FIRST READING
No more shall the sound of weeping be heard or the cry of distress.
A reading from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 65:17-21)
Thus says the Lord: Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping or the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the child shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 30:2 and 4.5-6.11-12a and 13b (R. 2a)
R/. I will extol you, Lord, for you have raised me up.
I will extol you, Lord, for you have raised me up,
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have lifted up my soul from the grave,
Restored me to life from those who sink into the pit. R/.
Sing psalms to the Lord, you faithful ones;
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.
At night there are tears, but at dawn comes joy. R/.
Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me;
be my helper, O Lord
You have changed my mourning into dancing.
O Lord my God, I will thank you forever. R/.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Amos 5:14
Glory and praise to you, O Christ. Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and the Lord will be with you. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.
GOSPEL
“Go, your son will live.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 4:43-54)
At that time: Jesus departed [from Samaria] to Galilee. For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honour in his own country. So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast. So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Jesus therefore said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living. So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live”; and he himself believed, and all his household. This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
The Israelites had been hurting under multiple afflictions. The prophet Isaiah foretold their healing and the restoration of good times from the Lord. Similarly, the son of the Capernaum official was ill and close to death. Jesus decreed his healing even without seeing him. But the Father had enough faith to take Jesus at his word. His faith was duly rewarded. Not infrequently, God’s children experience trials of different kinds, some self-inflicted, the result of their own folly, like the case of the Israelites. But if they have faith like that of the official to take their case to the Lord, he has both the power and the will to bring them solace.