Sunday, March 17th
Scripture
Jer 31: 31-34
Ps 51: 3-4, 12-15
Heb 5: 7-9
Jn 12: 20-33
Reflection
“I will make a new covenant…I will be their God
and they shall be my people.”
Jer 31: 31, 33
A covenant is holy. It is not simply an agreement or an exchange of goods or a promise to fulfill a pledged obligation. Rather, it is an interior gifting of one to another, a promise of fidelity to reverently receive the other and, in turn, to fully offer oneself. The covenant vowed in Jeremiah is especially sacred because it bonds us with God. It is astonishing that God, the Holy One, would so deliberately and explicitly enter into such a covenant with each of us. We would not dare to imagine such a reality except for the fact that it is God’s Own Self who initiates and fulfills the covenant.
God’s covenant is made visible in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. “The grain of wheat that falls to the ground and dies and produces much fruit.” Jesus yields himself completely to us with His Divine hope we will completely yield ourselves to Him. As with Jesus, this covenant is not fulfilled with a promise in words, but by the daily receiving of God and giving of ourselves to God. What is of essence is to be seized by God’s unyielding fidelity to us.
Prayer
Place, O God, your law of love within me
and write it upon my heart.
Let nothing less than you be my God,
and let me completely belong to you.
Personal Challenge
In my examine today, I reflect on and thank God
for God’s fidelity to me and my fidelity to God.
Sister Marcella Clancy, CSJ
Detroit, MI
