Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Today's Mass Readings

With Easter quickly approaching, our eyes are drawn toward the paschal mystery – the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. This story is also the story of a covenant. Throughout salvation history, God has made covenants with his people. In today’s first reading, for example, we have a passage from Genesis where God tells Abraham that just as God will keep the covenant with Abraham’s descendants, they must also keep their covenant with God. The psalm response reinforces this theme: “The Lord remembers his covenant forever.” Indeed, the Lord does keep his covenant forever. In today’s reading from the Gospel of John, we see Jesus, the Lord, reiterating this point. Jesus keeps God’s word. Of course, John has already told us in the first chapter that Jesus IS God’s word. Moreover, Jesus is the same Lord who remembers his covenant forever. The story of salvation history up to Jesus is basically a story of frail human attempts to keep God’s covenant. So God comes among us to fulfill the Law and the Prophets in remembering his covenant, the covenant He made with Abraham. Even though the people may have failed to uphold the covenant, God remained faithful.

Jesus is God’s answer to human frailty and human sin. Jesus is the embodiment of God remembering his covenant. In the remainder of chapter 17 from Genesis which is beyond today’s reading, circumcision is instituted for the first time as the sign of the Old Covenant. In the New Testament, Baptism is the new means of entrance into God’s covenant family which Jesus endows with supernatural grace. Baptism, which the catechumens in our parish and around the globe are about to receive next week at the Easter Vigil, transforms us into members of the same family.

Such family relationships are what covenants are about. In the Old Testament and in the ancient Middle East, covenants were the means of extending family relationships. In light of this, we might take some time today and think about ways in which we can be more faithful to our family members, in our relationships. Sometimes it’s easier to love and wish well enemies from afar than it is those people most important in our lives who we encounter every day, who have occasion to frustrate us so often. As we approach Easter, let’s make that extra effort to be faithful in our covenant relationship with God, which we renew at every Eucharist, by being loving toward our friends and relations. We should love others as well, our neighbors and enemies, but such love needs to start at home. That’s where Abraham’s covenant began, at home with his family tribe. And that’s one of the reason Jesus began his ministry with his own, the Jewish people, before letting the message spread to the Gentiles.

Let’s ask God to help make our homes radiate God’s love so that it outpours in our lives to all those we encounter.

- Maria Morrow and Jeff Morrow