Daily Readings

Reading I:  Ez 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.
 

Verse before the Gospel:  Ez 18:31

Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD,
and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
 

Gospel:  Jn 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?”

 

Father Kirk's Daily Lenten Reflection
Saturday of the 5th Week fo Lent: April 1, 2023

The scriptures today make it obvious that both the religious leaders and the royal officials of the Roman empire were determined to kill Jesus.  The Jewish leaders were outraged by his claims to be the Son of God (Jesus had a large and vocal following) and the Roman leaders were afraid that his popularity would lead to the fall of the Empire.  Fear and self-righteous anger led the way to Jesus’ condemnation, persecution, and death.

Jesus conformed his entire life; his entire being to the will of the Father.  God’s will for his “only begotten Son” was that he lay down his life as a ransom for many.  That is, as an expiation for our sins, as a way to open the door to salvation for all who believe.  This selfless deed was accomplished, once and for all, on the cross.

Our goal is the same, that is, to discern the will of God in our lives and do it.  To lay down our lives in service to others.  To offer ourselves and our lives as a living sacrifice of praise to God.  How do we do that?  By following Christ faithfully; by picking up our cross each day and following in his footsteps.