First Reading
Wisdom 2:1a, 12-22
The wicked said among themselves,
thinking not aright:
“Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.
To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the just
and boasts that God is his Father.
Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him.
For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
With revilement and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”
These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,
and they knew not the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense of holiness
nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 34:17-18, 19-20, 21 and 23
R. (19a) The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD confronts the evildoers,
to destroy remembrance of them from the earth.
When the just cry out, the LORD hears them,
and from all their distress he rescues them.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.
Many are the troubles of the just man,
but out of them all the LORD delivers him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.
The LORD redeems the lives of his servants;
no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him.
R. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted.
Gospel
John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
Jesus moved about within Galilee;
he did not wish to travel in Judea,
because the Jews were trying to kill him.
But the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
he himself also went up, not openly but as it were in secret.
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said,
“Is he not the one they are trying to kill?
And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him.
Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ?
But we know where he is from.
When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”
So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said,
“You know me and also know where I am from.
Yet I did not come on my own,
but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true.
I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
So they tried to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand upon him,
because his hour had not yet come.
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
TITLE: PRIVILEGED SUFFERING
"Let us beset the just one." –Wisdom 2:12
"Let us condemn him to a shameful death." –Wisdom 2:20
Two weeks from today is Good Friday. On that day, we will remember that Jesus suffered and died for love of us. We also remember that in our own flesh we "fill up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His body, the Church" (Col 1:24). Jesus has left room for our sufferings to be included in His plan of redemption.
Jesus blessed us when He said: "Blest are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of slander against you because of Me. Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is great in heaven" (Mt 5:11-12; see also Wis 2:22). May we be "judged worthy of ill-treatment for the sake of the Name" of Jesus (Acts 5:41). May our lives be "not like other men's" (Wis 2:15) so that we will be privileged (Phil 1:29) to suffer "revilement and torture" (Wis 2:19) for righteousness' sake (Mt 5:10).
Rejoice "in the measure that you share Christ's sufferings" (1 Pt 4:13). "If anyone suffers for being a Christian...he ought not to be ashamed. He should rather glorify God in virtue of that name" (1 Pt 4:16). Suffer, rejoice, and love.
PRAYER: Father, I accept Your grace to take up my crosses daily (Lk 9:23). May I know how to share in Jesus' sufferings by being formed into the pattern of His death (Phil 3:10).
PROMISE: "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit He saves." –Ps 34:19
PRAISE: St. Isidore's family was united in the Faith and bore great fruit. Isidore was a bishop, and two of his brothers and a sister were all canonized saints.
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