Daily Mass Readings — Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
"I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and its people to be a delight." — Isaias (Isaiah) 65:18
Liturgical Context
The day after LΓ¦tare Sunday, the joy does not entirely fade. The Liturgy sets before us Isaiah's vision of a new creation — a world remade by God's own hand — alongside the Gospel miracle of the royal official's son raised from the point of death. The theme is confident faith: God hears the prayer of those who trust Him utterly, and His word accomplishes at a distance what no human hand could do. This is a consoling grace for souls who feel God is far away in their Lenten struggle.
✠ FIRST READING — Isaias 65:17–21
¹⁷ For behold I create new heavens, and a new earth: and the former things shall not be in remembrance, and they shall not come upon the heart. ¹⁸ But you shall be glad and rejoice for ever in these things, which I create: for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and the people thereof joy. ¹⁹ And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. ²⁰ There shall no more be an infant of days there, nor an old man that shall not fill up his days; for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed. ²¹ And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Commentary
The prophet Isaiah speaks here not merely of national restoration but of cosmic renewal — a vision that the Church Fathers read as prophesying the New Jerusalem of the Apocalypse and, more immediately, the grace of Baptism. Saint Irenaeus of Lyon teaches that Christ came precisely to renew all things, restoring in man the image defaced by sin: the new heavens and new earth are first accomplished in the soul that repents (Against Heresies, V, 36). The promise that weeping shall be heard no more is not cheap consolation; it is the pledge of a God who enters the bitterness of history to transform it. In Lent, we are invited to believe that the "former things" — our sins, our failures, our sorrows — shall not be remembered against us, for God is creating something new even now.
✠ RESPONSORIAL PSALM — Psalm 29 (30): 2, 4, 5–6, 11–12, 13
R. I will praise Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me.
² I will extol thee, O Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me. ⁴ O Lord, thou hast brought out my soul from hell: thou hast saved me from them that go down into the pit.
R. I will praise Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me.
⁵ Sing to the Lord, O ye his saints: and give praise to the memory of his holiness. ⁶ For wrath is in his indignation; and life in his good will. In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness.
R. I will praise Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me.
¹¹ Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me: Lord, be thou my helper. ¹² Thou hast turned for me my mourning into joy: thou hast cut my sackcloth, and hast girded me with gladness.
R. I will praise Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me.
¹³ To the end that my glory may sing to thee, and I may not regret: O Lord my God, I will give praise to thee for ever.
R. I will praise Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast upheld me.
Commentary
"In the evening weeping shall have place, and in the morning gladness." This single verse is a summary of the entire paschal mystery — and of every Christian life. Saint Augustine calls it the movement from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, from the groaning of penance to the song of the Resurrection (Enarrations on the Psalms, Psalm 29). The Psalmist has been to the brink of the pit — that is, of hell itself — and the Lord has drawn him back. This is the promise Lent makes to every penitent: however deep the descent into sin, the dawn of divine mercy is deeper still. The soul that has wept through its Lenten nights is being prepared for an Easter morning.
✠ VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL — Amos 5:14
Seek ye good, and not evil, that you may live: and the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you.
✠ THE HOLY GOSPEL — John 4:43–54
The Lord be with you. — And with thy spirit. A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Saint John. Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
⁴³ Now after two days, he departed thence, and went into Galilee. ⁴⁴ For Jesus himself gave testimony that a prophet hath no honour in his own country. ⁴⁵ And when he was come into Galilee, the Galileans received him, having seen all the things he had done at Jerusalem on the festival day: for they also went to the festival day.
⁴⁶ He came again therefore into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water wine. And there was a certain ruler, whose son was sick at Capharnaum. ⁴⁷ He having heard that Jesus was come from Judea into Galilee, went to him, and prayed him to come down, and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.
⁴⁸ Jesus therefore said to him: Unless you see signs and wonders, you believe not. ⁴⁹ The ruler saith to him: Lord, come down before that my son die. ⁵⁰ Jesus saith to him: Go thy way; thy son liveth. The man believed the word which Jesus said to him, and went his way.
⁵¹ And as he was going down, his servants met him; and they brought word, saying, that his son lived. ⁵² He asked therefore of them the hour wherein he grew better. And they said to him: Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him. ⁵³ The father therefore knew, that it was at the same hour that Jesus said to him, Thy son liveth; and himself believed, and his whole house.
⁵⁴ This is again the second miracle that Jesus did, when he was come out of Judea into Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise be to Thee, O Lord Jesus Christ.
Commentary
The royal official asks Christ to come down — but Christ does not travel. He speaks, and at the distance of miles a child is restored. Saint John Chrysostom notes that the officer's faith begins imperfect — he wants Jesus bodily present — but is purified by the test: he must believe the bare word, with no sign before his eyes (Homilies on John, XXXV). This is the movement of all Lenten prayer: from demanding visible consolations to trusting the naked word of God. Pope Benedict XVI observed in Deus Caritas Est that Christian hope is not optimism but faith in a Person who keeps His promises. "Thy son liveth" — and the man believed, and his whole house was saved. The family's salvation follows from one man's purified faith. Our Lenten conversion is never merely private.
✠ CLOSING PRAYER
O Lord, who at a single word didst drive the fever from a dying child and fill a household with belief, grant us the faith of this royal officer — to take Thee at Thy word without visible signs, and to carry Thy promise home as certainty. Let our Lenten prayer be stripped of all demands upon Thee, resting solely upon Thy merciful fidelity. Make new in us the heavens and earth of our interior life, as Thou hast promised through Thy prophet Isaias. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Father… Hail Mary… Glory be…
✠ Laus Deo semper — Praise be to God always ✠
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