Pastoral Reflections Institute

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Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 5th Week of Lent


Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

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3-22-24 Reflections on Scripture | Friday of the 5th Week of Lent


Gospel
John 10:31-42

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.

Reflection

The most important revelation that Jesus shared with all of us when he walked this earth is that when we see him, we for the first time see the fullness of who God the Father is.

Jesus said the father is in me and I am in the Father. If you see me, you see the father. It's so, so important for us to understand this great mystery that the God who remains less visual in our minds can be seen fully in the person of Jesus. Help us to let go of the things of the past, particularly many images of the Old Testament, that keep us, from seeing the fullness of who Jesus reveals God to be. A lover, a friend, a companion, a source of love and life.

Closing Prayer

Father, as we near closer to Holy Week bless us with an awareness of the heart of Jesus’ message, he is fulfilling what the prophets spoke of throughout the Old Testament. Help us to put the story together and see Jesus as He really is. And we ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.


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