Friday

3rd Week of Easter, Friday (2)

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This week’s First Readings have shown a clear trajectory from witness, to martyrdom, to persecution. At Stephen’s martyrdom we see a young zealous Jew named Saul come onto the scene who goes from watching over cloaks to spearheading the persecution of Jesus’ disciples. Saul was zealous, observant, and organized, but his zeal was misguided. He strove to do what he thought was the Lord’s will, and that set him on a collision course with what the Lord’s will truly was and who Jesus truly was.

As Our Lord explained to Ananias today, he would put Saul’s talents to good use. Saul would go from pursuing minim (heretics) of his own religion to preaching the Gospel of Christ among the gentiles, all those non-Jewish people who, according to Jewish interpretation of Sacred Scripture, were second-class citizens at best in the Lord’s plan of salvation. Saul’s values were profoundly challenged: his fasting while suffering blindness was a spiritual means to process everything that had happened. When Ananias came for him to heal him and baptize him he really could see things clearly for the first time in his life, and his zeal for the Lord was put back on the right course.

The way we live our faith can put us on a collision course with Our Lord too; maybe we’re not blind, but an “astigmatism” due to our pride may be misguiding us. As the Lord today to help you see any wrong turns you make have taken. Saul had to work in a vacuum, since Christianity was something new and strange, but we have many resources and people who can help us regain our sight.

Readings: Acts 9:1–20; Psalm 117; John 6:52–59. See also Conversion of St. Paul, 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time,Cycle B, and 3rd Week of Easter, Friday.

2nd Week of Easter, Friday (2)

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The lesson of today’s readings is simple: if God wants something to happen, we just have to do our part, big or small, and it will happen. A group of uneducated fisherman will teach the religious authorities of their time, preach the Gospel and expand the Church. Five loaves and two fish will feed thousands of people. Our efforts to be holy and share the Gospel will bear fruit.

If something doesn’t seem to be working out, today’s readings teach us to ask whether that’s because we’re working with God or working against him. Sometimes we have to let things play out a little in order to truly know. The Sanhedrin, at Gamaliel’s recommendation, freed the apostles with a light, albeit unjust, punishment and a warning. Within a few decades the Temple they were sitting in would be in ruins, they would be dispersed, but the Church would continue to grow.

Have you ever asked God what he wants you to do today? What he wants you to do with your life? If something seems off in the way you’re living your life, ask Our Lord to help you see the way forward.

Readings: Acts 5:34–42; Psalm 27:1, 4, 13–14; John 6:1–15. See also 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B and 2nd Week of Easter, Friday.

5th Week of Lent, Friday

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Yesterday‘s Gospel ended with the Jews taking up stones because Jesus claimed he was God. Today’s Gospel takes up John’s account a few chapters later, after Jesus heals the man born blind (John 9) and preaches the Good Shepherd discourse (John 10:1–22). The Jews have once again taken up stones and he challenges them about it. They believe his claim to be God is blasphemy, and he points them back to the many signs he has already performed that show they should believe in him. For them Jesus is either crazy, a blasphemer, or both. For them it’s unthinkable that God could be standing before him, which is why to rationalize how he could be performing these signs they claim he has a demon (John 7:20, 8:48-49, 10:20-21): possession would make him crazy and able to have powers. Even that explanation does not hold weight for everyone in the crowd, because some of his signs are to great for them to conceive anyone other than God doing them (see John 10:21).

As John’s account tells us, Jesus has to escape and hide now to avoid arrest. John no longer simply says his hour had not yet come. The “hour” in John’s Gospel refers to Jesus’ Passion and death, and it is close. Despite the charged atmosphere and hostility the Word sown has begun to bear fruit. People come to Our Lord across the Jordan and continue to follow and believe in him because of the signs he has performed. They know those signs could only be explained by Our Lord being sent by God. It’s poignant that the story comes full circle, back to where John had been baptizing; John had pointed to Our Lord and testified to him being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the greatest power of all. Now the Lamb is gathering his disciples around himself not long before before he does take away the sins of the world on the Cross.

Our Lord still works signs, but to those who have faith. When he appears after the Resurrection, he only appears to those who had faith in him. Make this last week of Lent a moment of prayer where you contemplate the things Our Lord has worked in your life. He’s always willing to reveal something new.

Readings: Jeremiah 20:10–13; Psalm 18:2–7; John 10:31–42.

4th Week of Lent, Friday

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As we draw clearer to Holy Week the readings take a more menacing tone. Today’s First Reading echoes perfectly the mentality of the scribes and Pharisees who seek to kill him (the wicked), and their reasons why, even though they probably don’t consider themselves wicked. Their description of the just man who is detestable to them can fit Our Lord perfectly, and so will the outcome.

In today’s Gospel we see Our Lord starting to be more careful when entering Judea, knowing his life is in danger. The crowds aren’t sure what to make of the lack of action on the part of the authorities. Some think the authorities also believe he is the Christ, but the main point of confusion is the interpretation of prophecies regarding the Messiah. The Messiah will come from Bethlehem, although not everyone knew that, and Jesus was known to be from Nazareth in Galilee. Interpretations of Isaiah also said that the Messiah would have a mysterious, unknown origin, so even Jesus being from Bethlehem would be problematic.

The dilemma is resolved in faith and a deeper understanding. If the crowds had done a little more legwork they would have discovered that Our Lord was born in Bethlehem. That wouldn’t have been enough, and it would have been the harder way. The easier way, which Our Lord encourages them to take, is to believe in him and by whom he has been sent. That is the mysterious and unknown origin attributed to Isaiah’s prophecy: not only that he comes from God, but that he is God. The only way to arrive at that conclusion is to believe in the signs Jesus has performed as testifying to his divine, mysterious origin.

Christ is always veiled in mystery; the only way to part the veil and gain a deeper understanding of him is to have faith in him and ask him to help you understand the mysteries of God. Ask, and you will receive.

Readings: Wisdom 2:1a, 12–22; Psalm 34:17–21, 23; John 7:1–2, 10, 25–30.

3rd Week of Lent, Saturday

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Every moment of prayer, in addition to being supplication, thanksgiving, adoration, or intercession, is a moment of truth. It’s a moment where we acknowledge who we are before God, who is immune to all spin, all subterfuge, all self-promotion. It’s a moment where we ask ourselves whether God’s view of us and our view of ourselves coincide. We know this is not easy, because Our Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. Despite this, we know deep down that lowering our estimation of ourselves is probably more in line than increasing it. Nevertheless, humility is a sound knowledge of self; we don’t navigate self-exploration alone. Those we trust help us to evaluate ourselves, and the Lord above all in every moment of sincere prayer.

Our Lord promises us that if we “aim low” we’ll receive the recognition that counts: his recognition. The tax collector in today’s Gospel knew he was a sinner; Our Lord didn’t deny that in the parable of today’s Gospel. The tax collector knew he needed mercy and didn’t deserve it. Prayer in that moment for him was a moment of truth: the truth he claimed was the truth as Our Lord saw it. He received mercy from God for his interior honesty. It’s not surprising that today’s Gospel says the Pharisee “spoke [his] prayer to himself”: it could just mean he didn’t say his prayer out loud, but it could mean that we was so wrapped up in smug self-worship that he really was praying to himself. Our Lord says he did not go home justified like the tax collector; he’d really accomplished nothing of worth and just went home.

Lent is a time of prayer. Let’s make it a moment of truth where Our Lord helps us to see ourselves in the depths of our heart as we truly are. It will make us abase ourselves so that he can raise us up with his love and mercy.

Reading: Hosea 6:1–6; Psalm 51:3–4, 18–19, 20–21b; Luke 18:9–14.