Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope
Lectionary: 423
Reading 1
The hand of the LORD came upon me,
and led me out in the Spirit of the LORD
and set me in the center of the plain,
which was now filled with bones.
He made me walk among the bones in every direction
so that I saw how many they were on the surface of the plain.
How dry they were!
He asked me:
Son of man, can these bones come to life?
I answered, “Lord GOD, you alone know that.”
Then he said to me:
Prophesy over these bones, and say to them:
Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!
Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:
See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.
I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you,
cover you with skin, and put spirit in you
so that you may come to life and know that I am the LORD.
I prophesied as I had been told,
and even as I was prophesying I heard a noise;
it was a rattling as the bones came together, bone joining bone.
I saw the sinews and the flesh come upon them,
and the skin cover them, but there was no spirit in them.
Then the LORD said to me:
Prophesy to the spirit, prophesy, son of man,
and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord GOD
From the four winds come, O spirit,
and breathe into these slain that they may come to life.
I prophesied as he told me, and the spirit came into them;
they came alive and stood upright, a vast army.
Then he said to me:
Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel.
They have been saying,
“Our bones are dried up,
our hope is lost, and we are cut off.”
Therefore, prophesy and say to them: Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1) Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let the redeemed of the LORD say,
those whom he has redeemed from the hand of the foe
And gathered from the lands,
from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They went astray in the desert wilderness;
the way to an inhabited city they did not find.
Hungry and thirsty,
their life was wasting away within them.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
They cried to the LORD in their distress;
from their straits he rescued them.
And he led them by a direct way
to reach an inhabited city.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his mercy
and his wondrous deeds to the children of men,
Because he satisfied the longing soul
and filled the hungry soul with good things.
R. Give thanks to the Lord; his love is everlasting.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Teach me your paths, my God,
guide me in your truth.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,
they gathered together, and one of them,
a scholar of the law, tested him by asking,
“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
He said to him,
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart,
with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the greatest and the first commandment.
The second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Meditation
Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
The readings of today lead us into the heart of a deeply moving message of hope: God is capable of bringing life back where everything seems dried up, and of putting love back at the centre of our existence. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel is led by the Spirit of the Lord into a valley filled with dry bones. It is a striking image of a people without life, strength, or hope. And God asks this mysterious question: “Son of man, can these bones live?” Humanly speaking, the answer seems obvious: NO. What is dead is dead. What is broken is broken. And yet Ezekiel responds in faith: “Lord God, only you know.” For with God, even the impossible becomes possible.
Then the Lord commands the prophet to speak. And the Word of God begins to act. The bones come together, they are covered with flesh, and they take shape again… but there is still no life. Something essential is missing: the breath of God, His Spirit. Then the Lord commands: “Come from the four winds, O spirit! Breathe upon these slain, that they may live!” And life returns. A vast army rises. What was dead has become alive.
This vision is a powerful image of our own spiritual lives. There are times when we may resemble those dry bones: inner exhaustion, discouragement, weakened faith, love that has grown cold, and hope that has faded. We may even continue to “function” outwardly while being completely empty within. But God never resigns Himself to our inner death. He does not look upon our dryness in order to condemn us, but in order to raise us up. He wants to place His Spirit within us and give us life again.
The psalm then invites us to respond with gratitude:
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love is everlasting!”
For He is the One who raises us up, gathers us together, and leads us towards life.
In the Gospel, Jesus goes even further by revealing the very heart of this new life: love.
A scholar of the Law asks Him:
“Teacher, which commandment in the Law is the greatest?”
And Jesus answers without hesitation:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
Then He immediately adds:
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Everything is there. The whole Law, all the prophets, and the entire spiritual life can be summed up in this dynamic of love: loving God, loving our neighbour, and loving ourselves in the truth of God.
We can then understand the profound connection between the two readings. The dry bones also represent a heart that has lost its capacity to love. And the breath of God is the Holy Spirit who comes to rekindle within us the ability to love.
For without the Spirit of God, our love quickly becomes exhausted. It becomes self-interest, calculation, weariness, or indifference. But with the Spirit of God, even a wounded heart can become capable of loving again.
Today, the Lord asks us an essential question:
Is my heart still alive in love, or has it become dry like these bones?
To love God with all our heart is not merely an emotion; it is an orientation of our entire life. It means giving Him first place, trusting Him, and obeying Him with love.
To love our neighbour as ourselves means recognizing in every person a life to be respected, a dignity to be honoured, a wound to be healed, and a presence to be welcomed.
And Jesus reminds us that these two forms of love are inseparable. We cannot claim to love God without loving our brother or sister. And we cannot truly love our neighbour without being rooted in God.
Today, the Lord may want to breathe upon an area of our life that has become dead: a damaged relationship, weakened faith, a wounded capacity to love, or a hope that has died.
He simply asks us to allow Him to raise us up.
Let Us Pray
Lord my God, You who bring dry bones back to life, come and visit the dead areas of my life. Breathe upon my tired heart, my weakened faith, and my love that has grown cold.
Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I may rediscover the joy of loving You and loving my brothers and sisters.
Teach me to love You with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my mind, and to recognize Your face in every person I meet.
Amen.
Intercession
Lord, we entrust to You all those who live in discouragement, sadness, or loss of hope. Breathe Your Spirit of life upon them.
We also entrust to You those whose hearts have become hardened or indifferent, so that Your love may awaken them.
Make us witnesses of a living love, rooted in You and open to our brothers and sisters.
Spiritual Exercise
- Take a moment to identify a “dry or lifeless area” in your inner life—faith, prayer, a relationship, forgiveness, or hope.
- Ask the Lord: “Come, Holy Spirit, breathe upon this part of my life and bring it back to life.”
- Slowly meditate on the twofold commandment of love and repeat it as a prayer throughout the day.
Fr. Martial SOH TAKAMTE
