GOSPEL
From the Gospel according to John
Jn 8:31-42

Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him,
“If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham
and have never been enslaved to anyone.
How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I say to you,
everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.
A slave does not remain in a household forever,
but a son always remains.
So if the Son frees you, then you will truly be free.
I know that you are descendants of Abraham.
But you are trying to kill me,
because my word has no room among you.
I tell you what I have seen in the Father’s presence;
then do what you have heard from the Father.”

They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children,
you would be doing the works of Abraham.
But now you are trying to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God;
Abraham did not do this.
You are doing the works of your father!”
So they said to him, “We were not born of fornication.
We have one Father, God.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,
for I came from God and am here;
I did not come on my own, but he sent me.”

The Word of the Lord.

God’s patience.

Far from feeling aversion towards non-believers or those who are distant, we should feel compassion. How much they would like to see what we see! And the tragedy is that they don’t see it.
On the other hand, we must be careful not to let the gift of faith go to our heads, lest we stop seeing Christ, as happened to the Pharisees who had the Son of God before them and, believing they already knew everything, only saw what the eyes of the flesh see.

Applied to married life:

Teresa: What have we done wrong? Our children still have one foot in the world.
Manuel: Well… I think it’s a matter of faith now. It’s not so much about insisting on what we’ve already told them many times.
Teresa: That’s true. We’re so eager for them to discover it and make a certain decision that sometimes we even exasperate them.
Manuel: That’s why I say, it’s better to pray and offer sacrifices for them and have the patience that God is having with them, as He did with us. It’s time to demonstrate our faith.

Mother,

The devil wants to instill pride in us so that we stop seeing with the eyes of faith. You, who by the grace of God are the Almighty Supplicant, deliver us from this evil. Amen.