Gospel Reading for April 08, 2025 – John 8: 21-30
CLOSER LOOK
Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am going away and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.” So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” He said to them, “You belong to what is below, I belong to what is above. You belong to this world, but I do not belong to this world. That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.” So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you in condemnation. But the one who sent me is true, and what I heard from him I tell the world.” They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father. So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I AM, and that I do nothing on my own, but I say only what the Father taught me. The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him.” Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.
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As we draw nearer the Easter Triduum, let us take a CLOSER LOOK at our lives while in prayer. Let us look at the decisions we have made for our family, at work, or even in school. Let us look at our priorities. Then, let us evaluate whether we belong to this world or to what is above.
How very important it is for us to once in a while take a CLOSER LOOK at our lives because sometimes, we are too busy or have gotten so used to the way we do things that we don’t realize we no longer belong to what is above but to the world. And, as Jesus told the Pharisees, if we belong to this world, then we cannot go with him. Alas, for those of us who cannot go with Jesus when we had all the chance!
Purify us, O Lord, while we ponder on your passion, death and resurrection!
