SATURDAY OF THE 5TH WEEK OF LENT - 2025

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son:
everyone who believes in him has eternal life. JN 3:16

EZEKIEL 37:21-28

My Soul's Beloved,

Every line of this glorious prophecy is fulfilled in You. Why is the world so blind? Why are we, who are the members of Your Body, not shouting from the rooftops that You are David, the Heir, the Servant, the One God sent into the world to bring all nations under Your Lordship? As one Body, we are called to worship the true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is who was and ever will be eternally. Why are we so obtuse when everything needful for our happiness is revealed to us? Nothing is hidden; all that God has said He will do He has accomplished in You. 

In the Church You established, we have forgiveness of sins, we are baptized and cleansed of original sin, we are made members of the family of God, and we belong to the household of God. Grace is poured upon us through the Sacraments You instituted so we are strengthened and can fight against temptations, the wiles of the world, the flesh and the devil, and with  Your help, triumph. You became the willing Victim for the sins of the world. You took on Yourself the punishment, and death was our,s and You paid the price for our iniquity so we can share in Your victory over sin and death.

You, O my Bleoved, are the Covenant of Love and Peace that the Father makes with us. Your sanctuary is in our hearts, and to anyone who wants to be united with You can receive You in the Holy Eucharist, and anyone who wants to visit You can enter any Catholic Church where we will see You, O Lord, with the eyes of faith hidden humbly behind the Sacred Host. Thank You, Beloved, for making Your home with us just as the prophet prophesied. 

The Lord says this: ‘I shall rescue them from all the betrayals they have been guilty of; I shall cleanse them; they shall be my people and I will be their God. My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my observances, respect my laws and practise them. They will live in the land that I gave my servant Jacob, the land in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children, their children’s children, for ever. David my servant is to be their prince for ever. I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and increase them; I shall settle my sanctuary among them for ever. I shall make my home above them; I will be their God, they shall be my people. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever.’

JEREMIAH - PSALM  31:10-13

The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

O nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him
and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,

has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion,
they will stream to the blessings of the Lord.

Then the young girls will rejoice and dance,

the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console them, give gladness for grief.

The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

JOHN 11:45-56

My Soul's Beloved,

It is mind-boggling that even though You raised Lazarus four days after he died and this was witnessed by many, the Caiaphas, the Chief Priests, and Pharisees were determined more than ever to destroy You. They know that God alone has the power to give life or take it, yet the Sanhedrin's lust for power overshadows the wondrous Good News that God has visited His people. 

Beloved, people are afraid to believe in the Gospel because they think the cost of discipleship is too high. They love their sins of the flesh; they are drunk on the power they wield and the heady influence and adulation of the masses. They are prepared to commit the most heinous acts to keep a tight rein on the status quo. They are willing to damn their souls eternally for temporary gain. In our own culture, we see the so-called elites, pseudo-intellectuals, those with fame, obscene amounts of wealth, those with great power to do as they will who scoff at Christianity and the Good News that God sent His beloved Son into the world to lay down His life for us and all who believe in You will be saved. It is frightening, my Lord, to see these people scoff and make a mockery of revealed divine Truth. Convinced that just because they have the temerity to laugh in scorn at undeniable Truth, they are right.

Caiaphas who was the high priest, prophesied that it was better for one man to die than for the entire nation to be destroyed. He was sublimely unaware that for once in his sorry existence, he spoke the truth. The Romans did destroy the Jews and the Temple so efficiently and barbarously that just as You prophesied, Beloved, not one stone would remain over the other.

You came to die so we may live. Let us not be afraid to proclaim this Good News boldly so all can believe and be saved. 

One of them, Caiaphas, the high priest that year, said, ‘You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed.’ He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation – and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. From that day they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, ‘What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’