5th Week of Lent 2021 - Friday - "You are gods"

 One week from Good Friday, with Holy Week looming on the horizon, our Gospel today begins in  dramatic fashion. The opponents of Jesus are ready to stone him to death. The violence, the plotting, the hostility toward Jesus is all starting to mount and come to a climax.  

It was the festival of the Dedication of the Temple—what today is called Hanukah, and Jesus stood in a sacred place, one of the porticos of the Temple, preaching the truth about how he has been sent by the Father as the promised Messiah, the Son of God.

This enrages the people who weren’t ready to believe in Him, and certainly weren’t ready to give him the authority as the Messiah.  So they plotted against him, and were prepared to carry out that plot by stoning him to death as the Gospel opened today.

Jesus then speaks up and asks them, “why” are they persecuting him? They claim Jesus has committed blasphemy, but Jesus asserts, “I have simply been restating to you what is in your own scriptures.”  Jesus says, “you are trying to kill me for claiming to be the Son of God, while your own scriptures make that claim about all God’s people”  And he is right, of course.  Psalm 82 speaks about how the children of Israel can rightly be called “gods”—not because they have any claim on Divinity—but because God speaks to them as his own children—and calls them into a filial relationship through justice and sharing his divine life.

While Psalm 82 certainly calls Israel to filial love of God, it also stands as a powerful indictment of Israel’s failure to love and bow to God’s authority. “How long will you judge unjustly and favor the cause of the wicked?” God asks the religious leaders in Psalm 82. Not ironically, that is precisely what Jesus was doing in that moment. He was standing in the Temple, the dwelling place of God, passing a sort of judgment on Israel’s leaders. For failing to acknowledge that He comes from the Father, Israel’s leaders will be counted among the wicked and die. 

This certainly puts into perspective why the religious leaders want to arrest and kill Jesus right then and there. They aren’t so much concerned about Jesus’ supposed blasphemy, but that Jesus exposes their wicked, unbelieving hearts.

This dramatic event certainly helps us to prepare for Holy Week by helping us understanding some of the dynamics that were going on in Jerusalem leading up to Good Friday. And yet, like so many of our Lenten Gospels, they invite us to examine our own hearts: how does my pride keep me from loving Jesus as I should? How does my hardness of heart keep me from the fullness of life as a child of God?

May these final Lenten days help to humble our earthly pride so to help us live in the fullness of God’s children, for the Glory of God and salvation of souls.

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For an increase in faith for the catechumens and candidates who approach the sacraments of initiation in the coming Paschal Solemnity. And That the Church might be delivered and protected from all spirits of error, heresy, schism, and unbelief. Let us pray to the Lord.

That during this Year of St. Joseph, the Church may discover a deeper devotion to our Universal Patron. That through St. Joseph’s intercession families may be strengthened, priestly and religious vocations may increase, demons may be scattered, and the sick and dying may know the peace of Jesus. Let us pray to the Lord.

For those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or illness: may they experience the healing graces of Christ. Let us pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  Let us pray to the Lord. Let us pray to the Lord.

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

4th Week of Easter 2019 - Wednesday - Father, Faith, Light, Judgment

The Gospel of John is divided into two parts: the Book of Signs and the Book of Glory. In the Book of Signs, comprising the first twelve chapters of John’s Gospel, Jesus’ identity is revealed through seven specific signs—his power and glory and divine identity are revealed as he changes water into wine, as he feeds 5000, as he walks on water, as he raises dead Lazarus.

Today’s Gospel contains the final passage of that first part of the Book of Signs and Jesus takes the opportunity to summarize his teaching and explain the purpose of those seven signs prior to the second part of the Gospel, which begins with the Last Supper.

Why has he performed these signs? Why is he here? He explains his purpose in terms of his relationship with the Father. He has come not to do his own will, but the will of the Father. He who sees Him, sees the Father. He and the Father are One. His works and signs reveal the glory and power of His Father. To respond to Jesus with faith, to become his disciple, is to enter into a new relationship to God the Father.

Jesus didn’t come simply to dazzle people or coerce them to pay Him homage; he performed signs and teachings to bring people to faith, to reveal the Father’s heart. He wants all of us to recognize the light of God, even in the midst of sin and darkness. Right? He says today, “I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” Having been sent by the Father, Jesus comes into a world that is fallen and in the spiritual darkness of sin to reveal that God the Father has not abandoned sinners, but desires their salvation.

Finally, Jesus speaks today of judgment. A person’s final judgment and eternal destiny is being determined by their present response to Jesus. Our response to Jesus carries such weight because of his relationship to the Father as his obedient Son and perfect envoy.  There’s no fuller proof of what God wants from us in this life than Jesus Christ.

The Easter season continues to challenge us to believe in Christ more deeply, to enter into His relationship with the Father more fully, to allow his light to shine in us for brightly, that we may be prepared for judgment and equipped to spread his Gospel for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
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Filled with Paschal joy, let us turn earnestly to God, to graciously hear our prayers and supplications.
For the shepherds of our souls, that they may have the strength to govern wisely the flock entrusted to them by the Good Shepherd.

For the whole world, that it may truly know the peace of the Risen Christ, especially for all victims of religious violence.

For our parish, that we may bear witness with great confidence to the Resurrection of Christ.

For our brothers and sisters who suffer, that their sorrow may be turned to gladness through the Christian faith.

That all of our beloved dead and all the souls in purgatory may come to the glory of the Resurrection.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the desires of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our lord.