DAILY- HOMILY

March 31, 2014
Monday Fourth Week of Lent 

Is 65: 17-21 / Ps 30: 2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b / Jn 4: 43-54

Reading: Is 65: 17-21
I now create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind again. Be glad forever and rejoice in what I create; for I create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of distress and the voice of weeping will not be heard in it any more. You will no longer know of dead children or of adults who do not live out a lifetime. One who reaches a hundred years will have died a mere youth, but one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed. They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant crops and eat their fruit.   

Gospel: Jn 4: 43-54
When the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. Jesus himself said that no prophet is recognized in his own country. Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived, because of all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the Festival and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast. Jesus went back to Cana of Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill, and when he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus said, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!" The official said, "Sir, come down before my child dies." And Jesus replied, "Go, your son is living." The man had faith in the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. He was already going down the hilly road when his servants met him with this news, "Your son has recovered!" So he asked them at what hour the child had begun to recover and they said to him, "The fever left him yesterday in the afternoon about one o'clock." And the father realized that it was the time when Jesus told him, "Your son is living." And he became a believer, he and all his family. Jesus performed this second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

Reflection:
     Jesus is the "YES" of the Father as we see in the Gospel of today. Regardless of the condition, even if he says that we do not believe in him unless we see signs and wonders, as soon as we ask him, he gives us what we ask for. His promise to us is that the Father will give us whatever we ask Him in the name of Jesus. No conditions asked. He will grant it!  Do we believe? Do you believe in Jesus?
     "Your son will live." Jesus tells the court official. Rich or poor, Jesus cannot refuse when we ask him. His nature is always to give life. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So, if he says, "go," let us go. Answered prayers. Jesus gives us a very simple formula to have answered prayers: BELIEVE IN JESUS.
     Jesus challenges us to" BELIEVE IN HIM" even without signs and wonders, even before our answered prayers. 

Prayer Requests:
We pray ...
... for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.
... for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
... for families who are in need of healing.
... for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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