Frederick, Maryland,
United States - Daily Mass Reading & Meditation for Thursday, 3 April 2014
- Catholic Meditations
Meditations: John 5:31
“If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. 32 It is another who
testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is
true. 33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 34 But the
testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you
may be saved. 35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to
rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony which I have is greater
than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the
very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. 37 The
Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his
voice at any time, nor seen his form. 38 You don’t have his word living in you;
because you don’t believe him whom he sent.
39 “You search the
Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are
they which testify about me. 40 Yet you will not come to me, that you may have
life. 41 I don’t receive glory from men. 42 But I know you, that you don’t have
God’s love in yourselves. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t
receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can
you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory
that comes from the only God?
45 “Don’t think that I
will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on
whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe
me; for he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe his writings, how will
you believe my words?”
4th Week of Lent
Search the Scriptures.
(John 5:39)
Have you ever picked up
your Bible, read a passage from it, and then sat back and wondered what in the
world God was trying to say to you? It’s possible that you may have walked away
and decided either that you were spiritually deaf or that the passage didn’t
have any consequence for your life. But somewhere inside your heart, you sensed
that there was something in that passage for you, but you just couldn’t put
your finger on it.
We all know that God
wants to reveal himself to us through Scripture. But just like everything else
in the Christian life, Scripture won’t just magically make sense to us. We need
to cooperate with the Spirit, and that takes some time, some attention, and
some perseverance.
The following guidelines
can help you hear the Lord as you read his word. Try them over the next few
days, and see if they make a difference.
Select a Scripture
passage that you want to read. Maybe you will choose to follow the daily Mass
readings with the meditations in this magazine.
Don’t read right away, but
begin with prayer. If you feel like singing or humming a hymn from Mass, do it.
When you feel ready,
read the Scripture passage you have chosen.
Read it again slowly,
dwelling on the words or phrases that struck you.
Use your imagination to
place yourself in the scene described in this passage.
Imagine that Jesus is
sitting across from you and telling you this story himself.
Be still. During this
quiet period, some words or pictures may bubble up in your thoughts. This may
be God speaking to you—especially if the images and thoughts lead you closer to
Christ, fill you with hope, or stir your heart to love and forgive.
Try to write out what
you think God is saying to you, and close with a prayer of praise and
thanksgiving.
God wants to reveal
himself to us in Scripture. Only by quiet reflection will we learn to hear his
voice.
“Holy Spirit, quiet my
heart, and help me to read Scripture with new ears. Let your revelation
penetrate my life and guide me to become more like Christ.” Amen.
Exodus 32:7 Yahweh spoke
to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of
Egypt, have corrupted themselves! 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the
way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have
worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods,
Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9 Yahweh said to Moses,
“I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. 10 Now
therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I
may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11 Moses begged Yahweh
his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people,
that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a
mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out
for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface
of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against
your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you
swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring[a] as
the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to
your offspring,[b] and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14 Yahweh repented of
the evil which he said he would do to his people.
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 32:13 or, seed
b. Exodus 32:13 or, seed
Psalm 106:19 They made a
calf in Horeb,
and worshiped a molten image.
20 Thus they exchanged
their glory
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
21 They forgot God,
their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore he said
that he would destroy them,
had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him
in the breach,
to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t
destroy them.
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