SATURDAY of 5th WEEK of LENT
“Many of the Jews who had come to see Mary, and had seen what he did, believed in him, but some of them went to the Pharissees and to tell them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting. ’Here is this man working all these signs’, they said,’ and what action are we taking? If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in him, and the Romans will come and suppress the Holy Place and our nation.’ One of them, Caiphas, the high priest that year, said, ’You do not seem to have grasped the situation at all; you fail to see that that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people, rather than that the whole nation should perish.”
As we take follow Jesus on his path, we want to understand the feelings in his Heart.We meditate this Word with Mary, Jesus’ Mother. Mary is with her condemned Son! The decision to kill Jesus has been taken : “You fail to see that it is to your advantage that one man should die for the people.”
“Now Caiphas did not speak in his own person,but as high priest of that year he was prophesying that Jesus was to die for the nation- and not for the nation only but also to gather together into one the scattered children of God. From that day onwards they were determined to kill him. So Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.”
No longer does Jesus walk about openly amongst the Jews. Now he is condemned. He leaves for the disrtict bordering on the desert. And he stayed there with His disciples. Jesus is still with us today. As we move further towards Holy Week, we want Jesus to be more and more with us and we want to be more and more with Jesus. We follow him so as to be saved, remaining faithful to God’s Word, to His Work of Resurrection for humanity. As for Mary, she lives deeply from God’s Promise, and since she is faithful, she allows this promise to come about. “He will be great, he will reign over the house of David and his kingdom will have no end.”
"Now the Jewish Passover was drawing near, and many of the country people who had gone up to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves were looking for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple,
’What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?’ The chief priests and Pharissees had by now given their orders : anyone who knew where he was must inform them so that they could arrest him.“Here we are on the eve of Holy Week, this great week of our Salvation. On this Saturday, we take refuge close to Mary, the Woman of Compassion who accompanies Jesus. It is thanks to her that we are able to follow Jesus on his way of the Cross. Mary opens up for us a path following Jesus. It is thanks to her that the Apostle John and some women will accompany Jesus in his Passion. We know what Love is in the Heart of Mary, she who will never leave Jesus and who is so compassionate. His Passion will echo in her Immaculate Heart. The Living Word of God will come about in her Woman’s heart. Moved by the Holy Spirit, she will be standing at the foot of the Cross.” My servant David wil reign over them, they will have just one shepherd, they will obey my decrees." It is through his death that Jesus reconciles us!