Churches of the Day

Wednesday, Fourth Week in Lent

Pride and joy in belonging to the Church should be part of our inheritance as the chosen people
built up by the Spirit into a house where God lives, as a holy nation and a royal priesthood.

Saint of the Day: March 18th: St Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop and doctor of the Church
C/f A short life of this saint can be found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the prophet  Isaiah      49:8-15
 I have appointed you as covenant of the people to restore the land.

Thus says the Lord:
At the favourable time I will answer you, on the day of salvation I will help you. (I have formed you and have appointed you as covenant of the people.) I will restore the land and assign you the estates that lie waste.
I will say to the prisoners, 'Come out', to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves'.

On every roadway they will graze, and each bare height shall be their pasture. They will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind and sun shall never plague them; for he who pities them will lead them and guide them to springs of water. I will make a highway of all the mountains, and the high roads shall be banked up. Some are on their way from afar, others from the north and the west, others from the land of Sinim.
Shout for joy, you heavens; exult, you earth! You mountains, break into happy cries!
For the Lord consoles his people and takes pity on those who are afflicted.'

For Zion was saying,  'the Lord has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.'
Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.'

The Word of the Lord.          Thanks be to God.


Responsorial Psalm        Ps 144: 8-9, 13-14, 17-18 R/v 8
Response                              The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

1. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.         Response

2. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall and raises all who are bowed down.   Response

3. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.     Response

Gospel  Acclamation                          Jn 3: 16  
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son;
everyone who believes in him has eternal life.'
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

Or                                                               Jn 11: 25, 26
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
'I am the resurrection and the life', says the Lord,
'whoever believes in me will never die.'
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

GOSPEL  

 The Lord be with you.                         And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John        5.17-30        Glory to you, O Lord    
As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.

Jesus said to the Jews, 'My Father goes on working, and so do I.'
But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God's equal. To this accusation Jesus replied:
'I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does himself,
and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you.

Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses;
for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son as they honour the  Father.
Whoever refuses honour to the Son refuses honour to the Father who sent him.
I tell you most solemnly, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me, has eternal life; without being brought to judgement, he has passed from death to life.

I tell you most solemnly, the hour will come - in fact it is here already – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live. For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life; and, because he is the Son of Man, has appointed him supreme judge.

Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice:those who did good will rise again to life; and those who did evil, to condemnation.
I can do nothing by myself; I can only judge as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because my aim is to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.'

The Gospel of the Lord.            Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

**********************    
Gospel Reflection          Wednesday          Fourth Week of Lent        John 5:17-30

In answer to the religious authorities’ question as to why Jesus works on the Sabbath by healing people, Jesus replies, ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I’. God never ceases to do God’s saving, reconciling, healing, life-giving work, not even on the Sabbath. Because of Jesus’ unique relationship with God, his Father, he too must go on working, day after day. A line in one of the psalms says of God that he neither slumbers nor sleeps. God is always awake and alert to us, always working for our present and ultimate well-being. The same is true of Jesus, our risen Lord. Even when he seems to be asleep, as he was in the storm at sea, he is alert to us. God never forgets us, just as a woman never forgets her baby at the breast, in the language of today’s first reading. We forget God from time to time. We are not always alert to God. We don’t always work on God’s behalf. We can be faithless.

Yet, God and his Son are always faithful. They go on working among us and within us. Likewise, the Holy Spirit works away within us. According to Saint Paul, even when do not know how to pray, the Spirit ‘intercedes with sighs too deep for words’ (Rom 8:26). God began a good work in our lives the moment we were created and enhanced that good work at our baptism. God is always working to bring that good work to completion, through the agency of his Son, our risen Lord, and the Holy Spirit. It can be reassuring to remember this good news, when we are tempted to cry out like the people of Israel in the first reading, ‘The Lord has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me’.

____________________________

The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/


The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

_________________________

Saint of the Day: March 18th:  St Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop and doctor of the Church

Cyril, monk, deacon priest, and bishop is most famous as the author of the 'Mystagogic Catecheses', that is, sermons given to newly initiated adults to enable them reach a full understanding of the "mysteries" or "sacraments" they received. He also wrote a defence of orthodox doctrine about Jesus against Arianism.

Patrick Duffy tells his story and gives two significant quotes from his work on how we ought receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

Early life
Cyril was ordained deacon, in 335, by Bishop Makarios, and priest, in 345, by Bishop Maximus. He became a bishop three years later. Initially he was supported by the Arian bishop, Acacius of Caesarea, who was his metropolitan.

Accusations
However, Bishop Acacius of Caesarea brought accusations against Cyril that he sold gifts the emperor had given to the Church to raise funds to feed the poor; some of the vestments the emperor gave were reported seen as clothing for actors!

Exile
It was also seen that, contrary to what had been thought, Cyril was not on the side of the Arians, but of orthodox doctrine. Acacius and his Arian bishops summoned a council to which Cyril did not come, condemned him and had him exiled from Jerusalem. Even though he was later re-instated, he was exiled once again by the Arian-sympathising emperor Valens.

Attended the Council of Constantinople 381
Finally, however, under the orthodox Catholic emperor Theodosius,  Cyril was recalled in 379 and attended the Council of Constantinople, which further condemned Arianism and strengthened orthodox doctrine.

Influence
Pope Leo XIII named Cyril of Jerusalem a doctor of the Church in 1883. His Mystagogical Catecheses have had considerable influence in drawing up the revised Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) after the Second Vatican Council and promulgated by Pope Paul VI in 1972. Below are two extracts from Mystagogical Catechesis V, one on receiving the Body of Christ, the other on receiving the Cup of His Blood. These extracts inspired the restoration of the practice of the faithful receiving Communion in the hand and partaking of the Blood of Christ from the chalice.

Receive the Body of Christ: Amen
"Approaching, therefore, come not with your wrists extended, or your fingers open; but make your left hand as if a throne for your right, which is on the eve of receiving the King. And having hallowed your palm, receive the Body of Christ, saying after it, Amen. Then after you have with carefulness hallowed your eyes by the touch of the Holy Body, partake thereof; giving heed lest you lose any of it; for what you lose is a loss to you as it were from one of your own members. For tell me, if any one gave you gold dust, would you not with all precaution keep it fast, being on your guard against losing any of it, and suffering loss?  How much more cautiously then will you observe that not a crumb falls from you, of what is more precious than gold and precious stones?" (MC V, 21)

Approach also to the Cup of His Blood: Amen
"Then after having partaken of the Body of Christ, approach also to the Cup of His Blood; not stretching forth your hands, but bending and saying in the way of worship and reverence, 'Amen, be hallowed by partaking also of the blood of Christ.' And while the moisture is upon your lips, touching it with your hands, hallow both your eyes and brow and the other senses. then wait for the prayer, and give thanks unto God, who has accounted you worthy of so great mysteries." (MC V, 22)

******************************

Memorable Saying for Today

If we don't teach our children who God is,
someone else will teach them everything that he isn't.

~ Darlene Schacht ~

******************************

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Lazarus’ resurrection is a 'figure' and 'type' of Jesus’ resurrection, and of our resurrection,
first to divine life in Baptism and after to our definitive resurrection at the end of time.
The Gospel is a call to a deeper faith and love in the Spirit living in us, giving life to our mortal bodies.

Third Scrutiny of the Elect 

FIRST READING

A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel        37:12-14
 I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.

"The Lord says this:
I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel. And you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people.
And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this - it is the Lord who speaks."

The Word of the Lord            Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm          Ps 129 R/v 7
Response                              With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

l. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord,  Lord, hear my voice!
   O let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleading.                          Response

2. If you, O Lord, should mark our guilt, Lord, who would survive?
    But with you is found forgiveness: for this we revere you.                      Response

3. My soul is waiting for the Lord, I count on his word.
    My soul is longing for the Lord more than watchman for daybreak.
    (Let the watchman count on daybreak and Israel on the Lord.)            Response

4. Because with the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption,
     Israel indeed he will redeem from all its iniquity.                                    Response

SECOND READING

A reading from the letter of St Paul to the Romans          8:8-11
The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you.

People who are interested only in unspiritual things can never be pleasing to God. Your interests, however, are not in the unspiritual, but in the spiritual, since the Spirit of God has made his home in you. In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. Though your body may be dead it is because of sin, but if Christ is in you then your spirit is life itself because you have been justified; and if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

The Word of the Lord            Thanks be to God.

Gospel  Acclamation        Jn 11: 25. 26
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord,
whoever believes in me will never die.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

GOSPEL


The Lord be with you.           And with your spirit 
A reading from the Gospel according to John 11:1-45          Glory to you , Lord
'I am the resurrection and the life.

There was a man named Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany with the two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he was ill. - It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. The sisters sent this message to Jesus, 'Lord, the man you love is ill'.
On receiving the message, Jesus said, 'This sickness will end not in death but in God's glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified'.

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he heard that Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judaea'. The disciples said, 'Rabbi, it is not long since the Jews wanted to stone you; are you going back again?'
Jesus replied: ' Are there not twelve hours in the day? A man can walk in the daytime without stumbling because he has the light of this world to see by; but if he walks at night he stumbles, because there is no light to guide him.'

He said that and then added, 'Our friend Lazarus is resting, I am going to wake him'.
The disciples said to him, 'Lord, if he is able to rest he is sure to get better'.
The phrase Jesus used referred to the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by 'rest' he meant 'sleep',
so Jesus put it plainly, 'Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him.'
Then Thomas - known as the Twin - said to the other disciples, 'Let us go too, and die with him'.

On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, 'If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you'.
'Your brother' said Jesus to her 'will rise again.'
Martha said, 'I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day'.
Jesus said: 'I am the resurrection. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?'
'Yes, Lord,' she said 'I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.'

When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, 'The Master is here and wants to see you'. Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were in the house sympathising with Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, 'Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died'. At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart, 'Where have you put him?'
They said, 'Lord, come and see'. Jesus wept; and the Jews said, 'See how much he loved him!' But there were some who remarked, 'He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man's death?'
Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening.
Jesus said, 'Take the stone away'.
Martha said to him, 'Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day'.
Jesus replied, 'Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?'
So they took away the stone.
Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said:
'Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I knew indeed that you always hear me,
but I speak for the sake of all these who stand round me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me.'

When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, here! Come out!'
The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face.
Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, let him go free'.

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.     Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

__________________________________________________________________________

 (Shorter form)
GOSPEL                         John  11:3-7. 17. 20-27. 33-45
I am the resurrection and the life.

The sisters Martha and Mary sent this message to Jesus, ‘Lord, the man you love is ill.’
On receiving the message, Jesus said, ‘This sickness will not end in death but in God’s glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified.’

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, yet when he learned that Lazarus was ill he stayed where he was for two more days before saying to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judaea.’

On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. Martha said to Jesus, ‘If you had been here, my brother would not have died, but I know that even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you.’
'Your brother’ said Jesus to her ‘will rise again.’
Martha said, ‘I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?

‘Yes Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into this world.’ Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart, ‘Where have you put him?’ They said, ‘See how much he loved him!’ But there were some who remarked, ‘He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man’s death?’
Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb; it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.’ Martha said to him, ‘Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day.’
Jesus replied, ‘Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?’ So they took away the stone.
Then Jesus lifted up his eyes and said:
‘Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer. I knew indeed that you always hear me, but I speak for the sake of all these who stand round me, so that they may believe it was you who sent me.’

When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, here! Come out!’
The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face.
Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, let him go free.’

Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord   Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

***************************

For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.