March 13, 2013

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Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent 
Lectionary: 246

Reading 1IS 49:8-15

Thus says the LORD:In a time of favor I answer you,

This is a bit confusing to me. God normally says that He answers us in times of distress. I think what this means is that we are having a time of favor because God has answered our prayers.

Or, perhaps God is saying that He answers us in good times as well as in bad.

on the day of salvation I help you;

Scripture says that today is an acceptable time:


2 Corinthians 6:2
King James Version (KJV)
2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)


Therefore, be saved by God. Do His will that you may be acceptable to Him.

and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,

God has kept His people as a sign to the people that He loves us.

To restore the landand allot the desolate heritages,Saying to the prisoners: Come out!

This is a reference to God bringing the Jews back from their exile in Babylon and restoring to them their heritage. Essentially, the Jews were prisoners there.

those in darkness: Show yourselves!  Along the ways they shall find pasture,on every bare height shall their pastures be.

Those in darkness are they who remain in sin.  God calls them to turn to Him and be saved.

They shall not hunger or thirst,nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;For he who pities them leads themand guides them beside springs of water.

If they repent of their sins and turn to God, He will protect them and fill them with His grace.

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.

God is calling all people of the world to Him.  Not just the Jews.

Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,break forth into song, you mountains.For the LORD comforts his peopleand shows mercy to his afflicted.

Therefore all the people throughout the earth should rejoice.  Because God takes care of us.

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.

Although you may suffer many things, don't believe that God has forsaken you.  God loves every person more than their own mothers.

Responsorial Psalm               PS 145:8-9, 13CD-14, 17-18

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.

God is forgiving.  He is patient and calm.  God takes care of all His creation.

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.

God always keeps His word.  God is holy in al that He does.  He raises up the lowly.
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.

All of God's works are righteous.  God is with all who pray in good faith. 

Gospel          JN 5:17-30

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 said, "I am at work because my Father is at work." This is why the Jews wanted to kill Him. Not just because He broke the Sabbath.  But because He called God His Father. Making Himself 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.

Jesus said to the Jews, "I assure you, I can do nothing except what my Father does, because a Son only does what His Father does.  What the Father does, His Son will 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.

The Father loves the Son and shows Him all His works.  And He will show Him ever greater deeds than this so that you may all be astonished. 

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.

God the Father gives life and so does the Son.  And the Father does not judge anyone, but has given judgment to the Son.  So that all may glorify the Son as the Son glorifies 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.

Whoever rejects the Son rejects the Father.  I assure you, whoever listens to me and believes in my Father will live forever.  He will not be punished but passes 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.

I assure you, now is the time of salvation when sinners must turn to the Son of God and choose to live. Because just as God the Father can grant life, so also the Son.  And God the Father has given the Son the power to grant life or death.

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.

Don't be surprised.  The Day of Judgment is coming and on that day the dead will rise, some to eternal life and some to eternal punishment according to their deeds that they have done in this life.

“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.”

I don't do my own will.  I do my Father's will.  And my judgment is righteous because I seek to do the will of my Father who is righteous and who sent me to do His will.