Gospel: March 23, 2024
(Saturday)
5th Week of Lent
Psalter: Week 1 / (Violet)
St. Toribio de Mogrovejo, bishop
Responsorial Psalm: Jer 31: 10, 11-12abcd, 13
The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
1st Reading: Ezekiel 37: 21-28You will then say to them: Thus says Yahweh: I am about to withdraw the Israelites from where they were among the nations.
I shall gather them from all around and bring them back to their land. I shall make them into one people on the mountains of Israel; and one king is to be king of them all. They will no longer form two nations or be two separate kingdoms, nor will they defile themselves again with their idols, their detestable practices and their sins. I shall free them from the guilt of their treachery; I shall cleanse them; and they will be for me a people, and I shall be God for them. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all. They will live according to my laws and follow and practice my decrees. They will settle in the land I gave to my servant Jacob where their ancestors lived. There, they will live forever, their children and their children’s children. David, my servant, will be their prince forever.
I shall establish a Covenant of peace with them, an everlasting Covenant. I shall settle them; and they will increase; and I shall put my Sanctuary in their midst forever. I shall make my home at their side; I shall be their God and they will be my people. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh who makes Israel holy, having my Sanctuary among them forever.
Gospel: John 11: 45-56Many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what he did; but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Council. They said, “What are we to do? For this man keeps on performing many miraculous signs. If we let him go on like this, all the people will believe in him and, as a result of this, the Romans will come and destroy our Holy Place and our nation.”
Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.” In saying this Caiaphas did not speak for himself, but being High Priest that year, he foretold like a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also would die in order to gather into one the scattered children of God. So, from that day on, they were determined to kill him. Because of this, Jesus no longer moved about freely among the Jews. He withdrew instead to the country near the wilderness, and stayed with his disciples in a town called Ephraim.
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. They looked for Jesus and, as they stood in the temple, they talked with one another, “What do you think? Will he come to the festival?”
Reflection:“Give life to others.”
The chief priests and the Pharisees joined forces against Jesus because they were afraid that many people were beginning to believe in Jesus. They thought of stopping Jesus because if more people would believe in him, the Romans would come and destroy their nation and the temple. This happened after Jesus had performed the seventh and the last sign or miracle in the Gospel of John, which is the raising of Lazarus back to life. Jesus had brought somebody back to life and the religious authorities of his time began plotting to kill him. Jesus was carrying out his mission of bringing life in its fullness and there were people who would try to stop him. These people belonged to the portion of humanity that had been overtaken by darkness, corrupted by the power they were enjoying. They were selfish and insecure. Jesus, on the contrary, secure with the Father’s love, would offer his own life as a consequence of his mission of bringing the fullness of life. As we are about to enter the “Semana Santa,” let us be mindful of our Christian mission of offering our life in order to give life to others.
