These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, which means "God is with us!" (Is 7:10-14; 8:10)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032523.cfm
The origin of the liturgical calendar is a complicated story. The Roman Empire used a solar calendar rather than a lunar calendar used by the Jews in Israel. Early Christians knew that the first Good Friday was on the 14th of Nisan . . . but wanted to know the corresponding date on the solar calendar. It was determined that it was March 25th. So the feast of the Annunciation was assigned to the date of the Lord's death . . . which is why nine months later we celebrate the Birth of the Messiah on December 25th.
So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour had not yet come. (Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032423.cfm
“His hour had not yet come” . . . References to the “hour” occur throughout the Fourth Gospel, the one we call “according to John.” Of course, the hour is the hour of Jesus’ glorification on the Cross. As that hour approaches in our liturgical celebrations, we are called to reflect on the Cross which has been transformed from a first century execution device to become the Throne of Glory of the Son of God. Saint Óscar Romero (1917-1980) gave his life for the people of El Salvador.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 106)
R. Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.
Our fathers made a calf in Horeb and adored a molten image; They exchanged their glory for the image of a grass-eating bullock. R.
They forgot the God who had saved them, who had done great deeds in Egypt, Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham, terrible things at the Red Sea. R.
Then he spoke of exterminating them, but Moses, his chosen one, Withstood him in the breach to turn back his destructive wrath. R.
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032323.cfm
According to the Scriptures, at times it’s necessary to remind God about the promise . . . to remind God about mercy. In fact, that is just what Moses does when God threatens to wipe out the people because of their sins and to start all over again. Surely, Lent is a reminder for us about our sins, but Lent is also a reminder to God about the mercy and the promise.
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. (Is 49:8-15)
The Lord is gracious and merciful. (Ps 145)
Jesus said: 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. (Jn 5:17-30)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032223.cfm
Today’s readings are filled with tenderness and hope—a message that the world desperately needs. But how will people hear this message if we are silent or if we choose to judge and condemn?
There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. (Jn 5:1-16)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/032123.cfm
In the gospels it’s always good church people who complain about Jesus. The healing of the paralytic is a case in point. The people didn’t doubt that Jesus healed . . . but that he did it on the sabbath was too much for them. As the gospel says, they “began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.” Today’s photo is of the fountain of Bethesda, not in Jerusalem, but rather in New York!
