First Reading
Isaiah 65:17-21
Thus says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
or the sound of crying;
No longer shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;
He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
They shall live in the houses they build,
and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b
R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let Oneenemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Gospel
John 4:43-54
At that time Jesus left [Samaria] for Galilee.
For Jesus himself testified
that a prophet has no honor in his native place.
When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him,
since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem at the feast;
for they themselves had gone to the feast.
Then he returned to Cana in Galilee,
where he had made the water wine.
Now there was a royal official whose son was ill in Capernaum.
When he heard that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judea,
he went to him and asked him to come down
and heal his son, who was near death.
Jesus said to him,
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.”
The royal official said to him,
“Sir, come down before my child dies.”
Jesus said to him, “You may go; your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him and left.
While the man was on his way back,
his slaves met him and told him that his boy would live.
He asked them when he began to recover.
They told him,
“The fever left him yesterday, about one in the afternoon.”
The father realized that just at that time Jesus had said to him,
“Your son will live,”
and he and his whole household came to believe.
Now this was the second sign Jesus did
when he came to Galilee from Judea.
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
TITLE: THE JOY OF LENT AND LIFE
"There shall always be rejoicing and happiness in what I create." –Isaiah 65:18
If the Lord creates a calling for you, you can find joy in it. If He calls you to life-long celibacy, you have cause for rejoicing. If the Lord gives you and your spouse ten children, rejoice in the sacrifice of having a large family. When He calls us to repent, we share in the great joy of heaven over one sinner who repents (Lk 15:7). When the Lord gives us the privilege of being persecuted for the Gospel, we should rejoice in the measure we share in His sufferings (1 Pt 4:13).
There's more joy in suffering with Jesus than in having pleasure without Him. True joy depends on only one thing: "Did the Lord create it? Is it His will?" Therefore, joy is not feeling good but obeying the Lord (see Ps 40:9). This makes it possible to rejoice always (1 Thes 5:16). No one and nothing can take our joy from us (Jn 16:22).
We can't always feel good but we can always obey God and thereby always rejoice. In fact, not only can we rejoice in the Lord but also rejoice with the divine joy of the Lord. We can actually have Jesus' joy (Jn 15:11). Moreover, this divine joy will be our strength (Neh 8:10).
"Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again. Rejoice!" (Phil 4:4)
PRAYER: Father, this Lent may the joy in my life reach fever pitch (Acts 8:8).
PROMISE: "He and his whole household thereupon became believers." –Jn 4:53
PRAISE: The Rileys left a job, home, and security to move and join a Christian community.
...may the good Lord bless His holy word in our hearts...
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