Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 49.8-15

Thus says the LORD:
“In an acceptable time
have I answered you,
and on a day of salvation
have I helped you;
and I will preserve you,
and give you for a covenant
of the people,
to raise up the land,
to make them inherit
the desolate heritage,
saying to those who are bound,
‘Come out!’;
to those who are in darkness,
‘Show yourselves!’

“They shall feed in the ways,
and on all bare heights
shall be their pasture.
They shall not hunger nor thirst;
nor shall the heat nor sun strike them:
for he who has mercy on them
will lead them,
even by springs of water
he will guide them.

I will make all my mountains a way,
and my highways shall be exalted.
Behold, these shall come from afar;
and behold, those from the north
and from the west; and these from the land of Syene.”
Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth;
and break out into singing, mountain,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his afflicted.

But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!”

Responsorial – Psalm 145.8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18 Resp. 8a

R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,

The Lord is gracious, merciful,
slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
The Lord is good to all.
His tender mercies are over all his works.

R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and holy in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who fall,
and raises up all those who are bowed down.

R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,

The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and gracious in all his works.
The Lord is near to all those who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.

R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,

Gospel – John 517.30

But Jesus answered them,
“My Father is still working,
so I am working, too.”
For this reason therefore
the Jews sought all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the Sabbath,
but also called God his own Father,
making himself equal with God.

Jesus therefore answered them,
“Amen, amen, I tell you,
the Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever things he does,
the Son also does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son,
and shows him all things
that he himself does.
He will show him greater works than these,
that you may be amazed.
For as the Father raises the dead
and gives them life,
even so the Son also gives life
to whom he desires.
For the Father judges no one,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son,
even as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
“Amen, Amen, I tell you,
he who hears my word,
and believes him who sent me,
has eternal life and does not come into judgment,
but has passed out of death into life.

Amen, Amen, I tell you,
the hour comes, and now is here,
when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice;
and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself,
even so he gave to the Son also
to have life in himself.

He also gave him authority to execute judgment,
because he is a son of human.
Do not marvel at this,
for the hour comes,
in which all that are in
the tombs will hear his voice,
and will come out;
those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life;
and those whether
have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
I can of myself do nothing.
As I hear, I judge,
and my judgment is righteous;
because I do not seek my own will,
but the will of my Father who sent me.