Gospel: April 3, 2025
April 3, 2025 (Thursday)
4th Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 4 / (Violet)
Ps 106:19-20, 21-22, 23
Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
1st Reading: Exodus 32:7-14
Gospel: John 5:31-47
If I bore witness to myself, my testimony would be worthless. But Another One is bearing witness to me, and I know that his testimony is true when he bears witness to me. John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so that you may be saved. John was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were willing to enjoy his light. But I have greater evidence than that of John the works which the Father entrusted to me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness: the Father has sent me. Thus he who bears witness to me is the Father who sent me. You have never heard his voice and have never seen his likeness; therefore, as long as you do not believe his messenger, his word is not in you.
You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to me. But you refuse to come to me, that you may live. I am not seeking human praise; but I know that the love of God is not within you, or I have come in my Father’s name and you do not accept me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. As long as you seek praise from one another, instead of seeking the glory which comes from the only God, how can you believe? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?
Reflection:
“Let’s examine our motives.”
A seminarian once said to me that he thought St. Teresa of Avila’s account of the spiritual life in her Interior Castle was like a game of snakes and ladders. We climb up to God and then in the blink of an eye we slip down again. This sudden loss of close relationship with God is described in Exodus when God says, “They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them and have made for themselves a molten calf.” No matter how close to God we become, we can be tempted to abandon him and replace him with idols. The idol could be power, pleasure, money or sensuality, all of which cloud our vision of God’s ways. Yet another idol, mentioned by Jesus in the Gospel, is praise. An idol is a misuse of a created thing, and so in itself the thing isn’t bad. Likewise, praise is good in the right place. It affirms and supports others. But if we turn all our attention to gaining praise, our motives will have changed from doing things out of love to doing them for acclaim. Let’s examine our motives, so we can keep climbing the ladder to God.
