Daily Readings

Reading I:  Jer 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:  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.
 

Verse before the Gospel:  See Lk 8:15

Blessed are they who have kept the word with a generous heart
and yield a harvest through perseverance.
 

Gospel:  Jn 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.

Father Kirk's Daily Lenten Reflection
Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent: March 20, 2021

During his life and ministry Jesus’’ words were very often divisive and infuriating to the religious leaders.  His words led them to want to kill him which ultimately, they did.  Today’s gospel gives evidence of this great divide among the Jewish community of the time. “’Some say, he is a prophet.  Others say, He is the Christ … and still others say, “The Christ will not come from Galilee!’” 

It reminds us of the words of Saint Simeon to the Blessed Mother at the presentation of Jesus in the Temple as recounted in the gospel of Luke: “Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted-and you yourself a sword will pierce-so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.’”

We, of course, know that Jesus was the Christ because we stand on the shoulders of our ancestors in faith and accept their teaching and their testimony.  But what if we didn’t know the end of the story?  What if we did not have the benefit of history?  Would we be with the one who said: “He is the Christ?” or with the ones who said: “The Christ would never come from Galilee?”

That is a rhetorical question, of course, because in this modern age “we walk by faith not by sight.”

Let us be confident and steadfast as followers of Christ may our faith never falter.