“Before Abraham came to be, I AM.” | Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “Look to the LORD in his strength; seek to serve him constantly. Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought, his portents, and the judgments he has uttered. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:51-59, today’s readings)

So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

In the first reading from Genesis, God says to Abraham: “I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” Jesus speaks to some of the descendants of Abraham as he tells them as the Son of God: “whoever keeps my word will never see death.” They reject him and fail to recognize who stands before them, even as he says, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” In his words and through the sacraments he instituted, Jesus is more fully present to us today than during his earthly ministry.

God, help me understand the perspective of the Jews who rejected Jesus so that I can avoid their literal interpretation of reality. They could not understand Jesus when he said, “Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day; he saw it and was glad.” How was it, they wondered, that Jesus could have witnessed Abraham. Widen my comprehension of the reach of your mercy, Lord, which spans across generations to speak through Christ then and today. “I will be their God,” you said to Abraham. Yet, before Abraham came to be, Jesus says, “I AM.” Jesus knows you and keeps your word, a witness to your truth. Give me the grace to know the great I AM that is present in me every time I receive the Eucharist. The LORD remembers his covenant forever.

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.

“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” | Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “”Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers, praiseworthy and exalted above all forever; And blessed is your holy and glorious name, praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.” Glory and praise for ever!”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:31-42, today’s readings)

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “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.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 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.”

By saying this and testifying even more strongly, Jesus makes clear that he comes from the Father and was sent by him. “I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence; then do what you have heard from the Father.” Despite this, they fail to recognize that Jesus comes to offer them freedom from slavery to sin by remaining in the truth of his word. “We have,” they say, “never been enslaved.” As Jesus offers to free them from sin, he invites them into his Father’s presence as adopted sons and daughters. “A son always remains free.” Still, they call Abraham their father and reject what Jesus teaches them as one who hears the truth of the Father and was sent by him. Consider this: Jesus did not come to coerce and crush opponents but to offer himself freely in sacrifice to destroy death and rise to new life so that we might come into his Father’s household—free forever.

God, help me recognize your gift of freedom we have in choosing Jesus to set us free in his truth. Remaining in his word—the Word that is you and what was from the beginning—I can choose not to roam as a slave of sin but instead find myself as a son in your household today and for endless length of days. In Jesus, your Son, let me place all of my hope and trust. He tells us as a man who has told us the truth of what he heard from you and at the same time as one who “came from God and [is] here.” Give me the grace, Lord, to persevere in choosing to remain in the Word. Jesus, I trust in 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.

“Believe that I AM.” | Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “O LORD, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Hide not your face from me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me; in the day when I call, answer me speedily. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:21-30, today’s readings)

He said to them, “You belong to what is below, 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. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning.”

Twice, Jesus declares his divinity when he tells the Pharisees that he is I AM. When they ask directly who he is, he refers to the beginning of all creation, echoing the first words of Genesis and the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus is able to tell the Pharisees that they will die in their sins if they do not believe in him because he is the Just Judge, the only one capable of judging who goes to eternal life and eternal condemnation. The Pharisees fail to see that Jesus is the Son of God, but Jesus tells them that they will know who he is when they “lift up the Son of Man” in the crucifixion as Jesus perfectly accomplishes the will of the Father. Always doing what is pleasing to the Father, even in that moment of abandonment, Jesus is not alone. Neither are we when we believe in him and come into his kingdom.

Father in heaven, help me see in Jesus’ treatment of the Pharisees an invitation to believe in him. Even as he tells them they will die in their sins, he invites them to come to him by saying, “If you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” Just as Moses listened to you in obedience by lifting up the bronze serpent so that the Israelites might have life, Jesus is lifted high on the cross so that believing, we have the hope of eternal life through his saving death and resurrection. God, nurture the little faith I have and let me see that it is your gift. The verse before the Gospel reminds me how I depend on you for every good gift: “The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.”

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.

“The light of life.” | Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:12-20, today’s readings)

Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So the Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified.” Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because I know where I came from and where I am going.”

Jesus continues to address the scribes and Pharisees. He tells them he is the light of the world and that he gives to his followers the light of life. The Pharisees question how this truth might be verified, but Jesus tells them that his testimony can be verified by the Father, where he came from and where he is going. They judge, Jesus says, by appearances and although he does not judge, his judgment is true because he is the just judge since he is one with the Father. “I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me,” Jesus says. The Pharisees ask, “Where is your father?” Jesus answers, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” Where the Father is, Jesus invites us to be. We hear this as the psalmist describes the dark valley of this life even as he looks forward to the life of the world to come: “And I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come.”

Father in heaven, keep me from walking in darkness by remaining in the light and life of Jesus, your Son. Let me consider his words so that I can take them to heart: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” The world and its deceptions are passing away even as morning passes to afternoon and afternoon to nighttime. Yet, Jesus, light of the world is present here and now and offers the promise of eternal life to those who follow him. There will be darkness in the midst of day, but Christ is the light. There will be death throughout life and at the end of life, but Christ is the light of life. Jesus, light and life, lead 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.

“Neither do I condemn you.” | Fifth Sunday of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, They shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves. The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 8:1-11, today’s readings)

Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

The scribes and Pharisees bring a woman accused of adultery to Jesus. When they first bring her to him, it isn’t because they don’t understand what Mosaic law prescribes as punishment; it’s because they want to accuse Jesus by using his judgment of the woman’s sin as an either-or trap. Would he agree to stone her or dismiss the law? But Jesus teaches the accusers, first in silence as he writes on the ground with his finger and then to expose their own sins as he straightens up and says, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bends down in silence and writes on the ground. The accusers eventually walk away one by one, first the elder ones and then the others. Are the elders wiser? He speaks to all of us as sinners when he says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” True God and true man, Jesus reveals truth and forgives the wickedness and snares of sin.

God, give me the courage to live in your truth and to be just and merciful as Jesus is just and merciful. Help me take responsibility for the ways I have been hypocritical. When I recognize it in others, give me the grace of a discerning heart to live in the truth and name wrongdoing for what it is and at the same time offer mercy. The verse before the Gospel reminds me of this: “Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart; for I am gracious and merciful.” You are gracious, Lord, because you bring your truth and light to sin yet remain merciful when mercy is not deserved. Jesus easily silenced the Pharisees because he brought to light their hypocrisy in setting a trap for him. Jesus doesn’t play their game but instead says, as in Isaiah, “See, I am doing something new . . . for the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.”

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.

“Have you also been deceived?” | Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “A shield before me is God, who saves the upright of heart; A just judge is God, a God who punishes day by day. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 7:40-53, today’s readings)

So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”

The people react to Jesus in various ways as they hear him teach. Some say that he is the Prophet; others, that he is the Messiah. The chief priests and Pharisees ask why the guards did not bring Jesus with them. They answer that they have never heard anyone speak like him, and the Pharisees criticize them for being deceived. Only Nicodemus defends Jesus, saying it is just to hear him before he is judged. Just as Jeremiah was “like a trusting lamb led to slaughter” as people plotted against him, Jesus faced the rejection of the Pharisees and other skeptics who questioned which town the Messiah would come from. Jesus presents the truth to every person he encounters; whether they accept the truth of his divinity results in unity or division. John emphasizes this by noting the response of the Pharisees: “Then each went to his own house.”

God, guide me today to trust in your justice and judgment. Help me uphold what I know to be true, especially when truth is challenged or dismissed, because small truths matter and begin and end in your Truth. The guards in the Gospel failed to bring Jesus to the Pharisees because they had never heard anyone speak like him. Despite the guards’ witness to the truths Jesus spoke, the Pharisees rejected this, continuing to live outside of the reality of Jesus’ divinity: “Have you also been deceived?” they ask. Strengthen my faith; give me the grace to stand firm in the truth—the embodiment of truth in the person of Christ. O searcher of heart and soul, O just God, I take refuge in 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.

“I know him, because I am from him.” | Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. Many are the troubles of the just man, but out of them all the LORD delivers him. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30, today’s readings)

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.” So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come.

Although by leaving Galilee Jesus risks his life, he travels to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles when Jewish people remember God’s provision for them as they wandered in the desert. Jesus goes to Jerusalem, aware that some of the Jews are trying to kill him. Similarly, the wicked as described in the first reading plan to kill the just one who believes “God will take care of him.” Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem fail to recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, saying, “When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” Some of them simply want Jesus dead. But in full communion with the Father, Jesus knows the Father and knows that he will take care of him. “I know him,” Jesus says, “because I am from him, and he sent me.” And God did provide. John tells us that no one laid a hand on Jesus because it was not yet his time.

God, help me recognize that as the Book of Wisdom teaches, there will always be the wicked and the just one. The wicked are many, and like the unclean sprit that Jesus drove out, Legion is its name and its way of being and speaking; it seeks to test gentleness and patience with many snares. Defend me, Lord. Give me the grace of single-mindedness to keep my eyes fixed on the cross. Through the cross, you took care of your Son in his passion, death, and resurrection, bringing him into your glory. Through the risen Christ, you offer the promise of salvation and the hope of eternal life. Saint Isidore, pray for us!

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.

“I came in the name of my Father.” | Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 5:31-47, today’s readings)

“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. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.”

The religious leaders Jesus addresses fail to recognize that he is the Messiah. The testimony he gives is not mere witness to himself but comes from the Father’s testimony about him. Sent by the Father to perform his works and accomplish his mission, Jesus sees their refusal to come to him in true faith and understanding and its consequences for eternal life. As Moses intercedes to God for the Israelites after they worship self-made idols, Jesus intercedes to the Father for the salvation of all through his passion, death, and resurrection. He speaks to everyone when he says of Moses, “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” Even now as he intercedes for us, Jesus calls us to deeper faith in him as the One sent by the Father to do his will. Glory to God in the highest!

God, I hear Jesus say he does not accept human testimony and praise. Help me come to you, Lord, to praise you by doing your will and to seek only the praise that comes from you. This is too much for me to do on my own. Give me the grace today to listen out for you and do what you ask me to do. I know I will find you when I move in peace. In calling to mind the Gloria, teach me more and more to have the love of you within me. “For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.”

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.

“I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” | Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. The Lord is gracious and merciful.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 5:17-30, today’s readings)

“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.”

Jesus continues to be persecuted by some of the Jews. He responds to them by saying, “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” For saying this, John tells us that they try all the more to kill Jesus. Through the love of the Father, Jesus does the Father’s will and performs works to bring salvation “so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.” Jesus sets an example for all who follow him, revealing that he is the just judge—the Son of God who perfectly performs the Father’s will and has “possession of life in himself.” May all honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

God, strengthen my faith in your Son and help my unbelief: The One who is the resurrection and the life offers eternal life, saying, “whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.” Lord, help me listen to Jesus and follow his example. He says he can do nothing on his own yet at the same time through you he has power to exercise judgment and “give life to whomever he wishes.” If Jesus does your will and can do nothing on his own, give me the grace to understand and accomplish your will for me. I know you hear me, Lord. As you say through Isaiah: “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” Jesus, I trust in 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.

“Do you want to be well?” | Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

From the responsorial psalm: “God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in distress. Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 5:1-16, today’s readings)

When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

In Jerusalem, there is a pool called Bethesda where many people come who have a number of illnesses. One man lies near there who has been ill for 38 years. When Jesus first encounters him, he hears how others get to the pool before he is able to. Healing him on the Sabbath, Jesus then slips away into the crowd. When Jewish authorities confront the healed man for carrying his mat on the sabbath, explaining that Jesus healed him, they look for Jesus to persecute him for performing this act on the sabbath. Jesus finds the man later in the temple area and warns him to sin no more. Just as the waters described in Ezekiel’s vision bring abundant physical life, through his passion, death, and resurrection, Jesus brings new life to those who believe in him.

God, let me consider the words of Jesus throughout the day: “Do you want to be well?” Not a prompt for an automatic yes or for greater rational examination, the question is your constant invitation to go further and deeper, as Ezekiel went deeper into the river flowing from the temple. The angel draws Ezekiel from ankle-deep water to depths that eventually engulfed him in a river teeming with life. Give me the grace to recognize the areas in my life where choosing to be well means allowing you to overwhelm me. Do I want to be well? The voice of Christ says, “Take up your mat and walk.” Help me hear and obey him. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

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.