First Reading
Ezekiel 37:21-28
Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will take the children of Israel from among the nations
to which they have come,
and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel,
and there shall be one prince for them all.
Never again shall they be two nations,
and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.
No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols,
their abominations, and all their transgressions.
I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy,
and cleanse them so that they may be my people
and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
they, and their children, and their children’s children,
with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.
Responsorial Psalm
Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12abcd, 13
R. (see 10d) The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.
Gospel
John 11:45-56
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,
“What are we going to do?
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”
He did not say this on his own,
but since he was high priest for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews,
but he left for the region near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another
as they were in the temple area, “What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”
REFLECTION
SOURCE: One Bread One Body
TITLE: LEAD-OFF BATTER-ED
"I will make them one nation upon the land, in the mountains of Israel, and there shall be one Prince for them all." –Ezekiel 37:22
Ezekiel prophesied that Israel and Judah would be united after hundreds of years of division. This miracle of unity would be done by David's Descendant, Who would be the one Prince and the one Shepherd of the reunited nation (Ez 37:24). Ezekiel prophesied unity through divinely ordained leadership.
Caiaphas, the high priest when Jesus died, also prophesied. He said: "It is better for you to have one Man die [for the people] than to have the whole nation destroyed" (Jn 11:50). Caiaphas "prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation – and not for this nation only, but to gather into one all the dispersed children of God" (Jn 11:51-52). Unity would be effected by a Leader – not by a leader in governing, organizing, building, or even fighting, but by a Leader in dying. Jesus led the way in dying and made two into one through the blood of His cross (Eph 2:16; Col 1:20).
If we want unity in our world, among denominations, within the Church, in marriage and family, and in Christian community, we, with Jesus, must lead the way in dying. We must continually "carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus" (2 Cor 4:10). We must lead the daily Way of the Cross (Lk 9:23).
All Christians "are constantly being delivered to death for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor 4:11). However, those who volunteer to be the first to die and sacrifice make us one as the Father and Jesus are one (see Jn 17:21). Lead in dying.
PRAYER: Father, for love of You, in this Holy Week, may I take over the lead in the contest of suffering (see Heb 10:32).
PROMISE: "I will make with them a covenant of peace; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will multiply them." –Ez 37:26
PRAISE: Jesus healed Kim of breast cancer.
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