March 20
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
9:00 AM – A Special Intention / Abby G.
Prayer for Spiritual Communion
My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.
Readings
First Reading
Jeremiah 11:18-20
I knew their plot because the LORD informed me; at that time you, O LORD, showed me their doings.
Yet I, like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized that they were hatching plots against me: “Let us destroy the tree in its vigor; let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be spoken no more.”
But, you, O LORD of hosts, O just Judge, searcher of mind and heart, Let me witness the vengeance you take on them, for to you I have entrusted my cause!
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12
R. (2a) O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O LORD, my God, in you I take refuge;
save me from all my pursuers and rescue me,
Lest I become like the lion’s prey,
to be torn to pieces, with no one to rescue me.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Do me justice, O LORD, because I am just,
and because of the innocence that is mine.
Let the malice of the wicked come to an end,
but sustain the just,
O searcher of heart and soul, O just God.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
A shield before me is God,
who saves the upright of heart;
A just judge is God,
a God who punishes day by day.
R. O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Gospel Acclamation
See Luke 8:15
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Gospel
John 7:40-53
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, “This is truly the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?” So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?” The guards answered, “Never before has anyone spoken like this man.” So the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.” Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” They answered and said to him, “You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then each went to his own house.
“O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.”
Reflection
Who is the Christ? Which one is he? The people whom experience Jesus ask these questions in John’s gospel. We must remember that the setting of the Johannine gospel is in a time after Christ established the Church and that John and his people are looking back and recalling what happened during the life of Jesus.
Division developed among those who were searching for a Messiah. They argued about where they thought the Christ would come from. Will He come from Galilee? No, certainly Bethlehem. All of these divisions amongst the people nearly led to Christ’s arrest. The people thought that if the Christ was not exactly whom they assumed he would be, then he certainly could not be the one for whom they await.
This situation is a good reflection for all of us to consider. Do we let our assumptions about Jesus color our true understanding of who He is for us? This Lent, let us ponder the most important facts around the life of Jesus. What did He say, do, and demonstrate for us? We must come to know Him for who He really is, not who we think He may be, or even who we want Him to be for us. Christ outshines all of our earthly expectations if we are only willing to come to know Him in a meaningful way.
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
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