Thursday Fourth Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 18, 2010
First Reading: Ex 32:7-14;
Responsorial Psalm: 106:19-20, 21-22, 23 ;
Gospel: Jn 5:31-47 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

First Reading:  Ex 32:7-14
The LORD said to Moses,
“Go down at once to your people
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt,
for they have become depraved.
They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,
making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,
sacrificing to it and crying out,
‘This is your God, O Israel,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’
The LORD said to Moses,
“I see how stiff-necked this people is.
Let me alone, then,
that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them.
Then I will make of you a great nation.” But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with such great power and with so strong a hand?
Why should the Egyptians say,
‘With evil intent he brought them out,
that he might kill them in the mountains
and exterminate them from the face of the earth’?
Let your blazing wrath die down;
relent in punishing your people.
Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel,
and how you swore to them by your own self, saying,
‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky;
and all this land that I promised,
I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage.’“
So the LORD relented in the punishment
he had threatened to inflict on his people.

Responsorial Psalm  106:19-20, 21-22, 23
R.         Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R.        Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R.        Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R.       Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Gospel   Jn 5:31-47
Jesus said to the Jews:
“If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true.
But there is another who testifies on my behalf,
and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true.
You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept human testimony,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
He was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John’s.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.
Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf.
But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
and you do not have his word remaining in you,
because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.
You search the Scriptures,
because you think you have eternal life through them;
even they testify on my behalf.
But you do not want to come to me to have life.
“I do not accept human praise;
moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.
I came in the name of my Father,
but you do not accept me;
yet if another comes in his own name,
you will accept him.
How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another
and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father:
the one who will accuse you is Moses,
in whom you have placed your hope.
For if you had believed Moses,
you would have believed me,
because he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?”

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Commentary: We begin with John's Gospel where we left off yesterday. Jesus continues to challenge his audience to believe in Him. And in His gentle pleading, the intent of their hearts will be revealed. He explains how John the Baptist has testified that Jesus is the Son of God, the holy Messiah promised for centuries upon centuries. But John the Baptist can no longer testify for Jesus, as he has been beheaded and his head placed on a platter because this was the request of a dancer at a party given by King Herod.

Jesus goes on to explain how God the Father has testified on His behalf as well, perhaps referring to His baptism in the Jordan by John the baptist, the multitudes of sick healed, the feeding of thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread, the words of the prophets, or the events that unfolded at His transfiguration. Could Jesus have done all these things without God the Father's blessing? And depending on the heart of the listener, the words spoken by Jesus either bring profound and complete joy, or extreme anger and condemnation. Kind of ironic, huh?

There is so much to take in today. May I suggest you say a simple prayer asking God to open your heart and your mind, and just read it again.

and finally - here's another song for today. His Blood on the Rose.

Have a great day!