DAILY GOSPEL Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:68 Thursday, 03 April 2014 Thursday of the Fourth week of Lent Saint(s) of the day : St. Richard, Bishop (1197-1253) Saint Bernard : I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me Book of Exodus 32:7-14. The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once to your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, for they have become depraved. They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them, making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it, sacrificing to it and crying out, This is your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt! “I see how stiff-necked this people is, continued the LORD to Moses. Let me alone, then, that my wrath may blaze up against them to consume them. Then I will make of you a great nation. But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying, Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with such great power and with so strong a hand? Why should the Egyptians say, With evil intent he brought them out, that he might kill them in the mountains and exterminate them from the face of the earth? Let your blazing wrath die down; relent in punishing your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and how you swore to them by your own self, saying, I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky; and all this land that I promised, I will give your descendants as their perpetual heritage. So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people. Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 5:31-47. Jesus said to the Jews: «If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not true. But there is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth. I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light. But I have testimony greater than Johns. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form, and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf. But you do not want to come to me to have life. I do not accept human praise; moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB Commentary of the day : Saint Bernard (1091-1153), Cistercian monk and doctor of the Church Sermons on the Song of Songs, no.20, § 2 (trans. ©Classics of Western spirituality) I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me Above all, O good Jesus, I love you for the chalice you drained for our redemption... It is this that most sweetly allures our love, most justly exacts it, most closely binds it and makes it the most vehement. For on that day our Savior underwent immense labor and the Creator himself did not have as much trouble in forming the entire universe. Of that mighty work we read: He spoke and they were made; He commanded and they were created. Whereas, in order to redeem us, the Savior had to affirm his words before those who contradicted him, defend his actions against a hostile surveillance, undergo torment before his mockers and death in the midst of reproaches. He loved us even to this point. Remember, too, that in this he was not loving anybody in return but of himself. For: who has given him anything that he should be repaid?” (Rm 11,35). Rather, as Saint John the Evangelist says: “Not that we have loved God but that he has first loved us (1Jn 4,10). To sum up, he loved us even before we existed, and, what is more, loved us when we resisted him, as St. Paul testifies: While we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son (Rm 5,10). For if he had not loved us when we were His enemies, he would have had no friends and if he had not loved those who did not as yet exist, he would never have had anyone to love at all.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 20:36:47 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015