Saturday, March 21
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
First Reading – Jeremiah 11:18-20
The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then you showed me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not know it was against me they devised schemes, saying, “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.”
But, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously, who test the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause.
Responsorial Psalm – Psalm 7:2-3, 9-10, 11-12
℟ O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Lest like a lion they rend me, dragging me away, with none to rescue.
O Lord my God, if I have done this, if there is wrong in my hands.
℟ O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous, you who try the minds and hearts, O righteous God.
My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart.
℟ O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day.
If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword; he has bent and strung his bow;
℟ O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge.
Verse Before the Gospel – Luke 8:15
And as for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bring forth fruit with patience.
Gospel – John 7:40-53
When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This is really the prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. The officers then went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!” The Pharisees answered them, “Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed.” Nicode′mus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.” They went each to his own house.
Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition, Ignatius Press, Copyright ⓒ 2006.
