Vol. 35 No. 18                                                                                          (Cycle A) 4th SUNDAY OF LENT Jesus – our Shepherd in darkness   ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her; rejoice with her, you who mourn for her, and you will find contentment at her consoling breasts (Is 66:10-11). INTRODUCTION Often assailed by fear and failure, we walk in the darkness of this world. But Christ, our Shepherd-King, the second David, lights up our way for us and cures our congenital blindness as he leads us to his kingdom. Jesus is the source of our healing and happiness. PENITENTIAL RITE When Jesus touched the blind man, he not only received his sight but he also received the gift of faith in Jesus. So let us ask ourselves how often do we come to Jesus to experience his healing and empowerment? You chose us to know your saving love for all people. Lord, have mercy. You called us from our darkness to lead us into light of faith. Christ, have mercy. You formed us by your Spirit to share in your glory. Lord, have mercy. OPENING PRAYER Let us pray. Father of peace, we are joyful in your Word, your Son Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to you. Let us hasten toward Easter with the eagerness of faith and love. We ask this... FIRST READING (Prophet Samuel anoints David and he becomes a king. God chooses the weak and makes them strong to manifest His power and glory.) A reading from the First Book of Samuel (16:1,6-7,10-13) The Lord said to Samuel, “Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he comes here.” And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. This is the Word of the Lord PSALM (22) Response : The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose. Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit. He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name. If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort. You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life, in the Lord’s own house shall I dwell for ever and ever. SECOND READING (Paul exhorts us to rise up from the darkness and sin and live in the light of Christ Jesus.) A reading from the Letter of St Paul to the Ephesians (5:8-14) Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.” This is the Word of the Lord ACCLAMATION (Jn 8:12) I am the light of the world, says the Lord; he who follows me will have the light of life. GOSPEL (Jesus by healing the blind man teaches us the need to have our spiritual blindness healed by the light of His word.) A reading from the Holy Gospel according to St John  (9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38) As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar, said, “Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “It is he”; others said, “No, but he is like him.” He said, “I am the man.” They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. The Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was a division among them. So they again said to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who speaks to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe”; and he worshipped him. This is the Gospel of the Lord I believe in God, / the Father Almighty, / Creator of heaven and earth. / I believe in Jesus Christ, / his only Son, our Lord. / He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit / and born of the Virgin Mary. /He suffered under Pontius Pilate, /was crucified, died, and was buried. /He descended to the dead. / On the third day he rose again. / He ascended into Heaven, / and is seated at the right hand of the Father. / He will come again to judge the living and the dead. / I believe in the Holy Spirit, /the Holy Catholic Church, / the communion of saints, / the forgive-ness of sins, / the resurrection of the body, / and the life everlasting. / Amen. PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL Dear sisters and brothers, Jesus is our shepherd and our healer. We ask God our Father to heal us of our many forms of blindness by saying: Lord, make us children of light. Response : Lord, make us the children of light. 1. We pray for our Holy Father, bishops and priests that they may be so transformed by the light of Christ, that they may lead others to the truth of the Gospel. 2. We pray that all religious men and women enlightened by God’s light and truth may live their faith without pride and prejudice. 3. We pray for those who have lost their way in life and grope in darkness and in doubt that they may open themselves to God’s grace calling them out of darkness to light and truth. 4. We pray for the physically challenged, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and the handicapped that they may come to experience the healing touch of the Lord through those who care for and support them. (Pray for personal/local needs) Cel: God, our light of Truth, you call us out of darkness into your own marvel-lous light to experience your presence and love. Grant us we pray that we may choose to dwell always in the light of your truth. We ask this… PRAYER OVER THE GIFTS Lord, we offer you these gifts which bring us peace and joy. Increase our reverence by this eucharist, and bring salvation to the world. We ask this… PREFACE (P 15) Father, all-powerful and ever-living God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. He came among us as a man, to lead mankind from darkness into the light of faith. Through Adam’s fall we were born as slaves of sin but now through baptism in Christ we are reborn as your adopted children. Earth unites with heaven to sing the new song of creation, as we adore and praise you for ever: All: Holy, holy, holy.... COMMUNION ANTIPHON The Lord rubbed my eyes: I went away and washed; then I could see, and I believed in God (Jn 9:11). PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Father, you enlighten all who come into the world. Fill our hearts with the light of your gospel, that our thoughts may please you, and our love be sincere. Grant this... LITURGY AND LIFE One of the blessings of Lent is the grace of coming to acknowledge our sin. In the Gospel of today, through the story of the man born blind, the Lord guides us toward that grace. We are guided to the light of Christ and in that light our false self that blinds and binds us is exposed. In the story, Jesus heals the blind man on a Sabbath day. The Pharisees object to this since this action violates the Law of Moses. It is said in the Book of Genesis that God rested on the Sabbath, after completing the work of creation. Not to observe Sabbath rest is therefore a sin. In the Gospel of John, Jesus explicitly denies that God rests on the Sabbath, and denies that God’s work of creation has been completed. After curing an invalid on the Sabbath, Jesus says: My Father goes on working, and so I also work. [Jn 5:17] God’s work of completing creation is ongoing – through Jesus. In today’s story, Jesus completes God’s work of creation by making the blind man whole by healing him. In the Gospel the man born blind represents each of us. Each of us is incomplete. Our humanity yearns and cries for completion. We have our physical limitations. But more obviously we have our personal, moral and spiritual limitations. Another point Jesus makes very clear to us through the Gospel of today is that our limitations do not constitute a sin. Jesus will work within us, and also in others to bring what is incomplete and limited to fullness and completion. Our human limitations and imperfections do not surprise Jesus, because he knows God will deal compassionately with them. The Pharisees in the story judge, censure and expel the man born blind. For Jesus, to exclude and expel others – even as God is working within them to bring them to fuller life is precisely the radical evil in our lives. That is the kind of sin we pray to recognize in ourselves. When we choose to exclude others, we choose to resist the creative work of God in them. Our sin is to resist God’s life-giving, life-expanding energies. The full force of the Gospel explodes on us when we discover God is not a Pharisee. God does not judge, nor censure, nor exclude. God has nothing to do with our self-righteous mechanisms of rejecting what is incomplete. And that is our cause for joy. God does not behave as we do. Our joy will be complete when we learn to behave as God does – when we learn not to judge, not to censure, not to exclude, but to enhance and to ennoble March 2008 READINGS OF THE WEEK (Psalter Week 4) 3 Mon (V) Is 65:17-21; Ps 29:2.4.5-6.11-12a&13b; Jn 4:43-54 4 Tue (V) Ez 47:1-9.12; Ps 45:2-3.5-6.8-9; Jn 5:1-16 5 Wed (V) Is 49:8-15; Ps 144:8-9.13cd-14.17-18; Jn 5:17-30 6 Thu (V) Ex 32:7-14; Ps 105:19-20.21-22.23; Jn 5:31-47 7 Fri (V) Perpetua and Felicity (M) Wis 2:1a.12-22; Ps 33:17-18.19-20.21&23; Jn 7:1-2.10.25-30 8 Sat (V) St John of God Jer 11:18-20; Ps 7:2-3.9bc-10.11-12; Jn 7:40-53.