Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

Today we are on the threshold of the holiest days of the liturgical year. The stage is being set for the events of the Paschal Triduum. At the entrance, we hear Jesus’ prayer as the religious leaders devise their plot to kill him: “O Lord, do not stay afar off; my strength, make haste to help me! For I am a worm and no man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people” (Cf. Ps 21:20, 7).

In the Gospel from John 11, the chief priests advance the reasoning that something must be done about Jesus or else the nation will be destroyed: “If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation; …it is better…that one man should die…so that the whole nation will not perish.” It is ironic that the prophet Ezekiel foretells in the first reading that precisely the opposite is true: “I will make them one nation upon the land…My servant David shall be prince over them, and there shall be one shepherd for them all; …They shall live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob.”

This is echoed in the Gospel of John: Caiaphas “prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation…to gather into one the dispersed children of God” (Jn 11:51-52). The responsorial canticle asserts the same vision in the words “He who scattered Israel now gathers them together” and “The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock” (Jer 31:10). As we pray the communion antiphon today, let us reassert our faith in the One who has come to unite us in a Kingdom of love and peace: “Christ was handed over, to gather into one the scattered children of God” (Cf. Jn 11:52)

Prayer for Today: O Lord our God, you have made us your people, a chosen race. Heal the divisions within our world, our communities, and our Church. Unite us in faith in Jesus the Shepherd whom you sent to gather your scattered people, that we may dwell in the fullness of peace within your Kingdom.

Reflection by Br. Michael Marcotte, OSB