Saturday Fourth Week of Lent

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 20, 2010
First Reading: Jer 11:18-20;
Responsorial Psalm: 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12 ;
Gospel: Jn 7:40-53 ;

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

First Reading:  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.        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.

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.

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Commentary: Today's readings all seem to revolve around the intent of the heart. For those people who are pure of heart, they see Jesus as a great prophet or the Messiah, a tender and loving lamb who will be led to slaughter for the love of his brothers and sisters, all revolving around His profound and divine love of God. For those who are less than pure of heart, and enamored with their own authority or putting too much trust in their own wisdom, they are unable to have Jesus' loving message penetrate the stone around their hearts.

How do you receive these words? I ask this of myself too. Do I always listen well to what others are saying? Or have I grown too wise in my own opinion? Most of these issues get settled with a positive result when I quietly pray to have God take the stone off my heart, so that I might receive all the love that He has put into this wonderful world for all of our benefit. And I say a simple prayer, that came to me out of nowhere one day at mass. God please forgive me, because I have not spread the mercy to others, that compares to the mercy you have shown to me. Forgive me and help me do better. Thanks.