A reading from the prophecy of  Isaiah

(Chapter 50:5-9a)

Here are three powerful sentences from this reading: “The Lord God opens my ear that I may hear; and I have not rebelled, have not turned back.” “The Lord is my help, therefore I am not disgraced.” “See, the Lord God is my help; who will prove me wrong?’

Have you ever had the experience of God opening your ear or even your heart? Perhaps you had closed your heart to someone or to some truth, and you would not budge. But then something happened, and you had a change of heart that helped you to see another side of the person or the issue, and you moved on.

Did you ever feel rejected or even disgraced, but then someone came to your aid or your defense? Maybe God sent that person to you, because God is your help.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 116)

“I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” The line before this reads, “For he has freed my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” This amazing insight was written hundreds of years before the coming of Jesus Christ who truly saves our souls from the ultimate death.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 

(Chapter 3: 13-15,17-19)

This reading has been misinterpreted over the centuries and became a basis for the virulent anti-Semitism that caused the death and suffering of millions of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Peter said to the people, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in Pilate’s presence when he decided to release him. You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses.”

There is the accusation that has led to millions of deaths. But somehow, Peter’s next words of Peter are forgotten: “Now I know brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did; but God has thus brought to fulfillment what he had announced beforehand through the mouths of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.”

All of the apostles were Jews, and most of the earliest Christians were as well. Moreover, the Church teaches that God’s covenant with Israel was fulfilled in Jesus, that covenant was in no way abrogated by his ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The Jewish people, the Second Vatican Council declared, “are most dear to God because of their fathers.”

Responsorial Psalm

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 4)

“Lord, let your face shine on us.” What a great and beautiful image! Imagine that, God’s face shines upon each of us. We cannot see the face of God in this life, but the face of God shines on us. I must say that I never thought of it that way, but it is never too late to learn more of God’s powerful love for us.