PRAYER OF THE DAY

Prayer to Know our Vocation

My Lord Jesus Christ,

who didst die for my salvation,

I implore Thee,

through the merits of Thy passion,

to give me light and strength to choose that state of life which is best for my salvation.

Speak, Lord,

for Thy servant heareth.

Let me know what Thou wishest from me,

and I will do all;

and let me especially know in what state Thou wishest me to serve Thee;

make Thou known to me the way in which I should walk,

in order to reach heaven.

And Thou,

my loving Mother Mary,

obtain this grace for me through thy powerful intercession.

Amen.

DAILY MASS READINGS

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Reading

Ez 47:1-9, 12

The angel brought me, Ezekiel,

back to the entrance of the temple of the LORD,

and I saw water flowing out

from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east,

for the façade of the temple was toward the east;

the water flowed down from the right side of the temple,

south of the altar.

He led me outside by the north gate,

and around to the outer gate facing the east,

where I saw water trickling from the right side.

Then when he had walked off to the east

with a measuring cord in his hand,

he measured off a thousand cubits

and had me wade through the water,

which was ankle-deep.

He measured off another thousand

and once more had me wade through the water,

which was now knee-deep.

Again he measured off a thousand and had me wade;

the water was up to my waist.

Once more he measured off a thousand,

but there was now a river through which I could not wade;

for the water had risen so high it had become a river

that could not be crossed except by swimming.

He asked me, "Have you seen this, son of man?"

Then he brought me to the bank of the river, 

where he had me sit.

Along the bank of the river I saw very many 

trees on both sides.

He said to me,

"This water flows into the eastern district down upon the Arabah,

and empties into the sea, the salt waters, which it makes fresh.

Wherever the river flows,

every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live,

and there shall be abundant fish,

for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.

Along both banks of the river, 

fruit trees of every kind shall grow;

their leaves shall not fade, nor their fruit fail.

Every month they shall bear fresh fruit,

for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.

Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 46:2-3, 5-6, 8-9

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

God is our refuge and our strength,

an ever-present help in distress.

Therefore we fear not, though the earth be shaken

and mountains plunge into the depths of the sea.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

There is a stream whose runlets gladden the city of God,

the holy dwelling of the Most High.

God is in its midst; it shall not be disturbed;

God will help it at the break of dawn.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Come! behold the deeds of the LORD,

the astounding things he has wrought on earth.

R. The Lord of hosts is with us; our stronghold is the God of Jacob.

Gospel

Jn 5:1-16

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate

a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.

In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.

One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there

and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him,

"Do you want to be well?"

The sick man answered him,

"Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool

when the water is stirred up;

while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me."

Jesus said to him,

"Rise, take up your mat, and walk."

Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.

Now that day was a sabbath.

So the Jews said to the man who was cured,

"It is the sabbath, 

and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat."

He answered them, "The man who made me well told me,

'Take up your mat and walk.'"

They asked him,

"Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk?'"

The man who was healed did not know who it was,

for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.

After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,

"Look, you are well; do not sin any more,

so that nothing worse may happen to you."

The man went and told the Jews

that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus

because he did this on a sabbath.

SAINT OF THE DAY

March 20

Blessed John of Parma (1209-1289)

The seventh general minister of the Franciscan Order, John was known for his attempts to bring back the earlier spirit of the Order after the death of St. Francis of Assisi.

He was born in Parma, Italy, in 1209. It was when he was a young philosophy professor known for his piety and learning that God called him to bid good-bye to the world he was used to and enter the new world of the Franciscan Order. After his profession John was sent to Paris to complete his theological studies. Ordained to the priesthood, he was appointed to teach theology at Bologna, then Naples and finally Rome.

In 1245, Pope Innocent IV called a general council in the city of Lyons, France. Crescentius, the Franciscan minister general at the time, was ailing and unable to attend. In his place he sent Father John, who made a deep impression on the Church leaders gathered there. Two years later, when the same pope presided at the election of a minister general of the Franciscans, he remembered Father John well and held him up as the man best qualified for the office.

And so, in 1247, John of Parma was elected to be minister general. The surviving disciples of St. Francis rejoiced in his election, expecting a return to the spirit of poverty and humility of the early days of the Order. And they were not disappointed. As general of the Order John traveled on foot, accompanied by one or two companions, to practically all of the Franciscan convents in existence. Sometimes he would arrive and not be recognized, remaining there for a number of days to test the true spirit of the brothers.

The pope called on John to serve as legate to Constantinople, where he was most successful in winning back the schismatic Greeks. Upon his return he asked that someone else take his place to govern the Order. St. Bonaventure, at John's urging, was chosen to succeed him. John took up a life of prayer in the hermitage at Greccio.

Many years later, John learned that the Greeks, who had been reconciled with the Church for a time, had relapsed into schism. Though 80 years old by then, John received permission from Pope Nicholas IV to return to the East in an effort to restore unity once again. On his way, John fell sick and died.

He was beatified in 1781.

OFFICE OF READINGS

O Lord, open my lips.

And my mouth will proclaim your praise.

Invitatory Psalm

Psalm 94 (95)

Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

Come, let us rejoice in the Lord,

let us acclaim God our salvation.

Let us come before him proclaiming our thanks,

let us acclaim him with songs.

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

For the Lord is a great God,

a king above all gods.

For he holds the depths of the earth in his hands,

and the peaks of the mountains are his.

For the sea is his: he made it;

and his hands formed the dry land.

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

Come, let us worship and bow down,

bend the knee before the Lord who made us;

for he himself is our God and we are his flock,

the sheep that follow his hand.

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

If only, today, you would listen to his voice:

“Do not harden your hearts

as you did at Meribah,

on the day of Massah in the desert,

when your fathers tested me –

they put me to the test,

although they had seen my works.”

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

“For forty years they wearied me,

that generation.

I said: their hearts are wandering,

they do not know my paths.

I swore in my anger:

they will never enter my place of rest.”

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

– Come, today, and listen to his voice: do not harden your hearts.

Hymn

The fast, as taught by holy lore,

We keep in solemn course once more:

The fast to all men known, and bound

In forty days of yearly round.

More sparing therefore let us make

The words we speak, the food we take,

Our sleep and pleasure. Closer barred

Be every sense in holy guard.

Avoid the evil thoughts that roll

Like waters o’er the heedless soul;

Nor let the foe occasion find

Our souls in slavery to bind.

Thy grace have we offended sore,

By sins, O God, which we deplore;

But pour upon us from on high,

O pardoning One, thy clemency.

Remember thou, though frail we be,

That yet thine handiwork are we;

Nor let the honour of thy name

Be by another put to shame.

Forgive the sin that we have wrought;

Increase the good that we have sought;

That we at length, our wanderings o’er,

May please thee here and evermore.

Blest Three in One, and One in Three,

Almighty God, we pray to thee,

That this our fast of forty days

May work our profit and thy praise.

Psalm 101 (102)

Prayers and vows of an exile

Let my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.

Lord, listen to my prayer

and let my cry come to you.

Do not hide your face from me:

whenever I am troubled,

turn to me and hear me.

Whenever I call on you,

hurry to answer me.

For my days vanish like smoke,

and my bones are dry as tinder.

My heart is cut down like grass, it is dry –

I cannot remember to eat.

The sound of my groaning

makes my bones stick to my flesh.

I am lonely as a pelican in the wilderness,

as an owl in the ruins,

as a sparrow alone on a rooftop:

I do not sleep.

All day long my enemies taunt me,

they burn with anger and use my name as a curse.

I make ashes my bread,

I mix tears with my drink,

because of your anger and reproach –

you, who raised me up, have dashed me to the ground.

My days fade away like a shadow:

I wither like grass.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Let my cry come to you, Lord: do not hide your face from me.

Psalm 101 (102)

Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.

But you, Lord, remain for ever

and your name lasts from generation to generation.

You will rise up and take pity on Zion,

for it is time that you pitied it,

indeed it is time:

for your servants love its very stones

and pity even its dust.

Then, Lord, the peoples will fear your name.

All the kings of the earth will fear your glory,

when the Lord has rebuilt Zion

and appeared there in his glory;

when he has listened to the prayer of the destitute

and not rejected their pleading.

These things shall be written for the next generation

and a people yet to be born shall praise the Lord:

because he has looked down from his high sanctuary,

– the Lord has looked down from heaven to earth –

and heard the groans of prisoners

and freed the children of death

so that they could proclaim the Lord’s name in Zion

and sing his praises in Jerusalem,

where people and kingdoms gather together

to serve the Lord.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

Turn, Lord, to the prayers of the helpless.

Psalm 101 (102)

You founded the earth, 

Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

He has brought down my strength in the midst of my journey;

he has shortened my days.

I will say, “My God, do not take me away

half way through the days of my life.

Your years last from generation to generation:

in the beginning you founded the earth,

and the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will pass away but you will remain;

all will grow old, like clothing,

and like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed.

“But you are always the same,

your years will never run out.

The children of your servants shall live in peace,

their descendants will endure in your sight.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,

as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,

world without end.

Amen.

You founded the earth, 

Lord, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

Now is the favourable time.

– Now is the day of salvation.

Reading

Leviticus 19:1-18,31-37

Duty to one's neighbor

The Lord spoke to Moses; he said:

‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to them:

“Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.

“Each of you must respect his father and mother.

“And you must keep my sabbaths; I am the Lord your God.

“Do not turn to idols, and cast no gods of metal. I am the Lord your God.

“If you offer a communion sacrifice to the Lord, make yourselves acceptable and so offer it. It must be eaten the same day or the day after; whatever is left the day after must be burnt. If eaten on the third day it would be a corrupt offering, it would not be acceptable. Anyone who eats it must bear the consequences of his fault, for he will have profaned the holiness of the Lord; this person shall be outlawed from his people.

“When you gather the harvest of your land, you are not to harvest to the very end of the field. You are not to gather the gleanings of the harvest. You are neither to strip your vine bare nor to collect the fruit that has fallen in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

“You must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.

“You must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.

“Do not have recourse to the spirits of the dead or to magicians; they will defile you. I am the Lord your God.

“You are to rise up before grey hairs, you are to honour old age and fear your God. I am the Lord.

“If a stranger lives with you in your land, do not molest him. You must count him as one of your own countrymen and love him as yourself – for you were once strangers yourselves in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

“Your legal verdicts, your measures – length, weight and capacity – must all be just. Your scales and weights must be just, a just ephah and a just hin. I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

“Keep all my laws and customs, put them into practice. I am the Lord.”’

Responsory

The whole of the Law is summarized in a single command:

Love your neighbour as yourself;

serve one another in a spirit of love.

I give you a new commandment:

love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

you also must love one another.

Serve one another in a spirit of love.

Reading

From a sermon by Pope St Leo the Great

In praise of charity

In John’s gospel the Lord says: By this love you have for one another, everyone will know you are my disciples. In a letter by John we read: My dear people, let us love one another since love comes from God and everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Anyone who fails to love can never have known God, because God is love.

So the faithful should look into themselves and carefully examine their minds and the impulses of their hearts. If they find some of the fruits of love stored in their hearts then they must not doubt God’s presence within them, but to make themselves more and more able to receive so great a guest they should do more and more works of durable mercy and kindness. After all, if God is love, charity should know no limit, for God himself cannot be confined within limits.

What is the appropriate time for performing works of charity? My beloved children, any time is the right time, but these days of Lent provide a special encouragement. Those who want to be present at the Lord’s Passover in holiness of mind and body should seek above all to win this grace. Charity contains all other virtues and covers a multitude of sins.

As we prepare to celebrate that greatest of all mysteries, by which the blood of Jesus Christ destroyed our sins, let us first of all make ready the sacrificial offerings — that is, our works of mercy. What God in his goodness has already given to us, let us give it to those who have sinned against us.

And to the poor also, and to those who are afflicted in various ways, let us show a more open-handed generosity so that God may be thanked through many voices and the needy may be fed as a result of our fasting. No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than the support that is lavished on his poor. Where God finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognises the reflection of his own fatherly care.

Do not be put off giving by a lack of resources. A generous spirit is itself great wealth, and there can be no shortage of material for generosity where it is Christ who feeds and Christ who is fed. His hand is present in all this activity: his hand, which multiplies the bread by breaking it and increases it by giving it away.

When you give alms, do not be anxious but full of happiness. The greatest treasure will go to the one who has kept the least for himself. The holy apostle Paul tells us: He who provides seed for the sower will give bread for food, provide you with more seed, and increase the harvest of your goodness, in Christ Jesus our Lord, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

Responsory

Give,

and gifts will be yours:

good measure,

pressed down and shaken up and running over,

will be poured into your lap.

You must forgive as the Lord forgave you.

Good measure,

pressed down and shaken up and running over,

will be poured into your lap.

Let us pray.

By our Lenten prayer and observance, Lord,

prepare our hearts to welcome the mystery of Easter

and to proclaim the good news of salvation.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Let us bless the Lord.

– Thanks be to God.