April 9
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Give a Mass Offering
Mass Intentions
9:00 AM – Beverly Fayette / Chuck & Regina Harty
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
Ezekiel 37:21-28
Thus says the Lord GOD: I will take the children of Israel from among the nations to which they have come, and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land. I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one prince for them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols, their abominations, and all their transgressions. I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy, and cleanse them so that they may be my people and I may be their God. My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees. They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where their fathers lived; they shall live on it forever, they, and their children, and their children’s children, with my servant David their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Responsorial Psalm
Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Gospel Acclamation
Ezekiel 18:31
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory!
Gospel
John 11:45-56
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish.” He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?”
“The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.”
Reflection
Ezekiel receives a message of profound hope from the Lord which we hear today. Remember from earlier this week, studying with the Catechism helps us better understand how we approach Sacred Scripture. As we reflect with this passage from Ezekiel 37 today, recall the sentiment (and reality) of Sacred Scripture as one pure utterance from the Lord—Scripture in its entirety as the self-revelation of God. God shows us who he is, and that we can confidently rely on his word, that he is always faithful to it, that we should live accordingly as trusting, and that our lives must be a reflection of this message.
Given the context of our world, our contemporary culture, the rather dreary state of division among peoples—we could often allow the misery of it all to leave us feeling hopeless or that somehow God is outside of this all simply watching.
But hear again what the Lord promises to do:
I myself will take the children from among the nations and gather them back
I myself will make of them one nation/one people, and give them one Prince, one Shepherd for all, never again to be divided
In response to this, people will stop defiling themselves, committing abominations, transgressions
I myself will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy
I myself will cleanse them, so that they will be my people and I will be their God.
I myself will make with them a covenant of peace
I myself will make my sanctuary, my dwelling place among them forever
I myself will make them Holy.
While we might be stuck asking, “Okay, well when, Lord?”
It has already begun. The most important part of it is about to unfold once again before our eyes. And until its ultimate completion, the Lord has founded his Church, given us his Sacraments as a means to continually restore us to life with his grace, and even now we can see glimpses of this Heavenly Kingdom here before us. The darkness of this world will never overcome it. “The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.”
Peace,
Fr. Foley
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