Monday - March 15, 2021
TODAY'S READINGS
March 15, 2021
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 244
Reading 1 Is 65:17-21
Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
or the sound of crying;
No longer shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;
He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
They shall live in the houses they build,
and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.
Responsorial Psalm 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b
R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Alleluia Am 5:14
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Seek good and not
evil so that you may live,
and the LORD will be with you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Jn 4:43-54
At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.
Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.
Miracles without Signs and Wonders
Why is it that we so easily feel discouraged when we don't "see" the answers to our prayers? Jesus says in today's Gospel passage, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe." He said this to a dad who wanted Jesus to come to his house to heal his son.
This man's faith depended on the same thing that ours so often does: "Seeing is believing". He thought that he could only get a miracle if Jesus physically showed up at his house to pray over the boy. Jesus invited him to grow beyond that.
Have you ever wished that Jesus would appear to you in person to assure you that everything is going to turn out okay? I sure have! But then where is our trust in the power and goodness of God? What kind of faith exists without trust?
Jesus told the worried father, "Go on with your life as normal. Your son will live."
This is what Jesus is saying to all of us every time we pray. "Go on with your life as normal," he says. "Now that you've given the problem to me, trust in my wisdom and perfect timing. Don't take it back by disbelieving that I'm working on it. Go about your normal business as if I'm taking care of it beyond your field of vision, because I am."
That message is so true, so important, and so essential to living in faith, copy it and post it where you can see it every day!
Do you know why Genesis says God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh? Not because he got tired. It's assuring us that God never rests until his work is done!
In the meantime, we should keep praying about it with a spirit of thanksgiving and trust. This enables us to hear God when he says, "Okay, here's what I want you to do next..." when it's time for us to do something about it.
Remember, when we pray with the Church: "Lord, hear our prayer", it's an offering, not an implication that God is idle until we ask. In faith, what we're really saying is: "Lord, thank you for hearing our prayer! I trust your timing and your way of handling it."
That's what "amen" means.
What miracles do you need? Think of your most important prayer requests and consider how God won't rest until your prayers are answered.
This is how to live an "amen" kind of life instead of worrying and disbelieving and seeking signs and wonders for proof of God's involvement. The signs and wonders will happen, but the who, what, when and where of them will be God's choosing, not ours. After all, would you really want it any other way?
Today's Prayer
Lord, forgive me for the times that Your Word was not enough for me to believe in Your promises. Heal my heart from any trace of distrust in You. Amen.
The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”
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