The Catholic Calendar for Friday, April 7, 2006
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
St. John Baptist de la Salle

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Jeremiah 20:10-13
Psalm 18:2-7
John 10:31-42

A reflection on today's Scripture. . . .

"I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?" (John 10:32)

Most of us accept changes in science, medicine, technology and morals, if the changes bring us more convenience, safety, health, wealth or pleasure. When we become too involved in achieving such comforts while neglecting spiritual matters, God sends us prophets to remind us that our well-being extends far beyond these pursuits. In every age when God sees His people distancing themselves from His love and truth, becoming wholly preoccupied with worldly "goods," He reminds us to obey His law of love for the good of all people. History, extending into this present age, shows that God's messengers are often reviled and destroyed by those challenged to relinquish their selfishness and complacency.

Today we are being increasingly secularized, creating scores of loveless people intent on rejecting rules that they think will curtail their self-fulfillment. These see "freedom" as anything with which they can get away. They invent laws that ignore the moral and ethical truths inherent in God's love; in doing so, they become less than fully human and sink to the level of "survival of the fittest," reduce themselves to forest or jungle beasts.

God made us in His image; these bodies were meant to reflect God's goodness, and in doing so, attract others to share in God's life of peace, joy and self-giving love. Christ came to reunite the two facets of human life, the temporal with the eternal. If we receive Christ, He will give us His new, resurrected life to live in harmony with God and one another. We can accomplish this if we open our hearts to Him, abandon sins that spring from human selfishness and learn to participate in His virtues.

O Saving Lord, infuse our hearts with the desire to truly worship You through obedience to Your love and truth. Help us to make Your salvation known in this needful world. Amen.

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

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