March 21
Fifth Sunday of Lent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
Sat. 4:00 PM – Kathleen Delavan / Rita & Peter Bergamo
Sun. 7:30 AM – Don Foster / Family
Sun. 10:30am – Josephine Antelmi / Carol & Don Scullion
Sun. 5:00pm – Special Intention / Mona Bertrand
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 31:31-34
The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt; for they broke my covenant, and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD. I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the LORD. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalms 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Second Reading
Hebrews 5:7-9
In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Gospel Acclamation
John 12:26
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord;
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Gospel
John 12:20-33
Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.
“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it and will glorify it again.” The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. Now is the time of judgment on this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
“Create a clean heart in me, O God.”
Reflection
Today’s Psalm response is, “Create a clean heart in me, O God.” The fifty-first psalm is a prayer for forgiveness of guilt and a renewal of the heart. This psalm assumes that the person making the request for a clean heart is asking for forgiveness of a sin that he believes has caused a physical illness within his body. The belief that sin manifested itself in a physical illness was common to the Jewish people. Although we now know that physical illness is just that, an illness, and not a punishment delivered by God to a sinner, we also know that guilt from sin can cause issues in our life.
What has sin done to your life? Every person must ask himself or herself that question through prayer. Often we are unable to identify our own sin, but God, through prayer, can open our eyes to sinful ways that permeate our lives.
Let us this Lenten season be able to face our sin directly, and through the benefit of the Sacrament of Reconciliation move toward a clean heart. God wants us to be happy, to lead happy lives, and to make right choices using a conscience informed by faith. Why would we choose to remain “ill” with sin when we can choose renewal in Christ this coming Easter season?
Peace,
Fr. John Kurgan
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