Gospel Reading for the Day
From the holy Gospel according to
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| JESUS SAYS TO THE FATHER: GLORIFY YOUR NAME. Image from flickr.com |
Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem said, "is he not the one they are trying to kill? And look, he is speaking openly and they say nothing to him. Could the authorities have realized that he is the Christ? But we know where he is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from." So Jesus cried out in the temple area as he was teaching and said, "You know me and also know where I am from. Yet I did not come on my own, but the one who sent me, whom you do not know, is true. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me." So they tried to arrest him, but no one laid a hand upon him, because his hour has not yet come. [25-30]
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
Personal Reflection on the Reading
Sharing for the Day
"His hour has not yet come."
We read from John 2:4 when the Blessed Mother told Him about the situation during that wedding at Cana wherein at the middle of the celebration the wine runs out that Jesus our Lord Himself declares, "My hour has not yet come."
The hour that we are talking about here is the hour when Jesus our Lord has to be handed to those who will accuse Him of crimes, then crucify Him causing His death - which would be the fulfillment of His mission to save mankind from bondage to sin.
In other places of the Gospels, we read about this hour:
After the triumphal entry to Jerusalem, some Greeks requested Philip for an audience with Jesus and He replies:
"The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." [John 12:23b]
The following passage is a continuation of the Triumphant Entry scene:
"Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I have come to this hour." [John 12:27]
Right after saying the above, the Lord requests the Father to glorify His name to which a thunderous reply was heard by the people: "I have glorified it and will glorify it again!" [see John 12:28]
Then while they were gathered to celebrate the Passover, which will be the Last Supper of the Lord with His Apostles before His passion and death it is written:
It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. [John 13:1ab]
At Gethsemani, before Judas arrived with the servants and the soldiers to arrest Jesus our Lord, Jesus tells His Apostles:
"Look the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of the sinners." [Matthew 26:45b; Mark 14:41b].
This is also what the Apostle Paul refers to when He wrote:
"but when the completion of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law, so that we could receive adoption as sons." [Galatians 4: 4-5]
Jesus knew His time will come to die and faced the truth that it will never pass without Him fulfilling His mission for He fully understood that what He will do was for the purpose of making us, human beings, become God's children. If He refuses to fulfill the mission, then we will remain outside of God's family. And we will remain slaves to sin.
Our hour will come too when we'll have to face the certainty of death. Like the Lord Jesus Christ, we must already prepare ourselves to face this great equalizer [So called because everyone will eventually die! No one could escape death]. Important thing is that like the Lord Jesus Christ we must keep ourselves rooted in the love of God, firm in our hope for the life to come, and steadfast in our faith that beyond this life, God waits for us to hand over our reward: eternal union with Him in His kingdom.
Application of the Message
[1] Prayer
Pray for the grace to heartily accept the hour when it comes.
[2] Abstinence
Abstain from something that makes you very attached to this world.
[3] Almsgiving
What can you share today so that you may inspire others to accept the hour when it comes?
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