Note: Alternate readings used for Year A Scrutinies are found below in a second section.
CCC 542, 607: Christ’s desire to give his life for our salvation
CCC 690, 729: The Spirit glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father
CCC 662, 2853: Christ ascended in glory as our victory
CCC 56-64, 220, 715, 762, 1965: The history of the covenants
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| “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci, c.1500 |
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD,
for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
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Commentary on Jer 31:31-34
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
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Commentary on Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15
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Reading II: Hebrews 5:7-9
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
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Commentary on Heb 5:7-9
"To emphasize the force of Christ's prayer, the writer adds, 'with loud cries and tears'. According to rabbinical teaching, there were three degrees of prayer, each stronger than the last--supplications, cries and tears. Christian tradition has always been touched by the humanity of the Redeemer as revealed in the way he prays. 'Everything that is being said here may be summed up in one word--humility: that stops the mouths of those who blaspheme against Christ's divinity saying that it is completely inappropriate for a God to act like this. For, on the contrary, the Godhead laid it down that [Christ's] human nature should suffer all this, in order to show us the extreme to which he truly became incarnate and assumed a human nature, and to show us that the mystery of salvation was accomplished in a real and not an apparent or fictitious manner' (Theodoret of Cyrus, 'lnterpretatio Ep. ad Haebreos, ad loc.')." [7]
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Gospel: John 12:20-33
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.
"I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
'Father, save me from this hour'?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name."
Then a voice came from heaven,
"I have glorified it and will glorify it again."
The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder;
but others said, "An angel has spoken to him."
Jesus answered and said,
"This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.
Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself."
He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
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Commentary on Jn 12:20-33
Jesus' response to this request “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” implies that only after his crucifixion could the Gospel encompass everyone. He then goes on to educate his disciples about the mystery of his atoning death. He uses the metaphor of the grain of wheat found in the other Gospel traditions (see Mark 8:35; Matthew 16:25; Luke 9:24; Matthew 10:39; Luke 17:33). When the evangelist follows this with the statement that “Who ever loves his life loses it…” it is understood that the reference is to body and spirit since the Hebrews at this point did not recognize the separation of the two. The statement leads into and exhortation that those who follow Jesus (“whoever serves me”) must accept the same defamatory treatment.
The Lord’s lament (“I am troubled…”) seems to interrupt this discourse; however, the narrative comes closest to the agony in the garden found in the other Gospels. Jesus, faced with a cruel and imminent death feels the anguish of his human fear. His petition (“Yet what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'?”), followed by acceptance (in this instance “But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour”) echoes the sentiment of complete acceptance of the Father’s will and justifies the Lord’s request that he be glorified by Him.
The discourse concludes with God’s answer to Jesus’ plea, understood only by Jesus. Those who heard and did not understand are informed by Jesus that the events that will unfold will open the gates to the judgment seat of God. Again the use of the term “lifted up” conveys the dual meaning of lifted up upon the cross in the crucifixion and raised to glory in the resurrection.
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Reflection:
CCC 992-996: The progressive revelation of resurrection
CCC
CCC 549, 640, 646: Raising a messianic sign prefiguring Christ’s Resurrection
CCC
CCC 2603-2604: The prayer of Jesus before the raising of Lazarus
CCC
CCC 1002-1004: Our present experience of resurrection
CCC
CCC 1402-1405, 1524: The Eucharist and the Resurrection
CCC
CCC 989-990: The resurrection of the body
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.
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Commentary on Ez 37:12-14
"The image of the resurrection would not have been used to describe the restoration of the people of Israel if the future resurrection of the dead had not been foreseen, because no one can be led to draw a conclusion from an idea that has no basis in reality." (St. Jerome, Commentarii in Ezechielem, 27, 1ff.)
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
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Commentary on Ps 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8
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Reading 2: Romans 8:8-11
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
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Commentary on Rom 8:8-11
"St. John Chrysostom makes an acute observation: if Christ is living in the Christian, then the divine Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, is also present in him. If this divine Spirit is absent, then indeed death reigns supreme, and with it the wrath of God, rejection of His laws, separation from Christ, and expulsion of our Guest. And he adds: "But when one has the Spirit within, what can be lacking? With the Spirit one belongs to Christ, one possesses Him, one vies for honor with the angels. With the Spirit, the flesh is crucified, one tastes the delight of an immortal life, one has a pledge of future resurrection and advances rapidly on the path of virtue. This is what Paul calls putting the flesh to death" ("Hom. On Rom.", 13)." [8]
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Gospel: John 11:1-45
the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil
and dried his feet with her hair;
it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
when Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him,
“Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you,
and you want to go back there?”
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble,
because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles,
because the light is not in him.”
He said this, and then told them,
“Our friend Lazarus is asleep,
but I am going to awaken him.”
So the disciples said to him,
“Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”
But Jesus was talking about his death,
while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly,
“Lazarus has died.
And I am glad for you that I was not there,
that you may believe.
Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples,
“Let us also go to die with him.”
had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary
to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying,
“The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this,
she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village,
but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her
saw Mary get up quickly and go out,
they followed her,
presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him,
she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping,
he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
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Commentary on Jn 11:1-45
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OR
Shorter Form: John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
+Let us go back to Judea.”
had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
Martha said,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
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Commentary on Jn 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45
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Reflection:
[1] Catechism links are taken from the Homiletic Directory, published by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 29 June 2014.
[2]The picture used is “Salvator Mundi” by Leonardo da Vinci, c.1500.
[4] The readings are taken from the New American Bible, with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[5] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, p.327, 89.
[6] The Navarre Bible: “Psalms,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, pp. 186-87.
[7] The Navarre Bible: “Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 182.
[8] The Navarre Bible: “Letters of St. Paul”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2003, p. 100.
[9] Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 63:123, p. 446.
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