Mass Readings for the Fourth Wednesday of Lent, March 17, 2010

This is an open book quiz, so use a second screen to open the quiz and take it as you read each reading. You have as many chances as you need to get 100 on the quiz.
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  1. Reading I: Isaiah 49:8-15 in the Old Testament

    Thus says the LORD:
    In a time of favor I answer you,
    on the day of salvation I help you;
    and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,
    To restore the land
    and allot the desolate heritages,
    Saying to the prisoners: Come out!
    To those in darkness: Show yourselves!
    Along the ways they shall find pasture,
    on every bare height shall their pastures be.
    They shall not hunger or thirst,
    nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;
    For he who pities them leads them
    and guides them beside springs of water.
    I will cut a road through all my mountains,
    and make my highways level.
    See, some shall come from afar,
    others from the north and the west,
    and some from the land of Syene.
    Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,
    break forth into song, you mountains.
    For the LORD comforts his people
    and shows mercy to his afflicted.

    But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
    my Lord has forgotten me.”
    Can a mother forget her infant,
    be without tenderness for the child of her womb?
    Even should she forget,
    I will never forget you.






  1. Responsorial Psalm: 145 in the Old Testament

    R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
    The LORD is gracious and merciful,
    slow to anger and of great kindness.
    The LORD is good to all
    and compassionate toward all his works.
    R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
    The LORD is faithful in all his words
    and holy in all his works.
    The LORD lifts up all who are falling
    and raises up all who are bowed down.
    R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.
    The LORD is just in all his ways
    and holy in all his works.
    The LORD is near to all who call upon him,
    to all who call upon him in truth.
    R. The Lord is gracious and merciful.




  1. Gospel: John 5:17-30 in the New Testament

    Jesus answered the Jews:
    “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.”
    For this reason they tried all the more to kill him,
    because he not only broke the sabbath
    but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.
    Jesus answered and said to them,
    “Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own,
    but only what he sees the Father doing;
    for what he does, the Son will do also.
    For the Father loves the Son
    and shows him everything that he himself does,
    and he will show him greater works than these,
    so that you may be amazed.
    For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,
    so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.
    Nor does the Father judge anyone,
    but he has given all judgment to the Son,
    so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
    Whoever does not honor the Son
    does not honor the Father who sent him.
    Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word
    and believes in the one who sent me
    has eternal life and will not come to condemnation,
    but has passed from death to life.
    Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here
    when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
    and those who hear will live.
    For just as the Father has life in himself,
    so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself.
    And he gave him power to exercise judgment,
    because he is the Son of Man.
    Do not be amazed at this,
    because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs
    will hear his voice and will come out,
    those who have done good deeds
    to the resurrection of life,
    but those who have done wicked deeds
    to the resurrection of condemnation.

    “I cannot do anything on my own;
    I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just,
    because I do not seek my own will
    but the will of the one who sent me.”


  1. Saint Patrick

    St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world's most popular saints.

    Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 461.


    Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the secular world shares our love of these saints. This is also a day when everyone's Irish.

    There are many legends and stories of St. Patrick, but this is his story.

    Patrick was born around 385 in Scotland, probably Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britian in charge of the colonies.

    As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

    During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He wrote

    "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."

    Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britain, where he reunited with his family.

    He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

    He began his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

    Later, Patrick was ordained a bishop, and was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland. He arrived in Ireland March 25, 433, at Slane. One legend says that he met a chieftain of one of the tribes, who tried to kill Patrick. Patrick converted Dichu (the chieftain) after he was unable to move his arm until he became friendly to Patrick.

    Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, converting many. He and his disciples preached and converted thousands and began building churches all over the country. Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity when hearing Patrick's message.

    Patrick by now had many disciples, among them Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, (all later canonized as well).

    Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in in his book Confessions. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering he died March 17, 461.

    He died at Saul, where he had built the first church.

    Why is the cloverleaf, also called the shamrock, a symbol for St. Patrick?
    Patrick used the shamrock, which has three petals on each leaf, to explain the Trinity, and it has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.

    In His Footsteps:
    Patrick was a humble, pious, gentle man, whose love and total devotion to and trust in God should be a shining example to each of us. He feared nothing, not even death, so complete was his trust in God, and of the importance of his mission.






Mrs. Moroles
Oratory Athenaeum
Pharr, TX