Catholic Caucus: Mass Readings, Wednesday, 3-24-2004

Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you; and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, To restore the land and allot the desolate heritages, Saying to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves! Along the ways they shall find pasture, on every bare height shall their pastures be. They shall not hunger or thirst, nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them; For he who pities them leads them and guides them beside springs of water. I will cut a road through all my mountains, and make my highways level. See, some shall come from afar, others from the north and the west, and some from the land of Syene. Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth, break forth into song, you mountains. For the LORD comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted.

But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me." Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.

R (8a) The Lord is gracious and merciful. The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness. The LORD is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. R The Lord is gracious and merciful. The LORD is faithful in all his words and holy in all his works. The LORD lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. R The Lord is gracious and merciful. The LORD is just in all his ways and holy in all his works. The LORD is near to all who call upon him, to all who call upon him in truth. R The Lord is gracious and merciful.

Jesus answered the Jews: "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." For this reason they tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.

Jesus answered and said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.

"I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me."

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

For: Wednesday, March 24, 2004

4th Week of Lent

From: John 5:17-30

The Cure of a Sick Man at the Pool at Bethzatha (Continuation)

[17] But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working still, and I am
working." [18] This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill Him,
because He not only broke the Sabbath but also called God His Father,
making Himself equal with God.

Christ Defends His Action

[19] Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of His own accord, but only what He sees the Father doing; for
whatever He does, that the Son does likewise. [20] For the Father
loves the Son, and shows Him all that He Himself is doing; and greater
works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. [21] For as
the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives
life to whom He will. [22] The Father judges no one, but has given all
judgment to the Son, [23] that all may honor the Son, even as they
honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the
Father who sent Him. [24] Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My
word and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life; he does not come
into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

[25] "Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when
the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will
live. [26] For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted
the Son also to have life in Himself, [27] and has given Him authority
to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. [28] Do not marvel
at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear
His voice [29] and come forth, those who have done good, to the
resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection
of judgment.

[30] "I can do nothing on My own authority; as I hear, I judge; and My
judgment is just, because I seek not My own will but the will of Him
who sent Me."

Commentary:

17-18. "My Father is working still, and I am working": we have already
said that God is continually acting. Since the Son acts together with
the Father, who with the Holy Spirit are the one and only God, our Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, can say that He is always working. These
words of Jesus contain an implicit reference to His divinity: the Jews
realize this and they want to kill Him because they consider it
blasphemous. "We all call God our Father, who is in Heaven (Isaiah
63:16; 64:8). Therefore, they were angry, not at this, that He said
God was His Father, but that He said it in quite another way than men.
Notice: the Jews understand what Arians do not understand. Arians
affirm the Son to be not equal to the Father, and that was why this
heresy was driven from the Church. Here, even the blind, even the
slayers of Christ, understand the works of Christ" (St. Augustine, "In
Ioann. Evang., 17, 16). We call God our Father because through grace
we are His adopted children; Jesus calls Him His Father because He is
His Son by nature. This is why He says after the Resurrection: "I am
ascending to My Father and your Father" (John 20:17), making a clear
distinction between the two ways of being a son of God.

19. Jesus speaks of the equality and also the distinction between
Father and Son. The two are equal: all the Son's power is the
Father's, all the Son does the Father does; but they are two distinct
persons: which is why the Son does what He has seen the Father do.

These words of our Lord should not be taken to mean that the Son sees
what the Father does and then does it Himself, like a disciple
imitating his master; He says what He says to show that the Father's
powers are communicated to the Son through generation. The word "see"
is used because men come to know things through the senses,
particularly through the sight; to say that the Son sees what the
Father does is a way of referring to all the powers which He receives
from Him for all eternity (cf. St. Thomas Aquinas, "Comm. on St. John,
in loc.").

20-21. When He says that the Father shows the Son "all that He Himself
is doing", this means that Christ can do the same as the Father. Thus,
when Jesus does things which are proper to God, He is testifying to His
divinity through them (cf. John 5:36).

"Greater works": this may be a reference to the miracles Jesus will
work during His lifetime and to His authority to execute judgment. But
THE miracle of Jesus was His own resurrection, the cause and pledge of
our own (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:20ff), and our passport to supernatural
life. Christ, like His Father, has unlimited power to communicate
life. This teaching is developed in verses 22-29.

22-30. Authority to judge has also been given by the Father to the
Incarnate Word. Whoever does not believe in Christ and in His word
will be condemned (cf. 3:18). We must accept Jesus Christ's lordship;
by doing so we honor the Father; if we do not know the Son we do not
know the Father who sent Him (verse 23). Through accepting Christ,
through accepting His word, we gain eternal life and are freed from
condemnation. He, who has taken on human nature which He will retain
forever, has been established as our judge, and His judgment is just,
because He seeks to fulfill the Will of the Father who sent Him, and He
does nothing on His own account: in other words, His human will is
perfectly at one with His divine will; which is why Jesus can say that
He does not do His own will but the Will of Him who sent Him.

22. God, being the Creator of the world, is the supreme Judge of all
creation. He alone can know with absolute certainty whether the people
and things He has created achieve the end He has envisaged for them.
Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, has received divine authority (cf.
Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Daniel 7:14), including the authority to judge
mankind. Now, it is God's will that everyone should be saved: Christ
did not come to condemn the world but to save it (cf. John 12:47).
Only someone who refuses to accept the divine mission of the Son puts
himself outside the pale of salvation. As the Church's Magisterium
teaches: "He claimed judicial power as received from His Father, when
the Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath by the miraculous cure of
a sick man. [...] In this power is included the right of rewarding
and punishing all men, even in this life" (Pius XI, "Quas Primas,
Dz-Sch 3677"). Jesus Christ, therefore, is the Judge of the living and
the dead, and will reward everyone according to his works (cf. 1 Peter
1:17).

"We have, I admit, a rigorous account to give of our sins; but who will
be our judge? The Father [...] has given all judgment to the Son. Let
us be comforted: the eternal Father has placed our cause in the hands
of our Redeemer Himself. St. Paul encourages us, saying, Who is [the
judge] who is to condemn us? It is Jesus Christ, who died [...] who
indeed intercedes for us (Romans 8:34). It is the Savior Himself, who,
in order that He should not condemn us to eternal death, has condemned
Himself to death for our sake, and who, not content with this, still
continues to intercede for us in Heaven with God His Father" (St.
Alphonsus Liguori, "The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ Reduced To
Practice", Chapter 3).

24. There is also a close connection between hearing the word of Christ
and believing in Him who sent Him, that is, in the Father. Whatever
Jesus Christ says is divine revelation; therefore, accepting Jesus'
words is equivalent to believing in God the Father: "He who believes in
Me, believes not in Me, but in Him who sent Me.... For I have not
spoken on My own authority; the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me
the commandment what to say and what to speak" (John 12:44, 49).

A person with faith is on the way to eternal life, because even in this
earthly life he is sharing in divine life, which is eternal; but he has
not yet attained eternal life in a definitive way (for he can lose it),
nor in a full way: "Beloved, we are God's children now; it does not yet
appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears we shall be
like Him" (1 John 3:2). If a person stays firm in the faith and lives
up to its demands, God's judgment will not condemn him but save him.

Therefore, it makes sense to strive, with the help of grace, to live a
life consistent with the faith: "If men go to so much trouble and
effort to live here a little longer, ought they not strive so much
harder to live eternally?" (St. Augustine, "De Verb. Dom. Serm.", 64).

25-30. These verse bring the first part of our Lord's discourse to a
close (it runs from 5:19 to 5:47); its core is a revelation about His
relationship with His Father. To understand the statement our Lord
makes here we need to remember that, because He is a single (divine)
person, a single subject of operations, a single I, He is expressing in
human words not only His sentiments as a man but also the deepest
dimension of His being: He is the Son of God, both in His generation in
eternity by the Father, and in His generation in time through taking up
human nature. Hence Jesus Christ has a profound awareness (so profound
that we cannot even imagine it) of His Sonship, which leads Him to
treat His Father with a very special intimacy, with love and also with
respect; He is aware also of His equality with the Father; therefore
when He speaks about the Father having given Him life (verse 26) or
authority (verse 27), it is not that He has received part of the
Father's life or authority: He has received absolutely all of it,
without the Father losing any.

"Do you perceive how their equality is shown and that they differ in
one respect only, namely, that one is the Father, while the other is
the Son? The expression `He has given' implies this distinction only,
and shows that all other attributes are equal and without difference.
From this it is clear that He does everything with as much authority
and power as the Father and is not endowed with power from some outside
source, for He has life as the Father has" (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom.
on St. John", 39, 3).

One of the amazing things about these passages of the Gospel is how
Jesus manages to express the sentiments of God-Man despite the
limitations of human language: Christ, true God, true man, is a mystery
which the Christian should contemplate even though he cannot understand
it: he feels bathed in a light so strong that it is beyond
understanding, yet fills his soul with faith and with a desire to
worship his Lord.

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Wednesday March 24, 2004 Fourth Week of Lent

Reading (Isaiah 49:8-15) Gospel (St. John 5:17-30)

In the beginning of the first reading today from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord says, In a time of favor I answer you, on a day of salvation I help you, and then speaking to His servant He says, I have set you as a covenant to the people. Now when we consider these points, there are really a couple of points that we have to look at. The one is the fact that God will hear us on this day of salvation, that He will show us His favor. But there is a second point, and that is dealing with the covenant, dealing in this case with the person who is the covenant, and that is Our Lord.

When we listen, then, in the Gospel reading to the words of Our Lord, He tells us that the Father judges no one, but rather that He Himself is the judge. And He is the judge because He took on our human nature that we will not ever be able to look at Him and say, “But You don’t understand. Did You ever experience what I experienced? Do You have any idea?” He does, perfectly; therefore He is the judge because He is the One Who understands. He has been there; He has lived it; He has done it. And so none of us will have an excuse before the Lord. Beyond that Our Lord tells us, with regard to this judgment, that He will not judge according to His own will but only according to the Will of His heavenly Father; and that if anyone rejects Him, that person rejects the Father Who sent Him.

Now if we consider that same proposition, one can carry it to the next step. One can look and say, “Anyone who rejects the Son rejects the Father, therefore anyone who rejects the Son rejects His mother. Or vice versa: Anyone who rejects His mother rejects the Son because you do not have one without the other.” This is something that is critically important in our day and age because Our Blessed Lady pretty much gets short-tripped with a lot of people. The vast majority of non-Catholics who want to call themselves Christian have absolutely no time for her; in fact, they have a hatred for her. And there are many, many Catholics who think they do not need her at all, that somehow this is not important.

All you have to do is simply look and ask yourself, “Did Jesus need her?” Are you a member of the Mystical Body of Christ? Then you need her exactly as Jesus needs her. He needed her because He chose that – not out of necessity, but out of choice. He decided that He would have a mother, He decided that He would be obedient to His mother, and He decided that He would make Himself dependent on His mother. Therefore, because it was His choice, it is the way that He did it. And for those who are members of His Mystical Body, who are called to do exactly what Jesus did, He says, I do nothing except what I see My Father doing, which means the Father chose that the Son would be dependent on His mother. For us, Jesus stands as the example not only in His teaching but in His deeds. Therefore, we should be able to say, “I do nothing except what I see the Son of God doing.” And what we see the Son of God doing is being obedient and being dependent with regard to His own mother, as well as, of course, to His Father. So it is for us, then, to be able to look at what He did and say, “If God has made Himself dependent on this extraordinary woman, so too must we be. If God has made Himself obedient to this most wonderful of all women, so too must we be,” because we are to do nothing other than what we see the Son of God doing, and He does nothing except what He sees His Father doing. The relationship is clearly set out.

We are members of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has a Father Who is in heaven, and thus we call Him “Our Father” because we are a member of Christ. Our Lord also has a mother whom we call “Our Mother” for the exact same reason. And if we do not accept the mother, we do not accept the Son, because you do not have one without the other. If we reject the Son, we reject the Father. If we reject the Son, we also reject the mother. The same works the other way. Reject the Father and you reject the Son. Reject the mother and you reject the Son, because they are one. So we have to make sure for ourselves that if we want to have our voices heard on a day of salvation, on a day that is acceptable to the Lord, it is going to be to do things the way that He did them because that is the acceptable way. It is the means to salvation. It means being humble, it means being obedient, it means being dependent, and it means loving perfectly; not only God, not only Jesus, but Our Blessed Lady, because that is the way He has chosen for Himself and it is the way He has chosen for those who are members of His Mystical Body. When we have done that then has salvation come to our house, then it will be an acceptable day, then will be truly the day of salvation.

March 24, 2004 / Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

John 5:17-30

Jesus said to the Jews, "My Father is at work until now, so I am at work." For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes. Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment to his Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life. Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself. And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. "I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

Introductory Prayer:Lord, I am constantly seeking honors for myself. But I want to simplify my life and direct all honor and glory to you. I know this will give my life a sense of meaning and peace to my soul.

Petition:Grant me the humility to depend on you, Lord, in everything.

1. Divine intimacy Not every parent shows their children all their secrets; however, the Father “shows [Jesus] all that he is doing.” This is intimacy. Yet, the relationship between the Father and the Son is not a closed circle; Christ invites his listeners and us to be drawn into this circle. This should make us marvel. Who are we, his creatures, to be able to enjoy such intimacy with him? The Son sees all that the Father does, and is therefore able to do exactly what the Father has done. Let yourself be drawn into intimacy with Jesus and the Father, especially in prayer.

2. Honoring the Father Jesus’ accusers would charge that his claim to equality with the Father was a claim to independence from the Father’s authority. This was “blasphemy”. But in reality the opposite is true: his claim to equality with God is accompanied by his submission to the Father’s authority. How can the one God work against himself? If I too wish to honor my Father, I mustn’t “do anything on my own”, but all things through him and with him. What better way can I honor my Father than by helping others perceive his presence in this secular world?

3. Dependence Obviously, the more we realize our complete dependence on God, the easier it is for us to submit to his plan. Divine intimacy with the Father and the Son will enable us to obey not as a fearful slave but as a loving son. “I no longer call you slaves, but friends….” Friends share common aspirations, common dreams, and they depend on each other. One asks, the other gives. Then the second asks and the first gives. Naturally. When we fully recognize our dependence on God, he can more readily act in us and through us.

Dialogue with Christ: Lord, I realize it takes more than will power to remain faithful to the Father’s will: it takes love. I know that in many small ways fidelity will demand that I lay down my life for you. I ask for the grace to respond with generosity to what you ask of me. May my whole life reflect your example of what it means to be a faithful son, reinforcing it in the hearts of men. Lord, convince me that if I am to be perfect like my heavenly Father, I must first be able to submit to his will in the smallest of details.

Resolution: I will speak with Christ about my prayer life, whether it reflects a true dependence on God or not.

"Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation." (Jn. 5:28-29)

Before the reform of the Roman Calendar this was the feast of St. Gabriel. This feast has been transferred to September 29 which is also the feast of Sts. Michael and Raphael.

This day was called the 'Feria of the great scrutiny,' because in the Church of Rome, after the necessary inquiries and examinations, the list of the catechumens, who were to receive Baptism, was closed. The Station is held in the basilica of St. Paul outside the walls, both because of the size of the building, and also in order to honor the apostle of the Gentiles by offering him these new recruits, which the Church was about to make from paganism. The reader will be interested and edified by a description of this ceremony.

Meditation - Submission and Christian Obedience
Continual submission to the holy will of God is the most universal of all virtues and its practice should be most familiar to you, since at every moment there arise opportunities of renouncing your own will and submitting to the will of God. His will is always easy to recognize. God has willed that all things that are extremely necessary should also be very easy to obtain. The sun, for instance, and air and water, and the other elements are most necessary for man's natural life; so, also, these things are common and freely available to everyone.

In the same way, since God has placed you in this world only to do His holy will, and your salvation depends upon this, it is, therefore, extremely necessary that you should easily know God's will in all that must be done. So, He has made it easily recognizable, manifesting His holy will in five chief ways which are very certain and evident:

by His commandments;
by His counsels;
by the laws, rules and obligations of our state in life;
by the authority of those placed over you or directing you;
by events, since every happening in an infallible sign that God so wills, either by absolute or by permissive will.

So, if you would but open the eyes of faith even a little, you could easily, at all times and in every situation, recognize God's most holy will, and this knowledge would lead you to love Him and to submit yourself to Him. — The Life and Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls, St. John Eudes

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