Is
65:17-21; Ps
30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b;
Jn 4:43-54
Daily
Gospel
Introduction
For
people who believe, the golden age lies in the future, not
in the past, says the third section of the book of Isaiah.
Before the exile, the Jews and their prophets looked to
the beginnings, to the past, as the golden era from which
humankind had declined. Now the prophet turns to the future.
For the believer there is a new world to be built as a sign
of the new heaven. Life lies in the future.
The
building up of this new world began seriously in Christ.
His word renews people. Faith in him brings life and healing,
something to live for and joy - now and even more so in
the future: a new world, a new relationship with God, a
new People of God.
Opening
Prayer
Lord
our God, almighty Father,
you want us not to turn to the past
to regret it and to mourn over it
but to hope in the future,
in the new earth and the new heaven.
Give us a firm faith
in your Son Jesus Christ,
that notwithstanding the shortcomings of our time
we may have faith in the future,
which you want us to build up
with your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Liturgy
of the Word
First
Reading: Is
65:17-21
Thus
says the LORD:
Lo, I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
The things of the past shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
Instead, there shall always be rejoicing and happiness
in what I create;
For I create Jerusalem to be a joy
and its people to be a delight;
I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and exult in my people.
No longer shall the sound of weeping be heard there,
or the sound of crying;
No longer shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not round out his full lifetime;
He dies a mere youth who reaches but a hundred years,
and he who fails of a hundred shall be thought accursed.
They shall live in the houses they build,
and eat the fruit of the vineyards they plant.
Responsorial
Psalm: Ps 30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a
and 13b
R.
(2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued
me.
I
will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear
and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O LORD, you brought me up from the nether world;
you preserved me from among those going down into
the pit. R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued
me.
Sing
praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
but with the dawn, rejoicing. R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued
me.
“Hear,
O LORD, and have pity on me;
O LORD, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks. R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued
me.
Gospel:
John 4:43-54
When
the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus
himself said that no prophet is recognized in his
own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he
arrived, because of all the things he had done in
Jerusalem during the Festival and which they had seen.
For they, too, had gone to the feast. Jesus went back
to Cana of Galilee where he had changed the water
into wine. At Capernaum there was an official whose
son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come
from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come
and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
Jesus
said, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you
will not believe!" The official said, "Sir,
come down before my child dies." And Jesus replied,
"Go, your son is living."
The
man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him
and went his way. He was already going down the hilly
road when his servants met him with this news, "Your
son has recovered!" So he asked them at what
hour the child had begun to recover and they said
to him, "The fever left him yesterday in the
afternoon about one o'clock." And the father
realized that it was the time when Jesus told him,
"Your son is living." And he became a believer,
he and all his family.
Jesus
performed this second miraculous sign when he returned
from Judea to Galilee.
Commentary
This
second sign or miracle that Jesus performs is closely related to
his first, the changing of water into wine. In the first miracle,
Jesus effects a great change upon the substance of water. In the
second, Jesus changes the body of a dying child into one that is
full of life and vigor.
We rightly ask the Lord to effect such a change upon us: giving
life to our drooping spirits, restoring health to our souls through
the forgiveness of our sins. The Lord, who changed water into wine,
is more than capable of effecting great change within our hearts.
General
Intercessions
- Lord,
speak only your word and we shall be healed, we pray:
- Lord,
touch us with your grace and we shall become new and courageous people,
we pray:
- Lord,
give us yourself again, and you shall make us capable of giving ourselves
to others, we pray:
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord
our God, these are our gifts:
no more than a little bread and wine,
ordinary bread, a simple drink of joy,
but they become among us
the signs of a great future.
Give us faith, Lord,
a faith strong enough to believe
with absolute certainty
that everything becomes possible,
that we can build up
a new heaven and a new earth
in and through your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer
after Communion
Lord,
God of our future,
we believe in your Son Jesus Christ,
who has been with us
in this eucharistic celebration.
On account of him we are convinced
that even death leads to life,
that there are no barriers
to what you can do with us,
unreliable as we are at times,
that all our dreams can come true
beyond all our expectations
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Every
year the Church gives us this Lent as an opportunity to become the kind
of followers of Christ we were meant to be: courageous, close to God,
thinking again of others rather than of ourselves and our own petty
interests. Continue to let the Lord renew you, with the blessing of
almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Claretian Publications MACAU