April 05, 2006

april 6 2006

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Reading I Gen 17:3-9 When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:“My covenant with you is this:you are to become the father of a host of nations. No longer shall you be called Abram; your name shall be Abraham, for I am making you the father of a host of nations. I will render you exceedingly fertile; I will make nations of you; kings shall stem from you. I will maintain my covenant with you and your descendants after you throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you the land in which you are now staying, the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.” God also said to Abraham: “On your part, you and your descendants after youmust keep my covenant throughout the ages.”

Jn 8:51-59 Jesus said to the Jews:“Amen, amen, I say to you,whoever keeps my word will never see death.”So the Jews said to him,“Now we are sure that you are possessed.Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? Or the prophets, who died? Who do you make yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing; but it is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ You do not know him, but I know him. And if I should say that I do not know him, I would be like you a liar. But I do know him and I keep his word. Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;he saw it and was glad.”So the Jews said to him,“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.” So they picked up stones to throw at him;but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.
It was considered blashphemy for Jesus to declare that he was God, I AM. He tells he was even before Abraham the father of the Jewish faith.
No one stops to listen or ponder, they react throwing stones.
I love to look at the stars and many times think of the beautiful promise of God to Abraham in the first reading.