1. LOSING ONE’S LIFE TO FIND LIFE
2. LIKE A GRAIN OF WHEAT
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. Losing One’s Life to Find Life
All those who grow plants, even people in the city who love flowers, know that seeds have to die in the soil so that shoots can sprout from them and give us colorful flowers. The seed has to die to give life. In the same way, Jesus died to give us life. And we, his disciples today, have to follow in his footsteps. We have to give ourselves so that others may be happy and live. St. Paul says with Jesus: “No one lives for oneself.” Can we say the same of ourselves?
2. Like a Grain of Wheat
It is not reasonable to look for pain and suffering, yet we know that in life there are certain pains we have to accept in line with our tasks in life – a woman has to pass through birth pangs to bring a child into the world, parents sacrifice themselves for their children, nurses dedicate themselves to lighten the pains of the sick. Yes, the seed has to die in the furrows to give life to a new plant. Today Jesus invites us to follow him in accepting the pain and efforts needed in carrying out our task in life.
First Reading: God Gives His People New Chances
At a time of much infidelity, God promises a new covenant, a new union of life and love of God with his people. They will be guided by the interior law of love in their hearts.
Reading 1: Jeremiah 31:31-34
The days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah.
It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers
the day I took them by the hand
to lead them forth from the land of Egypt;
for they broke my covenant,
and I had to show myself their master, says the LORD.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD.
I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives
how to know the LORD.
All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the LORD,
for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 51:3-4, 12-13, 14-15.
R. (12a) Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not out from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Give me back the joy of your salvation,
and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners shall return to you.
R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.
Second Reading: Jesus’ Death Is Our Source of Life
Jesus was afraid of suffering and death, yet he accepted it out of loyalty to the Father, and out of love for us. By his death he brought us life.
Reading 2: Hebrews 5:7-9
In the days when Christ Jesus was in the flesh,
he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears
to the one who was able to save him from death,
and he was heard because of his reverence.
Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered;
and when he was made perfect,
he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Verse Before the Gospel John 12:26
Whoever serves me must follow me, says the Lord;
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
Gospel: Dying to Give Life to Others
By dying in the ground the grain of wheat gives a rich harvest. By dying on the cross Jesus gives us eternal life. The disciples of Jesus, too, must risk their lives for others.
Gospel: John 12:20-33
Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honour whoever serves me.
“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven,
“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”
The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder;
but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered and said,
“This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.
Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself.”
He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.
Commentary:
What a strange story! The Israelites were being tormented by snakes in the desert, and the remedy was to set up an image of a snake: when they looked at it they were healed! At the natural level, it would be described as an ancient belief in sympathetic magic. But in today’s gospel passage, John sees it as a symbol of the “raising up” of Christ: it was both a raising up in shame and a raising up in glory, and John loved to play on this double meaning. We are saved from eternal death by looking at death!—by contemplating Christ on the cross. The tree of the cross is an instrument of death, but also of life; it is dead but it nourishes life. Here is a prayer translated from ancient Irish: “O King of the Friday, whose limbs were stretched on the cross; O Lord who suffered the bruises, the wounds, the loss: We stretch ourselves beneath the shield of thy might; may some fruit from the tree of thy passion fall on us this night!”
Blessing
Christ did not make demands on others,
for love makes no demands, it only invites.
Christ gave. He gave himself.
Where the master goes, the disciple must follow.
May we too learn to give ourselves to others,
even at the cost of pain,
that we may grow as God’s people.
May almighty God strengthen and bless you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us follow our Lord with courage in his suffering and in his life.
R/ Thanks be to God.