FOURTH WEEK OF LENT

TUESDAY

FIRST READING: Ezekiel 47:1-9, 12

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

GOSPEL READING: John 5:1-3, 5-16

You can live spiritually among nonbelievers in two ways. One way is not to enter into arguments or disputes but for the sake of the Lord to be subject to every creature and to acknowledge that you are Christians. Another way is to proclaim God's word when you see it is pleasing to the Lord, so that those who do not believe may believe in the all-powerful God – Father and Son and Holy Spirit – Creator of everything, and in the Son who is Redeemer and Savior, and so that they may be baptized as Christians; for “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit.”


St. Francis of Assisi
Rule 1221, Chapter XVI


I am in the middle of a dry, parched desert, all is desolate, except for one thing; our Lord hanging on the Cross. Water begins to pour from his side. What began at first as a very small trickle begins to flow more and more wildly. Where this water flows, grass begins to grow. Then trees. Then deer, sheep, racoons, all God's creatures come to drink from it. Then the crickets and locusts come to drink from it. Then it is filled with fish, turtles, and reptiles. Birds in flight swoop down to taste it's beauty. Then men and women come to quench their thirst. Some find the taste bitter and walk off, back into the desert, to perish. Others, not trusting in its freshness, take tiny little sips every now and then, never fully slaking their thirst. Still others, plunge headlong into the cool, sparkling waters, washing their bodies and their garments, refusing to ever leave it again. Fill me to overflowing with the water of your Holy Spirit, Lord! Let me stay here with you forever, my Beloved!

Submitted by a brother from the Portiuncula Hermitage/Retreat Center