Saturday of the fourth week of Lent

 Invitation

May I draw your attention to:
reading the Gospel daily?

This invitation aims to share with you the joy of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.

Available every day

Consideration:
Opinions about Jesus are divided. We can distinguish three groups: some see in him the prophet, the new Moses, the new lawgiver. Others, more nationalistically inspired, see in him the descendant of King David, the Messiah who will establish a new kingdom. Still others are offended by Jesus’ humble origins: the prophet, the Messiah, cannot come from an obscure village in Galilee.
This calls us to reflect for ourselves: do we see God, do we encounter God, where He suddenly appears? Do we see Him in the ordinary circumstances of life, on the way, where we do not expect Him? One can miss an encounter with God by looking for Him too far afield.

FIRST READING                      Jer. 11,18-20

I was as innocent as a lamb led to the slaughter.

From the Prophet Jeremiah

When the Lord God warned me, I only then realised;
you have indeed shown me their plans.
I was as guileless as a lamb led to the slaughter;
I had no inkling of what they were plotting against me:
‘We will fell the tree in its prime;
we will banish him from the land of the living,
so that his name is no longer mentioned.’

Lord, God of the heavenly hosts,
your judgement is just,
You search out heart and mind.
Show me, then, how You take vengeance on them;
for I have placed my cause in Your hands.

INTERLUDIUM                             Ps . 7, 2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12

Lord, my God, to You I flee.

Lord, my God, to You I flee,
deliver me from my persecutors.
Otherwise the lions will drag me away,
they will tear me to pieces with no hope of rescue.

Grant me justice according to my merit,
for I am not guilty.
Put an end to injustice, uphold justice,
righteous God, who knows the hearts.

God is my shield,
restore to me the joy of your salvation.

GOSPEL                               John 7, 40–53

Does the Messiah come from Galilee?

From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John

On hearing Jesus’ words,
some of the people said:
“This is indeed the Prophet.”
Others said:
“He is the Messiah.”
Still others objected:
“Does the Messiah come from Galilee?
“Has not the Scripture said
that the Messiah will come from the house of David
and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”
Thus there was a division among the people concerning Him.
Some of them wanted to arrest Him,
but no one laid a hand on Him.
When the servants
returned to the chief priests and Pharisees,
they asked them:
“Why have you not brought Him?”
The officers replied:
“Never has anyone spoken like this man.”
To which the Pharisees said:
“Have you too been deceived?
“Has any of the authorities
or of the Pharisees believed in Him?
“That people, yes,
who do not know the Law,
they are accursed!”
But one of their own, Nicodemus,
who had previously come to Jesus, remarked:
“Does our Law condemn anyone
without first hearing him and finding out what he does?”
They replied to him:
“Are you from Galilee too?
“Look into it and you will see
that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Then everyone went home.