FIRST READING
“I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live.”
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 37: 12-14)
Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, says the Lord.

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 130:1-2.3-4.5-7a.7b-8 (R. 7b)
R/. With the Lord there is mercy, in him is plentiful redemption.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
O let your ears be attentive
to the sound of my pleading. R/.

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
Lord, who could stand?
But with you is found forgiveness,
that you may be revered. R/.

R/. With the Lord there is mercy, in him is plentiful redemption.

I long for you, O Lord,
my soul longs for his word.
My soul hopes in the Lord
more than watchmen for daybreak.
More than watchmen for daybreak,
let Israel hope for the Lord. R/.

For with the Lord there is mercy,
in him is plentiful redemption.
It is he who will redeem Israel
from all its iniquities. R/.

SECOND READING
“The Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you.”
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Romans 8:8-11)
Brethren: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.

The word of the Lord.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Joel 2:12-13
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, for I am gracious and merciful.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

GOSPEL
“I am the resurrection and the life.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 11:1-45
At that time: A certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So * the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness is not unto death; it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” *
The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if any one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” Thus he spoke, and then he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead; and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.* Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. * When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” * When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying quietly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, * he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled; and he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odour, for he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this on account of the people standing by, that they may believe that you have sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.

TODAY’S REFLECTION
The concept of a grave brings to mind the place of the dead, the place of no return, the place where there is no life. God in the first reading offered to open up the graves and raise His people from their graves; to bring them back to life. This concept of a life-giving God is continued in the Gospel reading where Jesus Christ brought Lazarus who was already dead and decomposing back to life. Jesus wanted Martha and everyone to know that it is through him that Lazarus would rise again. To believe in Jesus is to have life. Death, therefore, is not the end of one’s life. Jesus who is the resurrection and the life offers this life to us whenever we go to Mass; when we pray and whenever we study the sacred scriptures. Let us allow Christ to bring us out of our graves.

FIRST READING
“Let us condemn him to a shameful death.”
A reading from the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 2:1a.12-22)

Ungodly men reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize for blameless souls.

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 34: 17-18.19-20.21 and 23 (R. 19a)
R/. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the earth.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears,
and rescues them in all their distress. R/.

The Lord is close to the broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
Many are the trials of the just man,
but from them all the Lord will rescue him. R.

R/. The Lord is close to the broken-hearted.

He will keep guard over all his bones;
not one of his bones shall be broken.
The Lord ransoms the souls of his servants.
All who trust in him shall not be condemned. R/.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Matthew 4:4b
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

GOSPEL
“They sought to arrest him,‘ but his hour had not yet come. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 7: 1-2.10.25-30)

At that time: Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill him. Now the Jews’ feast of Tabernacles was at hand. But after his brethren had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? Yet we know where this man comes from; and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from; But I have not come of my own accord; he who sent me is true, and him you do not know. I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” So they sought to arrest him; but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.

The Gospel of the Lord.

TODAY’S REFLECTION
The only way to make sense of the Christian life is to look at it from the perspective of a cross. Being a Christian is not a ticket to a life of luxury, peace, and comfort, it is rather an invitation to a road less traveled; it is standing for what is right and having to face the ridicule, insults, oppression, pain, and humiliation of many who practically belong to this world.
Jesus knew exactly what he was saying when he said those who will follow him must be prepared to carry the cross. He knew that anyone who tries to serve him diligently in this world will indeed not find it easy at all. He or she must have to swim against the tide because wickedness and evil are more popular than good.

The Christian life is a battle yet we are not wrestling against people (flesh and blood) but against principalities and powers who work through people to make life difficult and tough for anyone who strives to serve God. Ephesians 6:12. These principalities and powers are not visible but their manifestations are very obvious. We sometimes assume people are enemies but the truth is that we have only one enemy; the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy. John 10:10.

If we do not realize that we are carrying a cross, there is a tendency for us to drop it without even knowing. We could actually forget what the Christian life is about and begin to serve other gods unknowingly by making a priority of comfort, wealth, and fame. This is what the gospel of prosperity does. It is a distortion of what the Christian life is about. If we forget that the Christian life is a cross, we would not understand why we can’t have bread in place of stones, why we can’t have the glories of this world, or why we just can’t be popular or have people respect us. These are the temptations of Jesus and the same temptations we constantly face and the only way we can overcome any attraction is to choose the cross.

Dear friends, do not give up on righteousness. Do not drop the cross. Do not be discouraged when the going becomes tough and you don’t feel like moving on anymore. Do not be taken aback by insults. Jesus’ nickname was “Beelzebub.” Do not get tired of being good even when your best is used against you. Do not stop forgiving people, you have only one enemy; the devil. Do not seek after life only on earth, be prepared even to let go of your very life in exchange for a better life in heaven

FIRST READING
“Repent of this evil against your people.”,
A reading from the Book of Exodus (Exodus 32:7- 14)

In those days: The Lord said to Moses, “Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshipped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”’ And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may bum hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses begged the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent he brought them forth, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you did swear by your own self, and did say to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it for ever.”’ And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 106:19-20.21-22.23 (R. see 4a)
R/. O Lord, remember us with the favour you show to your people.

They fashioned a calf at Horeb,
and worshipped an image of metal,
they exchanged their glory
for the image of a bull that eats grass. R/.

They forgot the God who was their saviour,
who had done such great things in Egypt,
such wonders in the land of Ham,
such marvels at the Red Sea. R/.

R/. O Lord, remember us with the favour you show to your people.

For this he said he would destroy them,
but Moses, the man he had chosen,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his anger from destruction. R/.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL John 3:16
Glory and praise to you, O Christ. God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son; that whoever believes in him should have eternal life. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

GOSPEL
“It is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 5:31-47)

At that time: Jesus said to the Jews, “If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true; there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen; and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

The Gospel of the Lord.

TODAY’S REFLECTION
Moses is the most prominent figure in the race and religion of Israel. Indeed the Israelites of old and the Jewish people of today believe that God gave them their religion, Judaism, through Moses. That made Moses the highest authority next to God. Whatever he said or wrote had the seal of God on it. But the people did not always follow Moses, for example when they made a molten calf to worship it. They also did not obey Moses when they refused to accept his testimony about Jesus. That did not trouble Jesus because he had a much higher testimony, that of his Father, borne out by the miracles that he performed. If we are doing God’s work, and people fail or refuse to show us recognition, it should not disturb us. It is enough that we have recognition from God whose work we are doing.

FIRST READING
“I have given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land.”
A reading from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 49:8-15)

Thus says the Lord: “In a time of favour I have answered you, in a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, ‘Come forth,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ They shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be raised up. Behold, these shall come from afar, and behold, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.” Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?” Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 145:8-9.13cd-14.17-18 (R. 8a)
R/. The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

The Lord is kind and full of compassion,
slow to anger, abounding in mercy.
How good is the Lord to all,
compassionate to all his creatures. R/.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and holy in all his deeds.
The Lord supports all who fall,
and raises up all who are bowed down. R/.

R/. The Lord is kind and full of compassion.

The Lord is just in all his ways,
and holy in all his deeds.
The Lord is close to all who call him,
who call on him in truth. R/.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL John 11:25a.26
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; he who believes in me shall never die.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

GOSPEL
“As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 5: 17-30)

At that time: Jesus answered the Jews, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but also called God his Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgement. “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

TODAY’S REFLECTION
In seeking to kill Jesus, the Jews felt they were doing something right. In their eyes, Jesus was a lawbreaker, a man who had no respect for God’s day of rest, an ordinary man who insulted God by daring to say God is his Father and implying that he himself is God. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the Jews at the time of Jesus. Imagine a friend of yours within your age range who grew up with you in the same neighborhood suddenly shows up in the Cathedral one morning and starts claiming to be God. What would be your reaction?

In all honesty, you would do everything you can to convince yourself that he is just a man; that you must be out of your senses to assume that he is God.
And as if that is not enough, this person begins to preach that it is wrong for people to go to Church on Sunday and many start listening to him. Being a priest, I would consider this a personal attack on my source of sustenance. Without Sundays, I would simply be irrelevant. For attempting to even toil with my “day”, I would be just as mad as a trader whose shop in a busy market is about to be brought down. I would fight back!

So you see! If Jesus should come back again, he would surely be killed a second time; so long as there are normal human beings like me in this world who like to hold on strongly to opinions about who God is and how he is to be worshipped. The Jews were convinced that the death of Jesus was justice served; they were sure they were doing honor to God. They never asked themselves: “What if I am wrong?” But in the end, history proved them wrong.

Now, where do all these lead? My dear friends, if history proved these zealous Jews wrong, how sure am I that the views I hold right now are true? What makes me convinced that even those opinions I am passionate about are correct? Before I “kill” again, I must learn from history; before I shout “crucify him” against someone who does not hold my opinion, I think it would be wise to first ask myself: “what if I am wrong?”

Don’t be too quick to destroy or bring people down simply because you don’t agree with them. They killed Jesus because they saw him as an obstruction against all the prophecies of old not knowing that even the very act of killing him was part of the fulfillment of the same prophesies. In their disbelief and ignorance, they helped to prove to the world that Jesus is really God. You see, no one can fight the truth!

Be humble. Stop arguing. You may not be right. You cannot be right always. Listen to others. There may be something to learn even from your greatest critiques.

FIRST READING
I saw water coming forth from the temple, and all those were saved to whom the water came.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 47:1—9.12)

In those days: [The angel] brought me back to the door of the temple; and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple towards the east (for the temple faced east); and the water was flowing down from below the right side of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar towards the east. Then he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me round on the outside to the outer gate, that faces towards the east; and the water was coming out on the right side. Going on eastward with a line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water; and it was ankle-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was knee-deep. Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water; and it was up to the loins. Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through. And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back along the bank of the river. As I went back, I saw upon the bank of the river very many trees on the one side and on the other. And he said to me, “This water flows towards the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah; and when it enters the stagnant waters of the sea, the water will become fresh. And wherever the river goes every living creature which swarms will live, and there will be very many fish; for this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes. “And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.”

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm 46:2-3.5-6.8-9 (R. 8)
R/. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

God is for us a refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in time of distress:
so we shall not fear though the earth should rock,
though the mountains quake to the heart of the sea. R/.

The waters of a river give joy to God’s city,
the holy place, the dwelling of the Most High.
God is within, it cannot be shaken;
God will help it at the dawning of the day. R/.

R/. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

The Lord of hosts is with us:
the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come and behold the works of the Lord,
the awesome deeds he has done on the earth. R/.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Psalm 51:10a.12a
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Create in me a clean heart, O God; restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

GOSPEL
“At once the man was healed.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 5: 1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Hebrew called Bethzatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of invalids, blind, lame, paralyzed. One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew that he had been lying there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and while I am going another step down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your pallet, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his pallet and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, it is not lawful for you to carry your pallet.” But he answered them, “The man who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your pallet and walk.” ’They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your pallet, and walk’?” Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse befall you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews persecuted Jesus because he did this on the Sabbath.

The Gospel of the Lord.

TODAY’S REFLECTION
Next to air water is the element that living organisms most need to survive and thrive. Human beings, animals, and plants can only go for so long without water before they die. Communities and nations have been known to go to war in order to secure access to water. Today’s readings speak of the healing power of water. Today, as a result of human error, numerous communities across the globe are experiencing water shortages. Humans, animals, and plants in those places are threatened with extinction. We may not be able to do much to solve the water problems of the world. But we can at least do all in our power to meet the water needs of those around us – “I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink.”