The Catholic Calendar for Thursday, March 17, 2005
Monday of Fifth Week of Lent
St. Patrick, bishop

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:

"Whom do you make yourself out to be?"

Perhaps the strongest of human instincts is for survival. Medical science has made giant strides in prolonging life and improving its quality; but eventually these mortal bodies, despite diet, exercise, medications and surgery will end in the grave. Christ takes the sting out of this "inevitability" by promising in today's Gospel that those who remain true to His "word" will never see death. Because His listeners' hearts were closed to the belief in eternal life and their insensitivity to God's Holy Spirit within Christ, they accused Him, for making so outrageous a promise, of being possessed by the devil.

Being challenged by the religious authorities did not cause Jesus to back down; for His message was of the utmost importance to humanity's life here and in the hereafter. Instead He referred to His eternal nature by stating, "before Abraham was, I AM." Jesus was quoting God's very words to Moses when the prophet asked Him what name he should use in speaking of Him to His people. God's reply to Moses was, "I AM WHO AM." The mere suggestion of Jesus claiming such a kinship with God was considered a blasphemy deserving stoning; still, Christ uses the present tense of the verb "to be" to fearlessly express that He, like His Father, exists in the "eternal now" of the Divinity.

Christ's assertion suggests that He is either insane and suffering from delusions or He is speaking the absolute truth. A serious, unbiased examination of Christ's life, the peace, love, healing, goodness and compassion He extended towards saints and sinners alike surely is not the behavior of a liar or a madman.

All-healing God,
make the "scales" fall from our eyes,
that we may clearly see christ as Your Son and our Savior
and joyfully abandon ourselves into His keeping.
Amen

- Marie Bocko, OCDS
(mlbocko at earthlink dot net)

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posted by joachim at 4:23 AM