SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Friday - April 01, 2022

Friday - April 01, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

April 1, 2022

FRIDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Lectionary: 248

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Wis 2:1a, 12-22

 

The wicked said among themselves,

            thinking not aright:

“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;

            he sets himself against our doings,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

            and charges us with violations of our training.

He professes to have knowledge of God

            and styles himself a child of the LORD.

To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

            merely to see him is a hardship for us,

Because his life is not like that of others,

            and different are his ways.

He judges us debased;

            he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.

He calls blest the destiny of the just

            and boasts that God is his Father.

Let us see whether his words be true;

            let us find out what will happen to him.

For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him

            and deliver him from the hand of his foes.

With revilement and torture let us put him to the test

            that we may have proof of his gentleness

            and try his patience.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death;

            for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

These were their thoughts, but they erred;

            for their wickedness blinded them,

and they knew not the hidden counsels of God;

            neither did they count on a recompense of holiness

            nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23

 

R.        (19a)  The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

 

The LORD confronts the evildoers,

            to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.

When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,

            and from all their distress he rescues them.

R.        The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;

            and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.

Many are the troubles of the just man,

            but out of them all the LORD delivers him.

R.        The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

He watches over all his bones

            not one of them shall be broken.

The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;

            no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.

R.        The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Mt 4:4b                     

One does not live on bread alone,

but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

 

Gospel                                                                       Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

 

Jesus moved about within Galilee;

he did not wish to travel in Judea,

because the Jews were trying to kill him.

But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

 

But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,

he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.

 

Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,

“Is he not the one they are trying to kill?

And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.

Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?

But we know where he is from.

When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,

“You know me and also know where I am from.

Yet I did not come on my own,

but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.

I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”

So they tried to arrest him,

but no one laid a hand upon him,

because his hour had not yet come.

 

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RECOGNIZING JESUS ON THE ROAD TO CALVARY

There are many ways in which Jesus presents himself to us. Most of them are unexpected, sometimes so much so that we don't even recognize it's him! The people in today's Gospel story failed to recognize Jesus as the Messiah because of the expectations they had.

 

Expectations can sure be misleading! Yes, we can expect God to love us and do good for us, but when we have expectations about how and through whom he should love us and do good for us, we usually end up disappointed. Maybe we even feel abandoned.

 

The Lenten journey is a daily walk with Jesus on the road to Calvary for the sake of an eventual resurrection. Our sufferings have eternal value if we unite them to the Passion of Christ.

 

Jesus is present when we suffer, but if we expect him to remove our pain quickly to prove that he cares about us, we fail to recognize a more loving plan. We want short-cuts to healing and short-cuts to happiness, but God knows the harm in this. Despite what our expectations insist should happen, God implements the long-term plan, and someday we'll be very grateful.

 

Sometimes Jesus wants to unite himself to us in the people we don't like, but since we don't expect him to show up there, we reject him. It takes effort to find Jesus in these people, but he is there -- teaching us to love the unlovable.

 

Jesus becomes present to us in many illogical ways. We expect that everything God does and asks us to do will make sense. But it didn't make any sense to Mary that she could become the mother of the Messiah while still a virgin. It didn't make sense to Joseph, either. And it's not logical that God would use a sinner like me to bring you these Good News Reflections. And neither is it logical that you are the right person to do the tasks that God has set before you. But if we say "no" to God's plan, we are saying "no" to an awesome union with Christ.

 

Jesus is presenting himself to you in unexpected ways today. Can you find him?

 

Here's how: Make a list all those areas of your life where it seems like God has left the room and closed the door and forgotten about you. Wherever he seems to be failing you, abandoning you, or dismissing your needs, this is where Jesus is presenting himself to you in unexpected ways.

 

He is not standing where you're looking. Turn around and look in a different direction. You might need to turn toward a direction that you don't like. Where you expect disaster and more misery, unexpectedly, he is there, turning the bad into good, for your sake and for the benefit of everyone else who's involved.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord, Give me wisdom, courage and perseverance to recognize You in every path of my life and to be willing to follow You beyond the difficulties I find. Amen.

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God Bless You.....



The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”

SAINT QUOTE OF THE DAY : Thursday - March 31, 2022

Thursday - March 31, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

March 31, 2022

THURSDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Lectionary: 247

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Ex 32:7-14

 

The LORD said to Moses,

“Go down at once to your people

whom you brought out of the land of Egypt,

for they have become depraved.

They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,

making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,

sacrificing to it and crying out,

‘This is your God, O Israel,

who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’

The LORD said to Moses,

“I see how stiff-necked this people is.

Let me alone, then,

that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.

Then I will make of you a great nation.”

 

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,

“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,

whom you brought out of the land of Egypt

with such great power and with so strong a hand?

Why should the Egyptians say,

‘With evil intent he brought them out,

that he might kill them in the mountains

and exterminate them from the face of the earth’?

Let your blazing wrath die down;

relent in punishing your people.

Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,

and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,

‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky;

and all this land that I promised,

I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’“

So the LORD relented in the punishment

he had threatened to inflict on his people.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  106:19-20, 21-22, 23

 

R.        (4a)  Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

 

Our fathers made a calf in Horeb

            and adored a molten image;

They exchanged their glory

            for the image of a grass-eating bullock.

R.        Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

They forgot the God who had saved them,

            who had done great deeds in Egypt,

Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,

            terrible things at the Red Sea.

R.        Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,

            but Moses, his chosen one,

Withstood him in the breach

            to turn back his destructive wrath.

R.        Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Jn 3:16                      

God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,

so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.

 

Gospel                                                                       Jn 5:31-47

 

Jesus said to the Jews:

“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.

But there is another who testifies on my behalf,

and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.

You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.

I do not accept human testimony,

but I say this so that you may be saved.

He was a burning and shining lamp,

and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.

But I have testimony greater than John’s.

The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,

these works that I perform testify on my behalf

that the Father has sent me.

Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.

But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

and you do not have his word remaining in you,

because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.

You search the Scriptures,

because you think you have eternal life through them;

even they testify on my behalf.

But you do not want to come to me to have life.

 

“I do not accept human praise;

moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.

I came in the name of my Father,

but you do not accept me;

yet if another comes in his own name,

you will accept him.

How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another

and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:

the one who will accuse you is Moses,

in whom you have placed your hope.

For if you had believed Moses,

you would have believed me,

because he wrote about me.

But if you do not believe his writings,

how will you believe my words?”

 

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HOW BRIGHT IS YOUR LIGHT?

How strong is your Christian testimony? Does your life testify to the truth of God -- not just your words, but the way you live your life? Does your life reflect the light of Christ so much that it brightens the darkness in others?

 

Today's Gospel reading explains that Jesus was persecuted because he spoke the truth uncompromisingly, and because his whole life was a testimony to that truth. A barometer of how well our lives reflect his is whether or not we're being persecuted. When we are truly shining as light in the darkness, those who prefer the darkness react against us. Their eyes need time to adjust.

 

Think of how you react when you're sleeping in a dark room and someone turns on the lights. Do you smile and say, "Thank you"? Not most of us. Startled, we react with hatred for the light, even if we know it's time to wake up.

 

When your life testifies to the truth of God, the light of Christ in you startles people out of their sleep. They will bury themselves deeper under the covers of their darkness, because it feels like a security blanket. But your continual light will seep through even the thickest blanket fibers.

 

Then, if they really want to remain in darkness, they will try to find a way to shut off your light. Stand strong but take your bright light elsewhere. Give them time to adjust their vision. Keep praying for them. Keep loving them. Eventually, the darkness will cause them to stumble and their sufferings will make them want to change.

 

In the meanwhile, what should we do with the sufferings we endure from persecutions? Do we want to join our persecutors in the darkness by fighting back unlovingly? Do we protect ourselves through compromise, forsaking the truth? Do we try to cope by complaining?

 

We will find peace and healing only by taking our complaints to God (and him alone) and by focusing on how the persecutions are uniting us to Christ.

 

Like Jesus, we can offer our sufferings as a sacrifice for those who live in darkness. Jesus did not overcome his persecutors by defending himself. Rather, he trusted that his sufferings would eventually conquer the darkness. We can do this, too. The love we have for our persecutors and the union we have with Jesus will make a difference. Our patient endurance will help the eyes of those in darkness to adjust to the light so that their hearts will finally accept the truth.

 

If you're not being persecuted for your faith, your light's not shining very brightly. But if your light is that bright, appreciate how good this is and rejoice in it! The truth is worth being persecuted for. It's a sign that your life is filled with Christ.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Forgive me, Lord, because too often I don't reflect Your light, because I am afraid of persecution. Strengthen my will so that no one and nothing may ever stop me from testifying about Your love. Amen.

--------------------------------

God Bless You.....



The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”