if Jesus walked into the bar where I was sitting, if He tapped me on the shoulder and said, Follow me, I’d push my drink aside, stand up, and go.

But would I?

Or would I hesitate?

Would I tell Him, Not yet, Lord. I’ve got some things I need to figure out first.

Would I start listing reasons why I’m not the kind of person He wants?

Would I assume He must have meant to call someone else?

Because that’s the truth I wrestle with – I don’t always feel worthy of being called.

I carry around this feeling that I don’t measure up. I don’t pray enough. I don’t go to Mass enough. I don’t always make the right choices. I struggle with self-doubt, with guilt, with regret. And deep down, I wonder if I’m one of the people the Church would rather keep on the outside looking in.

But today’s Gospel tells me something different.

Because Jesus didn’t sit with the religious elite. He didn’t only call the ones who had it all together. He sat at a table with people like me.

And maybe that means He’s calling me, too.

The Fast That Actually Matters

Isaiah’s reading today cuts deep:

"If you hold back your foot on the sabbath from following your own pursuits… If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests… Then you shall delight in the Lord." – Isaiah 58:13

For years, I treated Lent like a season of giving things up – beef, pork, poultry, Frappachino’s, little indulgences. And that’s fine. But what if Lent isn’t just about what I remove?

What if it’s about what I make room for?

This year, I gave up shots. Not because I think alcohol is evil, but because I know me. I know shots push me over the edge. They take me from relaxed to reckless, from in control to let’s see what happens. And that’s not a place I need to be.

But more than that, I didn’t just want to give something up. I wanted to actually change.

And that’s what Isaiah is saying – God doesn’t just want meaningless sacrifices. He wants transformation.

So maybe the fast I need isn’t just from shots.

Maybe I need to fast from doubt – from telling myself that I don’t belong at God’s table.

Maybe I need to fast from hesitation – from waiting until I feel worthy to actually follow Him.

Maybe I need to fast from thinking I have to figure everything out first.

Because Levi didn’t have all the answers. He didn’t clean himself up first.

He just got up and went.

A Seat at the Table

It’s funny – so much of faith comes down to one question – Do I believe Jesus meant what He said?

 

When He says He came for sinners, do I believe that means me?

When He calls people to follow Him, do I believe He’s calling me?

When He offers a seat at His table, do I believe I actually belong there?

Because that’s what today’s readings are really about.

Not a God who waits for us to be good enough before calling us.

Not a God who turns His back when we fail.

Not a God who wants our empty sacrifices.

But a God who sees us exactly as we are – failures, regrets, struggles, self-doubt and all – and still says, Follow me.

So today, I pray for the courage to listen.

To stop making excuses.

To stop assuming I don’t belong.

To get up, take that first step, and trust that He really does mean me.