Introduction

Men and women who claim to know God a bit and to live consistently as his sons or daughters, are queer and bothersome to unbelievers as well as to those who take their religion as a set of duties or religious rites. There is no place for such eccentrics who go against the current, for their way of life disturbs the established ways of society. It irritates unbelievers and they want to test the faith of those who trust in God. One has to conform or else... The person who voices his plaints in the Book of Wisdom was one of those annoying people. Jesus was another. What about us?

Opening Prayer

Our God and Father,
we claim to be your sons and daughters,
who know that you love us,
and that you call us to live
the life of Jesus, your Son.
Give us the courage
to live this life consistently
not to show off, not to reprove others,
but simply because we know
that you are our Father
and we your sons and daughters,
brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading: Wis 2:1a, 12-22

Led by mistaken reasons they think, "Life is short and sad and there is no cure for death. It was never heard that anyone came back from the netherworld.

Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the Law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.

He claims knowledge of God and calls himself son of the Lord. 14 He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet him is burdensome to us. 15 He does not live like others and behaves strangely.

According to him we have low standards, so he keeps aloof from us as if we were unclean. He emphasizes the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as father.

Let us see the truth of what he says and find out what his end will be. If the righteous is a son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.

Let us humble and torture him to prove his self-control and test his patience. When we have condemned him to a shameful death, we may test his words."

This is the way they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. They do not know the mysteries of God nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 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 Reading: Jn 7:1-2, 10, 24-30

Jesus went around Galilee; he would not go about in Judea because the Jews wanted to kill him. Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand.
But after his brothers had gone to the festival, he also went up, not publicly but in secret.

Some of the people of Jerusalem said, "Is this not the man they want to kill? And here he is speaking freely, and they don't say a word to him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from; but when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."

So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the Temple court where he was teaching, "You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of myself; I was sent by the One who is true, and you don't know him. I know him for I come from him and he sent me."

They would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him because his time had not yet come.