Churches of the Day

Wednesday, Fourth Week in Lent

Pride and joy in belonging to the Church should be part of our inheritance as the chosen people
built up by the Spirit into a house where God lives, as a holy nation and a royal priesthood.

Memory of St Francis of Paola, hermit, attracted many followers, died n Tours, France 1507
C/f A short life of this saint can be found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the prophet  Isaiah      49:8-15
 I have appointed you as covenant of the people to restore the land.

Thus says the Lord:
At the favourable time I will answer you, on the day of salvation I will help you. (I have formed you and have appointed you as covenant of the people.) I will restore the land and assign you the estates that lie waste.
I will say to the prisoners, 'Come out', to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves'.

On every roadway they will graze, and each bare height shall be their pasture. They will never hunger or thirst, scorching wind and sun shall never plague them; for he who pities them will lead them and guide them to springs of water. I will make a highway of all the mountains, and the high roads shall be banked up. Some are on their way from afar, others from the north and the west, others from the land of Sinim.

Shout for joy, you heavens; exult, you earth! You mountains, break into happy cries!
For the Lord consoles his people and takes pity on those who are afflicted.'

For Zion was saying,  'the Lord has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me.'
Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the son of her womb?
Yet even if these forget, I will never forget you.'

The Word of the Lord.          Thanks be to God.


Responsorial Psalm        Ps 144: 8-9, 13-14, 17-18 R/v 8
Response                              The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

1. The Lord is kind and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in love.
How good is the Lord to all, compassionate to all his creatures.         Response

2. The Lord is faithful in all his words and loving in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall and raises all who are bowed down.   Response

3. The Lord is just in all his ways and loving in all his deeds.
He is close to all who call him, who call on him from their hearts.     Response

Gospel  Acclamation                          Jn 3: 16  
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son;
everyone who believes in him has eternal life.'
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

Or                                                                Jn 11: 25, 26
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !
'I am the resurrection and the life', says the Lord,
'whoever believes in me will never die.'
Glory and praise to you, O Christ !

GOSPEL  

 The Lord be with you.                         And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John        5.17-30        Glory to you, O Lord    
As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.

Jesus said to the Jews,
'My Father goes on working, and so do I.'
But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God's equal. To this accusation Jesus replied:
'I tell you most solemnly, the Son can do nothing by himself;
he can do only what he sees the Father doing: and whatever the Father does the Son does too.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does himself,
and he will show him even greater things than these, works that will astonish you.

Thus, as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
so the Son gives life to anyone he chooses;
for the Father judges no one; he has entrusted all judgement to the Son,so that all may honour the Son as they honour the  Father.
Whoever refuses honour to the Son refuses honour to the Father who sent him.
I tell you most solemnly, whoever listens to my words, and believes in the one who sent me,
has eternal life; without being brought to judgement, he has passed from death to life.

I tell you most solemnly, the hour will come - in fact it is here already – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear it will live. For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life; and, because he is the Son of Man, has appointed him supreme judge.

Do not be surprised at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice:
those who did good will rise again to life; and those who did evil, to condemnation.
I can do nothing by myself; I can only judge as I am told to judge, and my judging is just, because my aim is to do not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.'

The Gospel of the Lord.            Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Gospel Reflection          Wednesday          Fourth Week of Lent        John 5:17-30

In answer to the religious authorities’ question as to why Jesus works on the Sabbath by healing people, Jesus replies, ‘My Father goes on working, and so do I’. God never ceases to do God’s saving, reconciling, healing, life-giving work, not even on the Sabbath. Because of Jesus’ unique relationship with God, his Father, he too must go on working, day after day. A line in one of the psalms says of God that he neither slumbers nor sleeps. God is always awake and alert to us, always working for our present and ultimate well-being. The same is true of Jesus, our risen Lord. Even when he seems to be asleep, as he was in the storm at sea, he is alert to us. God never forgets us, just as a woman never forgets her baby at the breast, in the language of today’s first reading. We forget God from time to time. We are not always alert to God. We don’t always work on God’s behalf. We can be faithless.

Yet, God and his Son are always faithful. They go on working among us and within us. Likewise, the Holy Spirit works away within us. According to Saint Paul, even when do not know how to pray, the Spirit ‘intercedes with sighs too deep for words’ (Rom 8:26). God began a good work in our lives the moment we were created and enhanced that good work at our baptism. God is always working to bring that good work to completion, through the agency of his Son, our risen Lord, and the Holy Spirit. It can be reassuring to remember this good news, when we are tempted to cry out like the people of Israel in the first reading, ‘The Lord has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten me’.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/


The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saint of the Day: St Francis of Paola 1416 - 1507

Summary:
St Francis of Paola, spiritual counselor, hermit, and founder of an order of hermits. Francis was born in 1416, died at Tours (France) on this day in 1507. He is remembered as a spiritual counsellor of kings and for his political peace making. (Australian Catholic lectionary) He is a patron of seafarers and is popular in Italy, France and Mexico.

St Francis of Paola was founder of a religious order known as the "Minimi" ("the least of all the world") because of their humility.  He was a man who deeply loved contemplative solitude and wished only to be the “least in the household of God

Patrick Duffy tells his story.

From Paola in Calabria in Southern Italy
Francis was born, at Paola in Calabria on the toe of Italy, of parents remarkable for their holiness. Because he had poor eyesight, his parents vowed that they would give him for a whole year to a Franciscan convent and as a result of this vow he was instantly cured. At thirteen he went for the year to a monastery near his home and from there went on to Assisi and Rome. When he came home aged nineteen in 1435, he dedicated himself to a life of solitude, setting himself up as a hermit in a cave by the sea near his parents' home.

Hermits of St Francis of Assisi
A year later Francis was joined by two companions and they lived together in the spirit of St Francis, calling themselves the "Hermits of St. Francis of Assisi". Others were quickly attracted to his way of life and came to be renowned for their charity and austerity as well as for their commitment to Franciscan ideals. Francis lived to see them recognised as the Order of Minims. As others came along and numbers increased, many communities were established with great popular support in Calabria and Sicily. In 1471, the Archibishop of Cosenza granted them exemption from his jurisdiction so that they could go further afield and in 1473 Pope Sixtus IV gave them the status of mendicant friars.

Miraculous Crossing to Messina
A story from this time tells that in the year 1464, after Francis and his companions were refused passage by a boatman while trying to cross the Strait of Messina to Sicily, he put out his cloak on the water, tied one end to his staff as a sail, and sailed across the strait with his companions. This has led to his being named as patron of seafarers.

“The Least of all the Faithful”
The charity and austerity of the brothers attracted many. They had a rule of perpetual abstinence from all flesh- and white-meat, except in case of grave illness and by order of a physician. Usually there was only one priest in each community. Their distinguishing mark was their humility, from which they came to be called the Minimi, ( “the least of all the faithful”. cf Matt 25:40).

Gifts of Discernment and Prophecy
After his order got approval from the Holy See, Francis became famous for his discernment of consciences and his gift of prophecy. When he rebuked the King of Naples for wrong-doing, he became a marked man, but his reputation for holiness became widespread.

In France
In 1482 King Louis XI of France (1461-83) was facing death in great fear. He especially requested Francis of Paola to come to him. The pope of the time - Sixtus IV - commanded Francis to go. He arrived in time to prepare the king for his death and was with him when he died. Louis's two successors, Charles VIII, who was only a boy of thirteen when he succeeded to the throne (1483-98), and later his cousin Louis XII (1498-1515), were keen to keep Francis at the French court, frequently consulting him. They built a monastery for the Minimi at Plessis and at other locations in France.

Francis's Death
So the last twenty-five years of Francis's life were spent entirely in France. Though he wished to return to Italy, he was unable to do so. He spent the last three months of his life in entire solitude, preparing for death and he died on Good Friday 1507 while the Passion according to St. John was being read to him. He was canonised in 1519.

Influence
The Order of the Minimi still exists today, especially in Italy. The story from his early years about Francis miraculously sailing on his cloak and staff across the Strait of Messina from Italy to Sicily led to his being declared a patron of seafarers in 1943.

(A piano studio by Liszt entitled 'St Francis of Paola Walking on the Water' is still a popular music piece today.)

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Memorable Saying for Today

I once asked a hermit in Italy how he could venture to live alone, in a single cottage,
on the top of a mountain, a mile from any habitation?
He replied, that Providence was his next-door neighbour.

~ Laurence Sterne ~

and

If you go off into a far, far forest and get very quiet,
you'll quickly come to understand that you're connected with everything.

~ Alan Watts ~

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TheFifth Sunday of Lent, Year C

What marvels the Lord worked for us. We all need forgiveness
(The Readings for Year A may be used as an alternative today)
(The third Scrutiny is celebrated today)

FIRST READING  

A reading from the book of the Prophet  Isaiah          43:16-21
See I am doing a new deed, and I will give my chosen people water to drink.

Thus says the Lord,
'who made a way through the sea, a path in the great waters;
who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army, which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick.

'No need to recall the past,
no need to think about what was done before.
See, I am doing a new deed,
even now it comes to light; can you not see it?
Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness, paths in the wilds.

The wild beasts will honour me, jackals and ostriches,
because I am putting water in the wilderness (rivers in the wild) to give my chosen people drink.
The people I have formed for myself will sing my praises.'

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm   Ps 125. R v 3
Response                        What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.

1. When the Lord delivered Zion from bondage, it seemed like a dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, on our lips there were songs.      Response

2. The heathens themselves said: 'What marvels the Lord worked for them!'
What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad.                         Response

3. Deliver us, O Lord, from our bondage as streams in dry land.
Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap.                                Response

4. They go out, they go out, full of tears, carrying seed for the sowing:
they come back, they come back, full of song, carrying their sheaves.         Response

SECOND READING 
A reading from the second letter of St Paul to the Philippians        3:8-14
I have accepted the loss of everything if only I can have Christ

I believe nothing can happen that will outweigh the supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For him I have accepted the loss of everything, and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. I am no longer trying for perfection by my own efforts, the perfection that comes from the Law, but I want only the perfection that comes through faith in Christ, and is from God and based on faith. All I want is to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share his sufferings by reproducing the pattern of his death.

That is the way I can hope to take my place in the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have become perfect yet: I have not yet won, but I am still running, trying to capture the prize for which Christ Jesus captured me. I can assure you my brothers, I am far from thinking that I have already won. All I can say is that I forget the past and I strain ahead for what is still to come; I am racing for the finish, for the prize to which God calls us upwards to receive in Christ Jesus.

The Word of the Lord.                  Thanks be to God

Gospel  Acclamation               Amos 5:14
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

Or                                                  Joel 2:12-13
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
Now, now - it is the Lord who speaks - come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

GOSPEL:                                     

The Lord be with you.      An with your spirit
A Reading from the Gospel of John             8:1-11            Glory to you, O Lord
If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again;
and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery;
and making her stand there in full view of everybody, they said to Jesus,
'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemn women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?'
They asked him this as a test, looking for something to use against him.

But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger.
As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said,
'If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.'
Then be bent down and wrote on the ground again.
When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest,
until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. He looked up and said,
'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' '
No one, sir' she replied.
'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus 'go away, and don't sin any more.'

The Gospel of the Lord                Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/



Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.