Gospel: April 2, 2025
April 2, 2025 (Wednesday)
4th Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)
St. Francis of Paola, hermit
St. Pedro Calungsod, martyr
Ps 145:8-9, 13cd-14, 17-1
The Lord is gracious and merciful.
1st Reading: Isaiah 49:8-15
Gospel: John 5:17-30
Jesus replied, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” And the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance, but also made himself equal with God, calling God his own Father. Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever he does, the Son also does. The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills. In the same way, the Father judge’s no one, for he has entrusted all judgment to the Son, and he wants all to honor the Son, as they honor the Father. Whoever ignores the Son, ignores as well the Father who sent him. Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; and there is no judgment for him, because he has passed from death to life. Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, on hearing it, will live. For the Father has life in himself, and he has given to the Son also to have life in himself. And he has empowered him as well to carry out Judgment, for he is Son of Man. Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear my voice and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned. I can do nothing of myself. As I hear, so I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
Reflection:
“Simplicity and humility”
St. Francis of Paola founded the Minim Friars. “Minim” refers to living as the smallest or the least, in imitation of Christ, embracing a life of simplicity. Two of the founding tenets of the order were humility andnonviolence, expressed in the desire to do no harm to any creature.
This led St. Francis of Paola to embrace what would now be known asa vegan diet, and to restore animals to life that had been killed for food.
After much prayer, he also brought his young nephew Nicholas back from the dead. Francis, like all saints, did not perform these miracles on his own. He relied on the Lord to work through him. It is another link of the chain of grace that we read about in today’s Gospel. “Truly … the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do … As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he wills.” The link that unites us to Christ is humility, just as in the life of Saint Francis. May we grow in simplicity and humility, so that Christ can work through each of us.
