Elija Mission

Our Lenten journey has brought us today to what is known as the “First Sunday of Passion” and draws us ever closer to Holy Week. The confrontations and disputes between the hostile Jews and Jesus continue and grow increasingly aggressive (Jn 8:46–59). We can see that the Lord is faced with stubborn hearts that are simply unwilling to open themselves to the truth.

We had already noted that neither the miraculous healings, nor the resurrection of Lazarus, nor the wisdom that flowed from the Lord’s mouth had managed to convince the Jews. In this context, Jesus utters these words, in which His lament is perceptible: “Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.” (vv. 46–47)

With these words, the Lord gives us the key to understanding why the hostile Jews were so obstinate: they do not come from God, nor are their thoughts, words, and actions guided by Him. That is why they close themselves off more and more the further Jesus leads them into the truth.

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In today’s Gospel (Jn 8:12–20), Jesus, speaking to the Jews, utters words that remain relevant for all time: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (v. 12)

These are words that must be deeply internalized—words that illuminate and thus communicate to us the light that is Jesus Himself. The Lord addresses them to the crowd listening to Him, even though He knows they cannot yet fully understand them. With the Pharisees, however, the situation was becoming increasingly tense.

They are repeatedly scandalized by the authority that emanates from Jesus’ words—words meant to reveal to them who He was and to open the way of truth so that they might recognize Him as the Messiah. If they recognised Him as the Messiah, the door would have been opened for them to know more fully God, the Heavenly Father, who had sent Him into the world. When this path is taken, the Holy Spirit can reveal more and more of the truth to us, and our knowledge of God becomes more accurate and broader, and our love for Him grows.

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After reflecting on the figure of St. Joseph as part of our Lenten journey, today we hear, both in the reading (1 Kings 17:17–24) and in the Gospel (John 11:1–45), the account of the resurrection of a dead person. In the first case, it concerns the prophet Elijah, who raises the son of the widow who had taken him in. This miracle fully convinced the widow that Elijah was a prophet: “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth” (v. 24).

Thus, what must follow from such a miracle came to pass: faith in the work of God. In fact, one could say that the resurrection of a dead person is the visible proof that God is the master of life and death, and that only a man who belongs to Him can perform a miracle of such magnitude. Unfortunately, however, not everyone comes to this conclusion, as we must sadly note in various passages of the Gospel.

Today’s Gospel also tells us of the raising of a dead man. In this case, it is Lazarus, whose story is so familiar to us. Prior to today’s passage, the evangelist Saint John tells us that more and more people were coming to believe in Jesus (cf. John 10:42). His witness and the signs He performed were so powerful that those who had not closed their hearts to Him were convinced. And now the great event of Lazarus’s resurrection was added to this.

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On the occasion of the Solemnity of St. Joseph, we will reflect today, in context with our Lenten journey, a little on the one whom God chose to be the foster father of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mt 1:16,18-21,24ª

Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ. This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally.

He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins. ‘When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home.

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The twenty‑ninth day of our Lenten journey invites us to reflect on the people of the Old Covenant, from whom our Lord descended according to the flesh, as well as the apostles. To this day, they have not recognized the Messiah. Consequently, some Jews continue to await His coming, while others see the messianic promise fulfilled in the State of Israel, or run the risk of following false messiahs—if religion still matters to them at all.

As the people of the New Covenant, we should always keep in our hearts and in our prayers the intention that, after so long, the Jews may finally recognize the Messiah, who is none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

In today’s reading, we hear the prophecy that God will gather His people from among all nations, bring them back to their land, purify them of all their impurities, and give them a new heart (Ezek 36:23–28).

The context of these words is that, since the Israelites did not live in their land according to God’s will, He scattered them among the nations.

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Returning to the biblical texts that accompany us during Lent, we hear in today’s reading (Ex 32:7–14) how the Israelites fall into idolatry. Moses must listen to these words addressed to him by the Lord:

“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down; for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people; now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; but of you I will make a great nation.’” (vv. 7–10).

Throughout their history, the Israelites were tempted again and again to worship false gods. That was one of the reasons why God wanted to keep them isolated from other peoples, so that they would not imitate their idolatrous practices, which are an abomination in God’s eyes. Sacred Scripture makes it clear that these “false gods” seek to usurp God’s place, and St. Paul teaches that demons hide behind idols to deceive people (cf. 1 Cor 10:19–20). To this day, they continue to work in various ways to turn people away from the knowledge of Christ.

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Since today’s Gospel recounts the cleansing of the Temple once again, and we already explored this theme on the seventh day of our Lenten journey (https://en.elijamission.net/day-7-resist-evil-in-the-holy-spirit/),

I have decided to dedicate today’s meditation to two saints whose feast day is celebrated on March 16: Saint Abraham of Edessa (Mesopotamia) and his niece Mary.

From a very young age, Abraham longed for a life of solitude with God, so he asked his parents for permission to become a hermit. However, his parents had already chosen a young woman whom they considered worthy to be his wife. With great regret, Abraham obeyed them. Legend has it that after the wedding, he told his wife of his decision to live in permanent abstinence. Later, he left secretly and shut himself away in a solitary cell located about an hour from the city of Edessa.

God’s call to solitude was so strong that all his family’s attempts to bring him back to his wife were in vain. He walled up his cell, leaving only a small window through which he received the necessities of life.

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We are now more than halfway through our Lenten journey and are drawing closer and closer to Holy Week. The fourth Sunday of Lent is a Sunday of joy (Laetare in Latin). The priest may wear pink vestments to highlight the joyful nature of this day.

Today’s Gospel (Jn 6:1–15) presents us with the well‑known story of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes. The crowd had listened to Jesus’ preaching, and at the end He wanted to feed them and show them God’s providence and glory through this sign. This is what happened, and not only were they all satisfied, but there were also twelve baskets left over. The Gospel testifies that there were five thousand men (v. 10).

This miracle was a reason for the people to praise Jesus as the expected prophet: “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world” (v. 14). However, they drew the wrong conclusion, as Scripture suggests: “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the hills by himself.” (v. 15)

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Today’s long reading (Dan 13:1–9, 15–17, 19–30, 33–62) tells the story of Susanna, the wife of Joakim, whom God delivered from the hands of two evil judges who falsely accused her of a serious moral crime. The Gospel (Jn 8:1–11), which we will focus on today, recounts an event full of lessons.

How does Jesus deal with the guilt of someone who has committed adultery? The scribes and Pharisees brought Him a woman in these circumstances and said, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” (vv. 4–5).

Evidently, the accusers did not want to know what Jesus thought about it, but rather to trap Him in order to find a reason to accuse Him (v. 6). At first, Jesus did not give them any answer. However, in response to their insistence, He uttered that decisive phrase that should sink deep into our hearts and shape our entire lives and our way of dealing with similar situations: “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (v. 7). He said this to those Pharisees and scribes who were waiting impatiently and demanding an answer. Upon hearing these words, they began to leave, one after another, starting with the oldest (v. 9). None of them dared to throw a stone.

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Today’s reading tells of the rebellion of the sons of Israel in the desert of Zin. They had been traveling for almost forty years and were dissatisfied with their circumstances. They grumbled against Moses and Aaron and quarreled with them. They complained about the miserable place of Kadesh, missing grain and figs, pomegranates and wine. They had obviously lost confidence and demanded of their leaders, “Give us water to drink.” Moses and Aaron fell down before the Lord and prayed, “Lord God, hear the cry of this people and open Your treasure chambers to them; a spring of living water, that they may drink their fill and cease their grumbling.” (Num 20:6 – translated from the Latin Vulgate Bible)

 “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water; so you shall bring water out of the rock for them; so you shall give drink to the congregation and their cattle.’ And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ‘Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?’ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle.” (Num 20:7–11)

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