Entrance Antiphon

O God, save me by your name; by your power, defend my cause. O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.

Collect

O God, who have prepared fitting helps for us in our weakness, grant, we pray, that we may receive their healing effects with joy and reflect them in a holy way of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Reading (Wisdom 2.1a, 12-22)

The ungodly reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. “He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. “Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected.” Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.

Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 34)

The Lord is near to broken hearts.

The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles.

The Lord is near to the broken-hearted, and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord rescues them from them all.

He keeps all their bones; not one of them will be broken. The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Acclamation

(Matthew 4) Praise to you, Lord, king of eternal glory! No one lives on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Praise to you, Lord, king of eternal glory!

Gospel (John 7.1-2, 10, 25-30)

Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders were looking for an opportunity to kill him. Now the Jewish festival of Booths was near. But after his brothers had gone to the festival, then he also went, not publicly but as it were in secret. Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, “Is not this the man whom the authorities trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.” Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.” Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.

Prayers of the Faithful

Let us bring our needs, and those of our brothers and sisters in Christ, to our loving Father.
1) For missionaries, may the Lord strengthen them in their zeal to spread the Gospel, let us pray to the Lord.
2) For policymakers, may the Holy Spirit inspire them in passing laws protecting all life from conception to natural death, let us pray to the Lord.
3) For those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, may God bless them with courage and perseverance, let us pray to the Lord.
4) For our family of faith gathered here, may the Lord bless us in our Lenten efforts of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, let us pray to the Lord.
5) For the faithful departed, may they rest in paradise with all the angels and saints, let us pray to the Lord.

Heavenly Father, our very breath is a gift from you. We humbly ask you to listen kindly to our prayers, in the name of Jesus, your Son.

Closing Prayer

Look upon your servants, O Lord, and in your goodness protect with heavenly assistance those who trust in your mercy. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.