Today is the third Sunday of Lent
Starting today parishes all over the world, who have people preparing for baptism, are celebrating what the Church calls the Scrutinies. There is one for each Sunday, today, next Sunday, and the following Sunday.
The Scrutinies are prayers prayed over the Elect, those preparing for baptism, asking God to help them to acknowledge and turn away from sin. Here is an excerpt from today’s Scrutiny. Regardless of the year (A, B, or C) the Year A Gospel reading is supposed to be used when a Scrutiny is celebrated since there are references to that reading in the prayer.
“O God, who sent your Son to us as savior, grant that these elect, who desire to draw living water like the Samaritan woman and have been converted by word of the Lord, may acknowledge the hindrance of their own sins and weaknesses.
Do not permit them, we pray, to rely on a vain confidence in themselves and to be deceived by the power of the devil, but free them from the spirit of untruth, so that, recognizing their sinfulness, they may be cleansed inwardly and advance on the way of salvation.”
It seems to me that we can all benefit from these prayers, just slightly adapted for our own situation. Grant that we..us instead of them, etc. Here’s an example of what I mean:
O God, who sent your Son to us as savior, grant that we, who desire to draw living water like the Samaritan woman and have been converted by word of the Lord, may acknowledge the hindrance of our sins and weaknesses.
Do not permit us, we pray, to rely on a vain confidence in ourselves and to be deceived by the power of the devil, but free us from the spirit of untruth, so that, recognizing our sinfulness, we may be cleansed inwardly and advance on the way of salvation.
So, as we journey through Lent maybe we should read the Year A Sunday Gospel each of these three weeks and pray these prayers for ourselves.
I’ll include the main Scrutiny prayer the next two weeks so you’ll have it. The Year A Gospel readings for those weeks are the Man Born Blind (Jn 9) and the Raising of Lazarus (Jn 11).
That’s it for now. Thanks for reading.
I hope you’re having a profitable Lent and will have a great week.
Peace, Bob
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