Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 23rd March, 2024
Saturday of the Fifth Week in Lent
When God called Abraham, a wandering Aramean shepherd, to gather together himself and his family
and leave Ur of the Chaldeans and follow God’s calling, he did. Thus giving rise to God’s people, eventually to us too.
Memorial may be made to St Turibius of Mogrovejo, bishop
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Ezekiel 37:21-28
I will make them into one nation.
The Lord says this:
‘I am going to take the sons of Israel from the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them together from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil. I shall make them into one nation in my own land and on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols and their filthy practices and all their sins. I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their God.
My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my laws and practise them.
They will live in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived.
They will live in it, they, their children, their children’s children, for ever. David my servant is to be their prince for ever.
I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them.
I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever.
I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people.
And the nations will learn that I am the Lord the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Jer 31
Response The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.
1. O nations, hear the word of the Lord, proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’ Response
2. For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,they will stream to the blessings of the Lord. Response
3. Then the young girls will rejoice and will dance, the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy. I will console them, give gladness for grief. Response
Gospel Acclamation Jn 3: 16
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son;
everyone who believes in him has eternal life.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
or Ez 18: 31
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Shake off all your sins – it is the Lord speaks-
and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
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 11:45-56 Glory to you, O Lord
To gather together in unity the scattered children of God.
Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him, but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting.
‘Here is this man working all these signs’ they said ‘and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation.’
One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said,
‘You don’t seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed‘.
He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him.
So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.
The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple,
‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection Saturday Fifth Week of Lent John 11:45-56
In the first reading, the Lord, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, promises to gather the people of Israel from everywhere they have been scattered and bring them home to their own soil. The people of Ukraine Gaza, and of other war torn nations have been scattered to many nations and most of them long to be brought home to their own soil. This is also the Lord’s longing for them.
In the gospel reading, the evangelist declares that Jesus died to gather together in unity not just the people of Israel but the scattered children of God, all of humanity. Jesus died to reveal God’s love for the world, a love that seeks to draw all people together. As Jesus says elsewhere in this gospel of John, ‘when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself’.
In drawing all people to himself, he wanted to draw all people together around himself. The risen Lord wants to continue working through all of us to draw all people together in unity. This gathering work of the Lord is being undone by those who are dividing people, who are treating whole nations as their enemy, invading their land, killing innocent civilians. In the face of such divisive aggression, we all have to do whatever we can to further the Lord’s work of bringing people together in harmony, so that, in the words of today’s responsorial psalm, ‘the young girls will rejoice and dance; the men, young and old will be glad’.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd
