Lenten message of Pope Francis based on Fratelli Tutti No. 32
No one is saved alone; we can only be saved together.
TODAY'S WORD
John: 5:24 "Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears My Word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life."
TODAY'S REFLECTION
One of the most striking images of God as mother is to be found at the end of today’s first reading.
‘Does a woman forget her baby at the breast, or fail to cherish the child of her womb?
Yet, even if these forget, I will never forget you’. A mother’s love for the child of her womb is tender and life-giving.
A mother loves her child as she loves herself because for nine months her child was an integral part of herself.
Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God declares that his love for his people is even stronger than a mother’s love for her child.
What an extraordinary statement! Surely the Jewish Scriptures come close here to that profound declaration in the first letter of John, ‘God is Love’.
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of God as ‘my Father’ in a way that is typical of this fourth gospel.
Yet, it is the Father as life-giver that Jesus highlights in speaking of God, ‘the Father raises the dead and gives them life…
For the Father, who is the source of life, has made the Son the source of life’.
Jesus is saying that such is the communion between himself and God that he is as much the source of life as God.
Jesus is the Life-Giver. He came that we may have life to the full.
This ‘life’ in its fullness will only be ours in eternity, but we can begin to live with this life here and now, insofar as we listen to the words of the Son and live by them.
RESOLUTION
Let's resolve to allow the Lord’s word to make a home in us, shaping our lives, so that we will not only draw life from him, but our lives will become life-giving for others.
Have an awesome day
Let's pray for Christian families that are on crossroads as we remember St. Joseph the patron of families