Mass Readings for : Friday, 15th March, 2024

Liturgical Readings for : Friday, 15th March, 2024

Friday, Fourth Week in Lent

Today opposition to Christianity is violent and bloodstained in some countries of the world. Elsewhere it emphases slander, ridicule and negative publicity.

FIRST READING

A reading from the Book of Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
Let us condemn him the virtuous man to a shameful death.

The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning:
‘Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life,
reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing.
He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a son of the Lord.

Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking,
the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
his way of life is not like other men’s, the paths he treads are unfamiliar.
In his opinion we are counterfeit; he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth; he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy and boasts of having God for his father.

Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what kind of end he himself will have.
If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his endurance to the proof.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’

This is the way they reason, but they are misled, their malice makes them blind. They do not know the hidden things of God, they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded, they can see no reward for blameless souls.

The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 33
Response The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.

1. The Lord turns his face against the wicked to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
The just call and the Lord hears and rescues them in all their distress. Response

2. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted; those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man but from them all the Lord will rescue him. Response

3. He will keep guard over all his bones, not one of his bones shall be broken.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants. Those who hide in him shall not be condemned. Response

Gospel Acclamation Joel 2: 12 – 13
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart, for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

Or Mt 4:4
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Man does not live on bread alone,
But on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 7:1-2. 10. 25-30 Glory to you, O Lord
They would have arrested him then, but his time had not yet come.

Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea because the Jews were out to kill him. As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, after his brothers had left for the festival, Jesus went up as well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself.

Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying,
‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill? And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have made up their minds that he is the Christ? Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’

Then, as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:
‘Yes, you know me and you know where I came from.
Yet I have not come of myself: no, there is one who sent me and I really come from him, and you do not know him, but I know him because I have come from him
and it was he who sent me.’

They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

The Gospel of the Lord Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reflection Friday Fourth Week of Lent John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30

As we approach Holy Week the gospel readings have more of an ominous tone to them. Jesus is spoken of in today’s gospel reading as the man they want to kill. Yet, in spite of that, Jesus is described as ‘speaking freely’. The gospel reading suggests that Jesus did not allow the hostility of some people towards him to deter him from doing what he had been sent to do. Twice in that gospel reading Jesus speaks of himself as having come from God and of God as having sent him. Jesus was faithful to his God-given mission, even when that mission made people very hostile towards him. Jesus teaches us to be faithful to our own calling, regardless of the environment in which we find ourselves. The environment in which we live has not been all that supportive of a life of faith. We could easily get very discouraged as people of faith who are trying to grow in our relationship with Jesus. The portrait of Jesus in today’s gospel reading teaches us to keep living out our baptism and witnessing to the gospel even when it is difficult to do so. Just as Jesus knew the support of his heavenly Father, we will know the support of Jesus. As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, God ‘will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it’ (1 Cor 10:13).