07/04/2020

The unresponsive ones seem to be the majority of those listening to Jesus and they are enraged and frustrated by his words. Yet again the Son of God avoids those who wish to do him harm not by any attack but by hiding himself. The frustration and anger is aroused by this young man from Galilee by his words "Before Abraham was, I am". He could not be clearer than this in revealing his divinity. "I am" is how God revealed himself to Moses and for the scripture scholars, the priests and rabis these words were the height of blasphemy. Jesus must be out of his mind, a complete nucase!

The first reading is the covenant with Abraham; the eternal contract, the eternal promise  by God to care for the people who care for him. First to the Jews and then to the whole world. Belief in Jesus and in the new covenant which is within the Church, "I will be with you even to the end of time"is our guarantee that no matter how corrupt and unholy we find the institutional Church to be, Jesus, Father Son and Holy Spirit has not deserted us even if some of us "spit in his face" and mock his sufferings.

Dear Lord as we get closer to "your time" let us pray with sincerity of heart and mind and with true repentance for the sins which have resulted in the horror that was perpetrated in and outside the walls of your Holy City. You allowed your human body to be broken and overcome by death that we may come to know the eternity which touched earth at your resurrection. May the prayers of Mary and the saints in heven continue to support our broken ones still suffering on this earth today.