The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, April 1, 2004
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Scripture from today’s Liturgy of the Word:
Genesis 17:3-9
Psalm 105:4-9
John 8:51-59

A reflection on today’s Sacred Scripture:

“But I do know Him, and I keep His word. . .”

And in fact, Jesus is His Word. Spoken from the beginning of time. He tells us that whoever keeps His word shall never see death. What must we do to keep His word?

We start by loving Him and taking every opportunity to draw closer to Him. Loving Him requires that we express love to our neighbor, no matter how difficult the person in question may be. Here are some words from 1 John 4:19-20 that help make this clear:

19 We love him, because he first loved us

20 If a man says, I love God, and hateth
his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

How can we love what we do not see if we do not love what is present before us? Jesus tells us this in the parable of the sheep and the goats as well. Jesus tells us “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” This is one of the very hard words of the Bible because so many people behave in such a way it is difficult to love them.

Nevertheless, if we are to keep our Savior’s word and to see Him in eternal life, we must be obedient to this great commandment. Each of our brothers and sisters is the image of Christ. Each opportunity to serve a brother or a sister is an opportunity to serve Christ.

If we have delayed up until now in our mission to serve, God grant each of us the strength to assume the mission He has had for us. If we have started already to serve, may the good Lord strengthen us in our service. May the Light of Life and Love shine forth from everything we do and give glory to God. May we open wide the gates of heaven to invite in all of those that feel left behind. For in so doing, we keep His word and give Heaven cause to rejoice.

- JuandelaCruz
(sriddle415 at yahoo dot com)

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posted by joachim at 4:49 AM