Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

Christ the Judge, Fra Angelico, Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto


Jesus answered the Jews:


"My Father is at work until now, so I am at work."

For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,

because he not only broke the sabbath

but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.



Jesus answered and said to them,

"Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,

but only what he sees the Father doing;

for what he does, the Son will do also.

For the Father loves the Son

and shows him everything that he himself does,

and he will show him greater works than these,

so that you may be amazed.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,

so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.

Nor does the Father judge anyone,

but he has given all judgment to the Son,

so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent him.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word

and believes in the one who sent me

has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,

but has passed from death to life.

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live.

For just as the Father has life in himself,

so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.

And he gave him power to exercise judgment,

because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this,

because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs

will hear his voice and will come out,

those who have done good deeds

to the resurrection of life,

but those who have done wicked deeds

to the resurrection of condemnation.



"I cannot do anything on my own;

I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,

because I do not seek my own will

but the will of the one who sent me."

John 5:17-30

Do I seek my own will or do I seek the will of God?

Glad to be of help


The feeling that you are doing God’s will on Earth activates a deep source of inner peace. On the other hand, the thought that you really should be doing something else creates a low-grade feeling of anxiety that you can ignore for only so long. Eventually the unease accumulates until life becomes a heavy burden, or you get sick—or both. Your fear might be that God wants you to go to some hard place, to do some difficult task. Not so. As theologian Frederick Buechner put it, God calls you to “the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” To find that place of deep gladness you have to go within and you have to listen. Lent is the perfect time to do both.



TODAY’S READINGS: Isaiah 49:8-15; John 5:17-30 (246)

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