Friday March 15, 2024
WEEKDAY OF LENT (4)
Office: Psalter Week 4
Mass prop., Preface of Lent
Vestment: Violet
Today’s Rosary: Sorrowful Mystery
Click HERE for the Previous Catholic Daily Reading
Death Anniversary: Bishop Timothy Cotter OSA (Maiduguri) – 15/03/88
FIRST READING
“Let us condemn him to a shameful death.”
A reading from the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 2:1a.12-22)
Ungodly men reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 34: 17-18.19-20.21 and 23 (R. 19a)
R/. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.
The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears,
and rescues them in all their distress. R/.
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. R/.
R/. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.
He will keep guard over all his bones;
Not one of his bones shall be broken.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
All who trust in him shall not be condemned. R/.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Matthew 4:4b
Glory and praise to you, O Christ. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
GOSPEL
“They sought to arrest him, ‘but his hour had not yet come. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 7:1-2.10.25-30)
At that time: Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles was at hand. But after his brethren had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from; But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.
The Gospel of the Lord.
TODAY’S REFLECTION
The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem had apparently decided that Jesus had to die because of his claim to being the Son of God, and by implication, divine himself. That was blasphemy, and the penalty for such blasphemy was nothing short of death. The ordinary citizens of Jerusalem also apparently agreed with their leaders. They thought they knew where Jesus came from. He was from Galilee, the son of a carpenter from Nazareth. How then could he be the Son of God and a divine person? But they were grossly mistaken. They did not know that Jesus came from God, born of the Virgin Mary. Joseph, the husband of Mary was not his real Father, but only his foster father. The disciples of Jesus know the truth, and rightly worship him as the Divine Person that he is.
Also Read: Daily Reading for Thursday, March 14th, 2024
PERSONAL DEVOTIONAL FOR LENT
A little help given to a needy person can do a lot in the life of that individual. However, if you do not make up your mind to help when you have little and continue to worry about how insufficient your little will be for you, you may never help the needy and that will definitely cost you blessings and opportunity of getting help from others in your time of need. Therefore, if you desire to be helped when you are in need, do not hold back anymore in making use of that little you have to help the needy who come to you.
Today, make sure you give something no matter how small it is to that needy brother or sister around you. First your joy will increase and secondly, you are destined for a lifting up from the Lord, because your little will turn to many someday.
Let us Pray,
Lord Jesus, help me not to understand that there are trials that must come and may I never give up when I face persecution for your sake. Amen.
Daily Reading for Friday March 15, 2024
Reading 1, Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:17-18, 19-20, 21, 23
Gospel, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Reading 1, Wisdom 2:1, 12-22
1 And this is the false argument they use, ‘Our life is short and dreary, there is no remedy when our end comes, no one is known to have come back from Hades.
12 Let us lay traps for the upright man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our sins against the Law, and accuses us of sins against our upbringing.
13 He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 We see him as a reproof to our way of thinking, the very sight of him weighs our spirits down;
15 for his kind of life is not like other people’s, and his ways are quite different.
16 In his opinion we are counterfeit; he avoids our ways as he would filth; he proclaims the final end of the upright as blessed and boasts of having God for his father.
17 Let us see if what he says is true, and test him to see what sort of end he will have.
18 For if the upright man is God’s son, God will help him and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies.
19 Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his patience to the test.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death since God will rescue him — or so he claims.’
21 This is the way they reason, but they are misled, since their malice makes them blind.
22 They do not know the hidden things of God, they do not hope for the reward of holiness, they do not believe in a reward for blameless souls.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 34:17-18, 19-20, 21, 23
17 They cry in anguish and Yahweh hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.
18 Yahweh is near to the broken-hearted, he helps those whose spirit is crushed.
19 Though hardships without number beset the upright, Yahweh brings rescue from them all.
20 Yahweh takes care of all their bones, not one of them will be broken.
21 But to the wicked evil brings death, those who hate the upright will pay the penalty.
Gospel, John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
1 After this Jesus travelled round Galilee; he could not travel round Judaea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
2 As the Jewish feast of Shelters drew near,
10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up as well, not publicly but secretly.
25 Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill?
26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authorities have recognised that he is the Christ?
27 Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.’
28 Then, as Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he cried out: You know me and you know where I came from. Yet I have not come of my own accord: but he who sent me is true; You do not know him,
29 but I know him because I have my being from him and it was he who sent me.
30 They wanted to arrest him then, but because his hour had not yet come no one laid a hand on him
