Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Jeremiah 20.10-13

I have heard the whispers of many,
terror on every side:
“Denounce! We will denounce him!”,
say all my familiar friends,
those who watch for my fall,
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
and we shall prevail against him,
and we shall take our revenge on him.”

But the Lord is with me as an awesome mighty one:
therefore my persecutors shall stumble,
and they shall not prevail;
they shall be utterly disappointed,
because they have not dealt wisely,
even with an everlasting dishonor
which shall never be forgotten.

Lord of hosts, who test the righteous,
who see the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance on them;
for to you have I entrusted my cause.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord;
for he has freed the soul of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.

Responsorial – Psalm 18.2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7 Resp. 7

R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice

I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.

R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice

My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
and I am saved from my enemies.

R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice

The cords of death surrounded me.
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were around me.
The snares of death overcame me.

R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice

In my distress I called on the Lord,
and cried to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple.
My cry before him came into his ears.

R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice

Gospel – John 10.31-42

The Jews took up stones to stone him.
Jesus answered them,
“I have shown you
many good works from my Father.
For which of those works do you stone me?”

The Jews answered him,
“We do not stone you for a good work,
but for blasphemy:
because you, being a man, make yourself God.”

Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law,
‘I said, you are gods?”
If he called them gods,
to whom the word of God came
(and the Scripture cannot be set aside),
how do you say of him whom
the Father sanctified and sent into the world,
‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
If I do not do the works of my Father,
do not believe me.
But if I do them, though you do not believe me,
believe the works;
that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

They sought again to seize him,
and he went out of their hand.
He went away again beyond the Jordan
into the place where John was baptizing at first,
and there he stayed.
Many came to him.

They said, “John indeed did no sign,
but everything that John said about this man is true.”
Many believed in him there.