“I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.”

These words which come to us at the end of today’s Gospel are worth pondering over. Today’s entire Gospel, in fact, deserves time for meditation. Jesus speaks to us so lovingly and clearly about His relationship with the Father, a relationship that we too must strive after—becoming by grace what Jesus is by nature.

But I want to pause at these final words of Jesus to his listeners: “I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” That we could wholeheartedly say the same thing about everything we do must become, especially during our time of formation, the true source of our fulfillment and happiness in this life. In fact, doing God’s will faithfully was the great consolation that Bl. Joseph Allamano remembered on the occasion of his 50th anniversary of priestly ordination.

Today’s Gospel presents us with Christ in Cana in Galilee, and a royal official who comes to asks for a miracle on behalf of his son. Yet Jesus gives the man a surprising response, and the official repeats his request, which is then answered. There’s a lot we could say about this passage, but one of the most beautiful teachings, and most pertinent to this Lenten season, is about prayer. John gives us two insights into the official’s prayer, two elements that need to be corrected, and then shows us how Christ responds to sincere and humble prayer.

Fr. Nathaniel Dreyer, IVE
​Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

In today’s brief Gospel, taken from the Sermon on the Mount, Christ tells us that He came, not to abolish the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill. In order to understand what He means, we must first consider how His listeners would have taken His words, and then what Christ does with regard to the Law and the prophets.

​Regarding the first, the Jews in Christ’s time tended to understand the Law in two different senses: on one hand, the Law meant part or all of the Old Testament, that is, literally what the Scriptures contained. 

Fr. Christopher Etheridge, IVE
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

In today’s Gospel our Lord teaches us what the true measure of our forgiveness should be…without measure. When asked by Peter how many times we must forgive our neighbor who offends us, Our Lord gives a loaded answer.

“Not seven times” he tells Peter, “but seventy times seven.” In other words he is saying, “without limit”. As St. John Chrysostom says, “Our Lord did not limit forgiveness to a fixed number, but declared that it must be continuous and forever”.[1]

Fr. Nathaniel Dreyer, IVE
Friday of the Second Week of Lent / St. Patrick

In today’s Gospel, we heard what’s called the “Parable of the Tenants.” There’s a lot we could say about the Gospel, but what should call our attention is how God prepares absolutely everything for the tenants: in particular, the tower was used, not only as a security lookout, but also a place for the workers to rest. This vineyard is entrusted to the tenants to work and produce fruits, and notice how the landowner trusts those tenants to get the job done. He doesn’t keep watch over them, or send spies: he trusts them entirely to do what they should be doing, and to cooperate with him in the task of making the land produce fruits.[1]
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The same is requested of us: each one of us has a certain task in the Lord’s vineyard. As we celebrate the feast of Saint Patrick today, we can reflect on the beautiful words of Pope Saint John Paul the Great when he visited Ireland in 1979. Speaking to seminarians, he said, ​

Today’s Gospel presents us with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It calls our attention that in absolutely all His other parables, Jesus never gives a character a proper name: they are simply “a man,” “a woman,” and the like. Lazarus, a name derived from the Hebrew Eleazar, meaning, God is my help, is the only one who merits this special distinction.[1] There’s something ironic in this, since Jesus gives this poor man special attention, whereas the rich man, and, indeed, everyone, refused to pay him any mind at all. Yet, had they looked, they would have seen one of God’s beloved children, and indeed, even Christ Himself.

Fr. Nathaniel Dreyer, IVE
Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Today’s brief Gospel, all of three verses, contains Christ’s words telling us how we are to deal with our neighbors, namely, by being merciful as the Father is merciful, and by forgiving. Commenting on the difficulties that showing mercy and forgiving entail, Fulton Sheen tells us that calling to mind two things can help us a great deal: first, remembering our own sins, and second, to see ourselves as helping God to save souls.

Fr. Christopher Etheridge, IVE
First Sunday of Lent

Today’s Gospel begins sort of abruptly. It begins,

          At that time Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.

What “time” is it referring to? Well, in St. Matthew’s Gospel Jesus is led into the desert after the “time” of his baptism. But why, after His baptism and that awe-inspiring spectacle—the descent of the Holy Spirit like a dove and the echoing voice of God the Father proclaiming delight in His Son—would He be led into the desert?

St. John Chrysostom reminds us why.

Fr. Christopher Etheridge, IVE
Originally preached for the Feast of the North American Martyrs

In a letter to Fr. Jerome Lalemant three years before his martyrdom, St. Isaac Jogues asks Lalemant to pray to God that He “may give me a generous constancy to persevere in his love and in his service. This is what I should like to have more than anything else.”[1]
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It’s important to see why Jogues longed for a generous constancy.