March 26, 2021 Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

2021년 3월 26일 사순 제5주간 금요일 

오늘의 복음 : http://info.catholic.or.kr/missa/default.asp 

제1독서

<주님께서 힘센 용사처럼 제 곁에 계십니다.>

예레미야서. 20,10-13
10 군중이 수군대는 소리가 들립니다.
“저기 마고르 미싸빕이 지나간다! 그를 고발하여라. 우리도 그를 고발하겠다.”
가까운 친구들마저 모두 제가 쓰러지기만 기다리고 있습니다.
“그가 속아 넘어가고 우리가 그보다 우세하여
그에게 복수할 수 있을지도 모른다.”
11 그러나 주님께서 힘센 용사처럼 제 곁에 계시니
저를 박해하는 자들이 비틀거리고 우세하지 못하리이다.
그들은 성공하지 못하여 크게 부끄러운 일을 당하고
그들의 수치는 영원히 잊히지 않으리이다.
12 의로운 이를 시험하시고 마음과 속을 꿰뚫어 보시는 만군의 주님
당신께 제 송사를 맡겨 드렸으니
당신께서 저들에게 복수하시는 것을 보게 해 주소서.
13 주님께 노래 불러라! 주님을 찬양하여라!
그분께서 가난한 이들의 목숨을 악인들의 손에서 건지셨다. 

복음

<유다인들이 예수님을 잡으려고 하였지만, 예수님께서는 그들의 손을 벗어나셨다.>

요한. 10,31-42
그때에 31 유다인들이 돌을 집어 예수님께 던지려고 하였다.
32 예수님께서 그들에게 말씀하셨다.
“나는 아버지의 분부에 따라 너희에게 좋은 일을 많이 보여 주었다.
그 가운데에서 어떤 일로 나에게 돌을 던지려고 하느냐?”
33 유다인들이 예수님께, “좋은 일을 하였기 때문이 아니라
하느님을 모독하였기 때문에 당신에게 돌을 던지려는 것이오.
당신은 사람이면서 하느님으로 자처하고 있소.” 하고 대답하자,
34 예수님께서 그들에게 말씀하셨다.
“너희 율법에 ‘내가 이르건대 너희는 신이다.’라고 기록되어 있지 않으냐?
35 폐기될 수 없는 성경에서, 하느님의 말씀을 받은 이들을 신이라고 하였는데,
36 아버지께서 거룩하게 하시어
이 세상에 보내신 내가 ‘나는 하느님의 아들이다.’ 하였다 해서,
‘당신은 하느님을 모독하고 있소.’ 하고 말할 수 있느냐?
37 내가 내 아버지의 일들을 하고 있지 않다면 나를 믿지 않아도 좋다.
38 그러나 내가 그 일들을 하고 있다면, 나를 믿지 않더라도 그 일들은 믿어라.
그러면 아버지께서 내 안에 계시고
내가 아버지 안에 있다는 것을 너희가 깨달아 알게 될 것이다.”
39 그러자 유다인들이 다시 예수님을 잡으려고 하였지만,
예수님께서는 그들의 손을 벗어나셨다.
40 예수님께서는 다시 요르단 강 건너편,
요한이 전에 세례를 주던 곳으로 물러가시어 그곳에 머무르셨다.
41 그러자 많은 사람이 그분께 몰려와 서로 말하였다.
“요한은 표징을 하나도 일으키지 않았지만,
그가 저분에 관하여 한 말은 모두 사실이었다.”
42 그곳에서 많은 사람이 예수님을 믿었다. 

March 26, 2021

 Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent 

Daily Readings — Audio

Daily Reflections — Video

http://www.usccb.org/bible/ 

Daily Mass : http://www.catholictv.com/shows/daily-mass 

Reading 1

Jer 20:10-13

I hear the whisperings of many:
"Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!"
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
"Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him."
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked! 

Responsorial Psalm 
Ps 18:2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7

R. (see 7) In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
R. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice. 

 

Gospel

Jn 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?"
The Jews answered him,
"We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered them,
"Is it not written in your law, 'I said, 'You are gods?'"
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, 'I am the Son of God?'
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
"John performed no sign, 

but everything John said about this man was true."

http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html

 I grew up in a relatively small rural town in Iowa in the 1970s and 80s. When I think of my childhood experiences, it was pretty awesome. I had a great family, there was always food on the table, and I could ride my bike anyplace in town because I always felt safe. After I moved away to college and to a larger city, my view of the world began to expand. After college, I traveled for work and started to see more of the world and experience much more that my small Iowa town had ever offered. As I look back on my childhood I still feel a great fondness, but I also realize the biases that encultured me during my formative years. Nearly everyone in my town was white, German, and Catholic. To me, this was the norm and I rarely experienced anyone different from me and the point of view that my hometown experiences provided.

After reading today’s Gospel I couldn’t help but relate my small town Iowa experience with that of the Jews. We all get comfortable with our own experiences. They are familiar, they are safe, and they are predictable. That was me in my town, and that was the Jews in their town, too. The biases of our lived experience are pretty awesome – until someone comes along and shows us that they are not. “The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus” because he was not like them. He was doing and saying things that were not aligned with their “usual storyline” and because of that he was a threat to their comfortable and predictable way of life.

The part of the story, however, that grabs my attention most is when Jesus says to the Jews, “If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me; but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me, believe the works…” It makes me think of the many times in my life that my biases get in the way of seeing the truth. Sometimes, if I hear the words that confirm my own biases, I am willing to make exceptions for actions that I would not normally approve of. In other times I fail to see the good actions that I normally approve of because they are accompanied by words that do not agree with my biases. This is what I saw in the Jews from John’s Gospel and this is what is easy to see in our society today – particularly in politics. As long as the words confirm what I already believe to be true, the appalling actions can be forgiven. In the case of the Jews, the good actions of Jesus did not matter because his message was inconsistent with the party-line of the Jews. Their biases did not allow them to see the truth.

I am still white, German, and Catholic. And, the biases that came along with growing up in that small town in Iowa are still somewhere inside me. But, what I hope to learn from the Gospel today is that I need to recognize those biases – especially those that block my ability to see the truth so that I’m not the one picking up those rocks.

 http://www.presentationministries.com/obob/obob.asp

 

MIXED EMOTIONS

“I hear the whisperings of many.” —Jeremiah 20:10

A week from today will be Good Friday. We almost cringe as we think of hearing the reading of Christ’s passion and death. How will we be able to endure venerating the cross by kissing His wounds? We naturally are upset when we recall the death of our older Brother and loving Savior. We are even more disturbed when we realize that, through our sins, we were part of the gang that murdered Him (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 598).
At first, the blood Jesus shed horrifies us; but when we consider His sacrifice for us, we begin to rejoice in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14). The horror of Calvary becomes the joy of Good Friday. What began as the worst day in the history of the human race ended as the greatest day. This was the day of our redemption. So “sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!” (Jer 20:13)
Lord Jesus crucified, have mercy on us.

Prayer:  Father, may the last week of Lent be among the most important weeks of my life.

Promise:  “ ‘John may never have performed a sign,’ they commented, ‘but whatever John said about this Man was true.’ In that place, many came to believe in Him.” —Jn 10:41-42

Praise:  JoAnn meditates on the Passion of Christ every Friday.

 http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/

 Why were the religious leaders so upset with Jesus that they wanted to kill him? They charged him with blasphemy because he claimed to be the Son of God and he made himself equal with God. The law of Moses laid down the death penalty for such a crime: "He who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him" (Leviticus 24:16). As they were picking up stones to hurl at Jesus, he met their attack with three arguments. The many good works that he did, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, and feeding the hungry, demonstrated that his power and marvelous deeds obviously came from God.

I am the Son of God
Jesus then defended his right to call himself the Son of God with a quote from Psalm 82:6 ("I say, "You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you"). Jesus argued that if Scripture can speak like that of humans, why should he not speak of himself like that? Jesus then made two claims: He was consecrated by the Father for a special task and he was sent into the world to carry out his Father's mission (John 10:36). The scriptural understanding of consecration is to make holy for God - to be given over as a free-will offering and sacrifice for God.

Consecrated and sent to do the Father's works
Jesus made himself a sin-offering for us, to ransom us from condemnation and slavery to sin. He spoke of his Father consecrating him for this mission of salvation (John 10:36). Jesus challenged his opponents to accept his works if they could not accept his words. One can argue with words, but deeds are beyond argument. Jesus is the perfect teacher in that he does not base his claims on what he says but on what he does. The word of God is life and power for those who believe and accept it as God's word for us. Jesus shows us the way to walk the path of truth and holiness. And he anoints us with his power to live the Gospel with joy and to be his witnesses in the world. Are you a doer of God's word, or a forgetful hearer only?

Write upon my heart, O Lord, the lessons of your holy word, and grant that I may be a doer of your word, and not a forgetful hearer only.

Psalm 18:2-6

2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.
4 The cords of death encompassed me, the torrents of perdition assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.

Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: The sacrifice of Christ, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"Even though the man Christ Jesus, in the form of God together with the Father with whom He is one God, accepts our sacrifice, nonetheless He has chosen in the form of a servant to be the sacrifice rather than to accept it. Therefore, He is the priest Himself Who presents the offering, and He Himself is what is offered." (excerpt from City of God, 10,20)

 

 

More Homilies

 April 3, 2020 Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent