Jeremiah 20:10-13John 10:31-42 As we get closer to Holy Week there is a sense of growing tension in every encounter that Jesus has. He is challenged on every level and his responses only add to the confusion of his hearers. Today he makes a very simple appeal: if you don’t believe in me, at least …
Monthly Archives: March 2023
Thursday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Genesis 17:3-9Psalm 104(105):4-9John 8:51-59 The Lord remembers his covenant for ever. Using the responsorial psalm verse as a repeated prayer or mantra can often be a very helpful way into the Liturgy of the Word. It’s especially helpful today as the theme of covenant links our readings. God’s faithfulness to us and our faithfulness to …
Wednesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28John 8:31-42 In much of John’s Gospel Jesus speaks to people who struggle to understand him. He speaks figuratively and his hearers assume he is being concrete. We, however, are so used to quotations from the Gospels and usually can grasp their meaning. ‘If you make my word your homeyou will indeed be my …
Tuesday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Numbers 21:4-9John 8:21-30 Each year as we get closer to Holy Week I find that the readings are a little more complex than those we read in the early weeks of Lent. The texts from John’s Gospel ask a little more of me. John writes in a register which I feel requires me to hold …
Monday in the Fifth Week of Lent
Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62John 8:1-11 This is perhaps one of the most tender encounters in all of the Gospels. We picture the uncomfortable scene of a woman brought by the Pharisees to Jesus. In the eyes of the crowd she is in disgrace. But Jesus diffuses a situation, shifting the focus away from the woman and writing …
Fifth Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 37:12-14John 11:1-45 ‘The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth round his face. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, let him go free.’ I come to today’s Gospel with several strands which have resisted being woven together. This is undoubtedly a message for me. I …
Solemnity of the Annunciation
Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10Luke 1:26-38 ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.’ Do you ever stop and wonder how different our faith might be if Jesus …
Friday in the Fourth Week of Lent
Wisdom 2:1,12-22John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30 As we move closer to Holy Week tension begins to mount in our Gospel readings. Today this tension is mirrored in the First Reading from the Book of Wisdom and the Psalm. The text from the Book of Wisdom lays out for us a familiar dynamic where virtue and goodness …
Thursday in the Fourth Week of Lent
Exodus 32: 7-14John 5:31-47 In today’s reading from Exodus God challenges Moses about the creation of a golden calf. Moses tries to defend the people and makes appeal to a tradition that stretches far back in biblical memory: ‘Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants to whom by your own self you swore and made …
Wednesday in the Fourth week of Lent
Isaiah 49:8-15John 5:17-30 Each year in Lent the Church gives us the opportunity to revisit the story of our salvation. It’s a story of faith and great ideals, of times of bitter disappointment and the utmost courage. In the first readings in our weekday lectionary we are invited to identify with the people of Israel. …