Churches of the Day

Friday, Fourth Week in Lent

Today opposition to Christianity is still violent and bloodstained in some countries of the world.
Elsewhere, ridicule, cynicism, scepticism, and negative publicity are often used.

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
Let us condemn him the virtuous man to a shameful death.

The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:
'Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a Son of the Lord.

Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down; his way of life is not like other men's, the paths he treads are unfamiliar.
In his opinion we are counterfeit; he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth; he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy and boasts of having God for his father.

Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what kind of end he himself will have. If the virtuous man is God's son, God will take his part and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his endurance to the proof. Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.'

This is the way they reason, but they are misled, their malice makes them blind. They do not know the hidden things of God, they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded, they can see no reward for blameless souls.

The Word of the Lord.         Thanks be to God.


Responsorial Psalm       Ps 33: 16. 18. 19-21. 23 R/v 19
Response                            The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.

1. The Lord turns his face against the wicked to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The just call and the Lord hears and rescues them in all their distress.                 Response
2. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man but from them all the Lord will rescue him. Response                      Response

3. He will keep guard over all his bones, not one of his bones shall be broken.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
Those who hide in him shall not be condemned.                                                       Response

Gospel  Acclamation            Joel 2: 12 - 13
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Now, now - it is the Lord who speaks -
come back to me with all your heart, for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

Or                                                 Mt 4:4
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.                                     And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John     7:1-2. 10. 25-30      Glory to you, O Lord   
They would have arrested him then, but his time had not yet come.

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea because the Jews were out to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself.

Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying,
‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him!
Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ?
Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’

Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:
‘Yes, you know me and you know where I came from.
Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him, but I know him because I have come from him and it was he who sent me.'

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

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



Gospel Reflection            Friday              Fourth Week of Lent         John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

As we approach Holy Week the gospel readings have more of an ominous tone to them. Jesus is spoken of in today’s gospel reading as the man they want to kill. Yet, in spite of that, Jesus is described as ‘speaking freely’. The gospel reading suggests that Jesus did not allow the hostility of some people towards him to deter him from doing what he had been sent to do. Twice in that gospel reading Jesus speaks of himself as having come from God and of God as having sent him. Jesus was faithful to his God-given mission, even when that mission made people very hostile towards him. Jesus teaches us to be faithful to our own calling, regardless of the environment in which we find ourselves.

The environment in which we live has not been all that supportive of a life of faith. We could easily get very discouraged as people of faith who are trying to grow in our relationship with Jesus. The portrait of Jesus in today’s gospel reading teaches us to keep living out our baptism and witnessing to the gospel even when it is difficult to do so. Just as Jesus knew the support of his heavenly Father, we will know the support of Jesus. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, God ‘will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it’ (1 Cor 10:13).

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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/

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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.

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 (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

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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.