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Thứ Tư, 14 tháng 3, 2018

MARCH 15, 2016 : THURSDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT


Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Lectionary: 247

Reading 1EX 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!'
The LORD said to Moses,
"I see how stiff-necked this people is.
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.
Responsorial PsalmPS 106:19-20, 21-22, 23
R. (4a) Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb
and adored a molten image;
They exchanged their glory
for the image of a grass-eating bullock.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

Verse Before The GospelJN 3:16
God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
GospelJN 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 human testimony,
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 John's.
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?"


The Father's Witness
Meditation: Do you know the joy of the gospel and a life fully submitted to Jesus Christ? Jesus' opponents refused to accept his divine authority and claim to be the only Son from the Father. They hostilely demanded evidence for his Messianic claim and equality with God. Jesus answers their charges with the supporting evidence of witnesses. The Mosaic law had laid down the principle that the unsupported evidence of one person shall not prevail against a man for any crime or wrong in connection with any offence he committed (see Deuteronomy 17:6).  At least two or three witnesses were needed.  Jesus begins his defense by citing John the Baptist as a witness, since John publicly pointed to Jesus as the Messiah and had repeatedly borne witness to him (see John 1:19, 20, 26, 29, 35, 36). Jesus also asserts that a greater witness to his identity are the signs he performed.  He cites his works, not to point to himself but to point to the power of God working in and through him.  He cites God as his supreme witness.  To those who carefully read the Old Testament, especially the books of Moses, they point to Jesus as the Messiah, the promised Savior.  The problem with the scribes and Pharisees was that they did not believe what Moses had written.  They desired the praise of their fellow humans and because of that they were unable to recognize and understand the word of God. Their pride made them deaf to God's voice. God reveals himself to the lowly, to those who trust not in themselves, but in God. The Lord opens the ears of those who are eager to hear his voice and he fills their hearts and minds with his love and wisdom.  Do you listen to God's word with faith and trust?
"Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit that I may listen to your word attentively and obey it joyfully."


THURSDAY, MARCH 15, JOHN 5:31-47
Lenten Weekday

(Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 106)

KEY VERSE: "If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified" (v.31).
TO KNOW: Jewish law prohibited persons from testifying on their own behalf. Two or three witnesses were needed to give evidence regarding any offense that might have been committed (Deut 19:15). Jesus presented four valid witnesses for the truth of his words. First, John the Baptist was a "lamp" who gave witness to the "light" that Jesus came to reveal (Jn 1:7). Second, the works that Jesus accomplished testified that God had sent him. Third, God's Word gave witness to Jesus. Nevertheless, people searched the scriptures to find life, and refused to come to Jesus who was God's life-giving word (Jn 1:1). Finally, God the Father gave the conclusive testimony. No one had ever seen the invisible God, nor heard God's voice, yet God was fully revealed in Jesus Christ, God's Son.
TO KNOW: Do I give testimony to Jesus by what I say and do?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, help me to recognize you in your word and in all your works around me.


Thursday 15 March 2018

Exodus 32:7-14. Psalm 105(106):19-23. John 5:31-47.
Lord, remember us for the love you bear your people—Psalm 105(106):19-23. 
The Father who sent me bears witness to me himself.
John’s Gospel has Jesus challenging the religious leaders. They have failed to acknowledge his claim to be from God. Jesus reminds them of John the Baptist’s testimony supporting Jesus’ claim. However, Jesus does not rely on human testimony alone to support his sending from God.
There is a connection between today’s passages from Exodus and John. Exodus has God angry with the Israelites, the chosen people. They have deserted him by worshipping false gods. Moses acts as mediator. God responds by granting a reprieve.
Jesus is sent by God as a mediating redeemer. People have moved away from God. Jesus tells the religious leaders that it is the Father who bears witness to him. But, he says, his words find no home in them because they do not believe in the one God has sent.
Lord, we pray for the grace to always believe in Jesus as one sent by God.


Saint Louise de Marillac
Saint of the Day for March 15
(August 12, 1591 – March 15, 1660)


Saint Louise de Marillac’s Story
Born near Meux, France, Louise lost her mother when she was still a child, her beloved father when she was but 15. Her desire to become a nun was discouraged by her confessor, and a marriage was arranged. One son was born of this union. But Louise soon found herself nursing her beloved husband through a long illness that finally led to his death.
Louise was fortunate to have a wise and sympathetic counselor, Francis de Sales, and then his friend, the bishop of Belley, France. Both of these men were available to her only periodically. But from an interior illumination she understood that she was to undertake a great work under the guidance of another person she had not yet met. This was the holy priest Monsieur Vincent, later to be known as Saint Vincent de Paul.
At first, he was reluctant to be her confessor, busy as he was with his “Confraternities of Charity.” Members were aristocratic ladies of charity who were helping him nurse the poor and look after neglected children, a real need of the day. But the ladies were busy with many of their own concerns and duties. His work needed many more helpers, especially ones who were peasants themselves and therefore, close to the poor and able to win their hearts. He also needed someone who could teach them and organize them.
Only over a long period of time, as Vincent de Paul became more acquainted with Louise, did he come to realize that she was the answer to his prayers. She was intelligent, self-effacing, and had physical strength and endurance that belied her continuing feeble health. The missions he sent her on eventually led to four simple young women joining her. Her rented home in Paris became the training center for those accepted for the service of the sick and poor. Growth was rapid and soon there was the need for a so-called “rule of life,” which Louise herself, under the guidance of Vincent, drew up for the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul.
Monsieur Vincent had always been slow and prudent in his dealings with Louise and the new group. He said that he had never had any idea of starting a new community, that it was God who did everything. “Your convent,” he said, “will be the house of the sick; your cell, a hired room; your chapel, the parish church; your cloister, the streets of the city or the wards of the hospital.” Their dress was to be that of the peasant women. It was not until years later that Vincent de Paul would finally permit four of the women to take annual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. It was still more years before the company would be formally approved by Rome and placed under the direction of Vincent’s own congregation of priests.
Many of the young women were illiterate. Still it was with reluctance that the new community undertook the care of neglected children. Louise was busy helping wherever needed despite her poor health. She traveled throughout France, establishing her community members in hospitals, orphanages and other institutions. At her death on March 15, 1660, the congregation had more than 40 houses in France. Six months later Vincent de Paul followed her in death.
Louise de Marillac was canonized in 1934 and declared patroness of social workers in 1960.

Reflection
In Louise’s day, serving the needs of the poor was usually a luxury only fine ladies could afford. Her mentor, Saint Vincent de Paul, wisely realized that women of peasant stock could reach poor people more effectively, and the Daughters of Charity were born under her leadership. Today, that order—along with the Sisters of Charity—continues to nurse the sick and aging and provide refuge for orphans. Many of its members are social workers toiling under Louise’s patronage. The rest of us must share her concern for the disadvantaged.

Saint Louise de Marillac is the Patron Saint of:
Social workers


LECTIO DIVINA: JOHN 5,31-47
Lectio Divina: 
 Thursday, March 15, 2018
Season of Lent

1) OPENING PRAYER
Lord our God, we know,
perhaps more in theory than in practice,
that You are with us,
that You are our God and we Your people. Forgive us, Lord, when we fashion
our own gods made in our own image -
honor, power, prestige,
things to which we are attached and enslaved.
Remind us again and again
that You are our loyal God,
who made us in Your own indelible image
and who shows us Your perfect likeness
in Jesus Christ, Your Son and our Lord.
2) GOSPEL READING - 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 human testimony, 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 John's. 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?"
3) REFLECTION
• John, interpreter of Jesus. John is a good interpreter of the words of Jesus. A good interpreter must have two-fold fidelity: fidelity to the words of the one who speaks, and fidelity to the language of the one who listens. In John’s Gospel, the words of Jesus are not transmitted materially or literally; rather they are translated and transferred to the language of the people of the Christian communities of the first century in Asia Minor. For this reason, the reflections in the Gospel of John are not always easy to understand, because in them are mixed the words of God and the words of the Evangelist himself, who mirrors the language of faith of the communities of Asia Minor. The scholarly or scientific study of Jesus is not sufficient for this. It is also necessary that we have the lived experience of faith in the community. Today’s Gospel is a typical example of the spiritual and mystical depth of the Gospel of the Beloved Disciple.
• Reciprocal enlightenment between life and faith. Here it is well to repeat what John Cassian says regarding the discovery of the full and profound sense of the psalms: “Instructed by that which we ourselves feel, let us not consider the text as something which we have only heard, but rather like something which we have experienced and which we touch with our hands; not like a strange and unheard of story, but rather like something that we bring out to light from the deepest part of our heart, as if these were sentiments which form part of our being. Let us repeat them; it is not the reading (the study) what makes us penetrate into the sense or meaning of the words, but rather our own experience which has previously been acquired in the life of every day.” (Collationes X, 11). Life enlightens the text; the text enlightens life. If, at times, the text says nothing, it is not because of lack of study or because of lack of prayer, but simply because of lack of depth in one’s own life.
• John 31-32: The value of the witness of Jesus. The witness of Jesus is true because He does not promote or exalt Himself. “There is another witness who speaks on My behalf,” that is,  the Father. And His witness is true and deserves to be believed.
• John 5:33-36: The value of the witness of John the Baptist and of the works of Jesus. John the Baptist also gave witness to Jesus and presents Him to the people as the One sent by God who has to come to this world (cf. Jn 1:29, 33-34; 3:28-34). For this reason, even if the witness of John the Baptist is very important, Jesus does not depend on him. He has a witness in His favor who is greater than the witness of John, that is, the works which the Father carries out through Him (Jn 14:10-11).
• John 5:37-38: The Father bears witness to Jesus. Previously, Jesus had said, “Whoever is from God listens to the words of God” (Jn 8:47). The Jews who accused Jesus did not have a mind open to God. And for this reason, they do not  perceive the witness of the Father which reaches them through Jesus.
• John 5:39-41: Scripture itself gives testimony of Jesus. The Jews say that they have faith in the Scriptures, but, in reality, they do not understand Scripture, because the Scripture speaks of Jesus (cf. Jn 5:46; 12:16,41; 20:9).
• John 5:42-47: The Father does not judge but entrusts His judgment to the Son. The Jews say that they are faithful to the Scripture of Moses and, because of this, they condemn Jesus. In reality, Moses and the Scripture speak about Jesus and ask us to believe in Him.
4) PERSONAL QUESTIONS
• Life enlightens the text; the text enlightens life. How does one use this to gain an authentic understanding of each?
• The Jews of the time were following their hardened beliefs and not open to Jesus’ teaching. What is the proper balance between keeping old beliefs and accepting new ones? How does one discern what to keep and what to adopt, and how does this apply to Church doctrine and ritual?
5) CONCLUDING PRAYER
Yahweh, Your kingship is a kingship forever;
Your reign lasts from age to age.
Yahweh is trustworthy in all His words,
and upright in all His deeds.
Yahweh supports all who stumble,
lifts up those who are bowed down. (Ps 145:13-14)


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