FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
MARCH 22, 2023 Fourth WEDNESDAY of Lent
WORD of the DAY
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.” (John 5: 17-30)
“How shall I live this Word? 
After the healing of the paralytic we met in yesterday’s liturgy, today’s Word offers us a long passage that helps us to get to know Jesus better and take a stand on his work. What immediately resonates is the fundamental relationship between Jesus and the Father. Indeed, the Father loves the Son. The action of the Father is the same as that of the Son and the action of the Son is that of the Father. What is the Father’s desire? It is to give us life. Let’s think about the different situations in life where we feel like we’re dying, we feel like a failure, we feel disappointed and sad. Let’s think about the situations of our world in which we see life threatened and affected by the virus of power, career, individualism. It is precisely there that the Son, Jesus, fulfills the Father’s desire by giving us life through His action. The Son gives us life through His Word. If we put the Word into practice, we will be alive, we will have life. “All those who are in the tombs will hear His voice and will come out” His is the Word of life that takes us away from situations of death, which brings us out of the tombs of our closures in which we are holed up and hidden. We listen to the Word as the Word of Life. Today we are the ones who can reveal the way of life to the world. It is our actions that tell others what we believe in: a Father who always gives us life, is always on the side of life.”
The Voice of Pope Francis General Audience 30 January 2013
Saying, “I believe in God the almighty Father”, in His power, in His way of being a Father, is always an act of faith, of conversion, of transformation of our thinking, of all our affection, of our whole way of life. Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord to sustain our faith, to help us truly find faith and to give us the strength to proclaim the crucified and risen Christ and to bear witness to Him in love for God and neighbor. And may God grant us to welcome the gift of our filiation, to fully live the realities of the Creed, in trusting abandonment to the Father’s love and to His merciful omnipotence which is true omnipotence and saves!”
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com Comment by Sr. Vilma Colombo, FMA
