Eze 37:21-28; John 11

Saturday in the fifth Week of Lent
Readings and Antiphons on p 322 of the Daily Missal

Entrance Antiphon
O Lord, do not stay afar off; my strength, make haste to help me! For I am a worm and no man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people.

First Reading: Ezekiel 37:21-28

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel

Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will take the people of Israel
from the nations among which they have gone,
and will gather them from all sides,
and bring them to their own land;
and I will make them one nation in the land,
upon the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king over them all;
and they shall be no longer two nations,
and no longer divided into two kingdoms.
They shall not defile themselves any more
with their idols and their detestable things,
or with any of their transgressions;
but I will save them from all the backslidings
in which they have sinned and will cleanse them;
and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God.

“My servant David shall be king over them;
and they shall all have one shepherd.
They shall follow my ordinances
and be careful to observe my statutes.
They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt
that I gave to my servant Jacob;
they and their children and their children’s children
shall dwell there for ever;
and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.
I will make a covenant of peace with them;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them;
and I will bless them and multiply them
and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
My dwelling place shall be with them;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
Then the nations will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel,
when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.”

The Word of the Lord.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Jeremiah 31:10.11-12ab.13 (R. see 10d)

Let us pray the Responsorial Psalm:

R/. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd keeps his flock.

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
and declare it in the islands afar off;
say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.’

For the Lord has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.
They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Sion,
and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord.

Then shall the maidens rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

R/. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd keeps his flock.

 

Please stand for the Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, says the Lord, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

 

 

 

Gospel: John 11:45-57

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John

At that time
Many of the Jews who had come with Mary
and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him;
but some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do?
For this man performs many signs.
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year,
said to them, “You know nothing at all;
you do not understand that it is expedient for you
that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation should not perish.”
He did not say this of his own accord
but being high priest that year
he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation,
and not for the nation only,
but to gather into one
the children of God who are scattered abroad.

So from that day on
they took counsel about how to put him to death.

Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews
but went from there to the country near the wilderness,
to a town called Ephraim;
and there he stayed with the disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before the Passover,
to purify themselves.
They were looking for Jesus
and saying to one another as they stood in the temple,

“What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”
Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders
that if anyone knew where he was,
he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

The Gospel of the Lord

 

Communion antiphon:
Christ was handed over, to gather into one the scattered children of God.