From the responsorial psalm: “In my distress I called upon the LORD and cried out to my God; From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 10:31-42)
As some of the Jews are trying to stone Jesus for blasphemy, for making himself God, he holds fast in the face of opposition to those who denounce his claim to divinity. Jesus challenges them with the validity of the scriptures and affirms his divine mission: “[C]an you say that the one whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?” Because it was not yet the time, Jesus escaped from their power. We hear the foreshadowing of this in Jeremiah, an echo of Jesus’ victory over the powers of darkness that resounds to the present day: “But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion: my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.”
Father in heaven, hear the words of your Son that meet me where I am today: “I have shown you many good works from my Father.” When accused of blasphemy, Jesus remained steadfast in your consecration of him as he carries out the mission you sent him to accomplish. Give me the grace, Lord, to be confident of the many good works you reveal to me through your Son and help me remove any obstacles that would prevent me from allowing him to work through me today. “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.”