Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

In today’s Gospel, some of the Jews who believe in Jesus struggle to recognize the truth of his divinity. Jesus, truth incarnate in the person of Christ, says to them: “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” But they believe that as descendants of Abraham, they have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it, then, that Jesus tells them that the truth will set them free? As the Son of God, Jesus freely chooses to do the will of the Father through his passion, death, and resurrection, and in that he invites us into the freedom of discipleship. Jesus tells them: “A slave does not remain in a household forever, but a son always remains. So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.” Like the people Jesus addresses in today’s Gospel, are there precedents or biases I accept that are obstacles to the truth of Jesus Christ?

God, give me the grace to recognize that I often accept partial truths as if they were incontrovertible realities. Help me take care today of the agendas I set for myself this morning that I check against tonight. Do I measure my worth by the things I plan to do and then carry out? Have I accomplished my will? There is something disappointing and bitter in living that way—checking off accomplishments. What can I hope to accomplish in a day unless I first seek to know your will? God, I want to live today knowing that your Son frees me to hear your voice and do your will.

Lord, thank you for the peace in knowing you are near. You loved me first. Keep me in your truth today and always so that I am free to receive your love!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

So Jesus said to the Pharisees, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus reveals to the Pharisees what is about to take place in his crucifixion. Jesus, the Son of Man, will be lifted up on the cross to die for the sins of all. By telling the Pharisees that unless they believe that Jesus is I AM—that is, Yahweh, God the Father—he invites them into his redemption through faith and repentance: “For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” In God’s love for his people, in that lifting up of Jesus on the cross, a paradox unfolds before all of humanity. The cross becomes an instrument of the resurrection. By dying, Christ destroyed death; by rising, he restored life. As Saint Paul says in his letter to the Corinthians: “For since death came through man, the resurrection of the dead came also through man.” The Pharisees question Jesus: “Who are you?” Far from being a remnant from the historical life of Jesus, this question is one that I can ask myself daily. But unlike the Pharisees, I have the benefit of knowing the answer through his resurrection. He is I AM.

God, I want to come to a greater understanding of what Jesus meant when he said to the Pharisees: “I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.” Your son sits at your right hand and belongs with you above. The Pharisees who belonged to the world did not recognize the blindness of sin and so would die with their sins in this world. Help me understand that you belong to what is above and that you also want me to die to this world through repentance so that I can rise to new life through your son. Help me realize that Jesus is I AM.

Lord, as you always do what is pleasing to your Father, help me do what is pleasing to you. Be with me today and increase my awareness that with you I am never left alone.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.

Saying these few words, Jesus then bends down and in that moment when no words are spoken, the crowd slowly disperses. In today’s Gospel, it is the elders who are the first to walk away from stoning the woman caught in adultery. In that still moment, they recognize that they also commit sin and are not free from guilt. By contrast, in the first reading from Daniel, it is the elders who are the first to accuse Susanna of adultery to hide their sin. John tells us in today’s Gospel that after the crowd goes away one by one, Jesus says to the woman: “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She tells him, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus says to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Before saying this to the woman, Jesus straightens up the woman; this is a detail not to be missed. He reaches out his hand to her to raise up the helpless.

God, there are times, as in the responsorial psalm, where the day’s walk is through a dark valley. In the first reading and in the Gospel, the crowd—the mob—accuses and wants nothing more than to see justice carried out even to the point of death. This is the world you sent your son into. Am I sometimes the one in the midst of the mob? Even when Jesus says “Let the one among you who is without sin,” there is one who would throw a stone regardless. During the Gospel reading on Good Friday, the congregation takes the voice of the crowd, crying out “Crucify him.” Help me, Lord, be merciful and forgiving. You alone know the sins of others and are the just judge. Give me the grace to quiet the mob voice within me. In the dark valley of waywardness and sin, straighten me up so that I can find a way back to you; guide me in the way of forgiveness.

Be with me today, merciful Lord, and forgive me. “Even though I walk in the dark valley, I fear no evil; for you are at my side.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Fifth Sunday of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

In this Sunday’s Gospel, both Martha and Mary say this to Jesus as he approaches their brother Lazarus’s tomb. Jesus makes clear to the disciples that he will raise Lazarus from the dead, saying, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.” Martha, one of the two sisters who in another Gospel passage busies herself in the kitchen while Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, says to Jesus: “But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” She believes that Jesus is the Messiah, saying, “I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” Jesus then asks Martha to send for Mary, who was inside mourning. Using the same words as Martha, Mary says to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw Mary’s weeping and the weeping of friends who had come with her, John tells us that Jesus became perturbed and deeply troubled. Jesus asked where Lazarus was, and he wept before going to the tomb that kept Lazarus bound by death.

God, I want to see today’s Gospel with a fresh set of eyes. At its core is a stark reality: Jesus, your son, raised Lazarus from the dead. Help me see also Martha’s and Mary’s responses to their brother’s death and the faith and trust they had in your mercy. Martha is stouthearted in her faith, and expresses it in certain terms: “You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Overcome with grief, Mary sheds tears that brings Jesus himself to weep. Both Mary and Martha reach out to your son in faith, and he responds to them with mercy by raising Lazarus from the dead. I believe, Lord; help my unbelief.

God, thank you for your mercy, your loving-kindness toward those in pain. Strengthen my faith in your son, who says to you before raising Lazarus from the dead: “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me.” 

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”

These words of the angel Gabriel follow Mary’s question at the annunciation: “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” Rather than challenging God’s power and ability to do the impossible, Mary’s question suggests the nature of her relationship with God. Your will, God, not mine. After Gabriel responds to her, she says, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. In her question also is a sense of the awe she felt before God. That same sense of wonder overshadowed her as she learned that her barren cousin Elizabeth had conceived a son and was in her sixth month. The last words Gabriel speaks before departing are “for nothing will be impossible for God.” There is so much beauty in the Annunciation, any aspect of it is worth spending time pondering.

Lord, I can imagine Mary pondered these words long after Gabriel left her; carrying them with her as she carried Jesus; carrying them with her in his infancy and childhood; and carrying them with her to the foot of the cross. Mary’s simple question—”How can this be?”—was answered again and again throughout her motherhood. Mary said yes to the Incarnation, obedient to the Lord’s merciful will; her son said yes to suffering and death, destroying death and rising to new life to bring all of us redemption. “How can this be?” That’s a question I can ask of myself every day to understand your will. Help me, Lord, respond by saying, “May it be done according to your word.”

Lord, thank you for the gift of your presence! Overshadow me today; make your will known.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

In today’s Gospel according to John, Jesus can’t keep his divine identity secret. Although Jesus seeks to travel covertly to the Jewish feast of Tabernacles because there were some in Jerusalem who were trying to kill him, once there he hears what some of the people are saying about him. “Is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.” They go on to say about Jesus: “Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” Jesus then cries out in the temple area as he is teaching: “You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” They try to arrest Jesus, but John tells us “no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.”

God, help me learn how you move and act through my life each day. As Saint Paul says, in you “we live and move and have our being.” The people of Jerusalem knew your Son yet did not know you or where he came from. Their expectation was that the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from. God, you work in ways that confound human understanding. What the people of Jerusalem assumed—that no one would know where the Messiah is from—blinded them to the coming of Christ. You walked and moved among your people, yet many did not see it. In my own preoccupation with the way things usually work, I completely miss the works you accomplish every day. In each day made up of a multitude of experiences, you alone in the mystery of your being are true.

“Be still and know that I am God.” Give me the grace, Lord, to know you through your works today and always.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said: “Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues speaking to some of the Jewish people who question his divinity because he calls God his Father. Although Jesus recognizes the light of testimony that John brought, Jesus tells the Jewish people he addresses that he does not accept human testimony. Jesus says to them: “But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.” As the Incarnate word, Jesus’ works testify on behalf of his Father. Jesus also tells the people that he does not accept human praise and questions that basis of belief as a hindrance to their acceptance of him. “For if you had believed Moses,” Jesus says, “you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

God, just as your Son performed works that testified on your behalf, as one baptized I am also called to give witness to you through my prayers, works, sufferings, and joys—through my life—so that in dying and rising with you in baptism I give you glory and praise. The Gospel acclamation sums up Jesus’ earthly mission and is a core belief in giving witness to the Father: “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.”

Strengthen my faith, Lord, that I may always believe your words. From the responsorial psalm: Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said, “I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

Today’s Gospel takes place immediately after yesterday’s, where Jesus cures the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The Jews persecuted Jesus because he cured the man on the sabbath. As the Gospel passage continues, Jesus gives witness to them that he is doing the work of his Father, making himself equal to God, which gives the Jews all the more reason to kill him. Jesus reveals himself to them as the giver of life and the just judge who holds life and death in his hands. “Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.” As the one whom the Father has given all judgment, Jesus tells them that those who have done good deeds will go to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. In his own words, Jesus makes clear his divinity and the hope of eternal life to all who would hear him.

God, you have given all judgment to your Son. During the remaining days of Lent, help me identify and root out any wrong I have done that keeps me from hearing your voice and doing your will. Often I move throughout the day unaware of your presence, and I try but sometimes fail to make the best use of your gift of time. “My Father is at work until now,” Jesus says, “so I am at work.” Father, help me join in your work by seeking your will.

Lord, let me take consolation today in knowing you are with me even when I forget you. From the first reading from Isaiah, let me remember your tenderness: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“Live as children of light,” Saint Paul says, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.”

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sees in Jerusalem a man lying in a portico near the pool of Bethesda. The man had been ill a long time—thirty-eight years, John tells us. Knowing this, Jesus asks him, “Do you want to be well?” The man tells Jesus that he has no one to put him into the pool, so others get there before him as he is on his way. Jesus says to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” The man becomes well immediately and takes up his mat and walks. Because this took place on the sabbath, the Jews told the man it was not lawful for him to carry the mat. When they found out that Jesus was the one who made the man well, they began to persecute Jesus. “Look, you are well,” Jesus said to the man, “Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” It might seem odd to ask, but what does Jesus mean? What things worse are there for one who has been ill for thirty-eight years?

God, help me comprehend the everlasting harm to the soul brought on by despair and unrepented sin. Let me see the goodness in this Gospel and take to heart Jesus’ command: “do not sin any more.” To experience Jesus’ healing in confession is to hear him say, “Look, you are well.” In the first reading from Ezekiel, the water that flowed from the temple made trees grow whose leaves would never fade and whose fruit would never fail. “The fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine.” Jesus, you in your being are the medicine that makes us well.

Through the sacraments, I have both healing in this life and the medicine of immortality. God, be my ever-present help in distress today and always. Thank you, Lord, for your presence!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Readings

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

“Live as children of light,” Saint Paul says, “for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

In today’s Gospel, Joseph hears the angel of the Lord and does as he commands. Joseph is the first to take Mary into his home; since then, innumerable Christians throughout history have taken Mary into their homes. Mary’s yes ushered in God’s new creation through Christ; Joseph’s yes brought Mary into the heart of his home and into the center of salvation and redemption for all people. To hear and believe what the angel of the Lord said, Joseph had to put aside fear and, like Mary, begin to ponder the name above all names: Jesus. How can I not respond in kind as Joseph did?

God, give me the grace to comprehend what it means to ask Mary into my home. In doing that, I know there is no guarantee of consolation or receiving whatever I pray for. Instead, the more I ask Mary to intercede for me, the more things will be shaken up as she redirects me to her son. At the Wedding at Cana, Mary said of Jesus to the servers: “Do whatever he says.” And so Jesus began his public ministry, which led to his Passion, death, and resurrection. Hear me, God, and help me recall: when the day’s challenges are in full force and multiple imperatives become entangled with one another, let me be unafraid and do as Joseph did by inviting Mary into the heart of the conflict.

Stay with me, Lord; let me be obedient to you, as Joseph was in his faithful care of Mary and Jesus.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

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Readings