A Latin spiritual journey with discerning hearts, from ashes to glory.

Day 38. In the Father's Hands.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John chapter 10, verses 31 through 42.

The Jews fetched stones to stone him. So Jesus said to them, I have done many good works for you to

see, works from my father, for which of these are you stoning me? The Jews answered him,

We are not stoning you for doing a good work, but for blasphemy. You are only a man, and you claim to be

God. Jesus answered, Is it not written in your law? I said you are gods. So the law uses the word gods of those to whom the

word of God was addressed and scripture cannot be rejected. Yet you say to someone the father has

consecrated and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because he says, I am the son of God. If I am not

doing my father's work, there is no need to believe me. But if I am doing it, then even if you

refuse to believe in me, at least believe in the work I do, then you will know for sure that the father is in me and I am in

the father. They tried to arrest him then, but he alluded them. He went back again to the far side of

the Jordan, to the district where John had once been baptizing, and he stayed there. Many people who came to him said, John gave no signs,

but all he said about this man was true, and many of them believed in him. As we near the end of

Lent, the tension in the gospel rises. Jesus is no longer met with curiosity, but with hostility.

His words are not misunderstood.

They are rejected.

Still, he does not retreat in fear.

He rests in the truth of who he is,

and he remains faithful to the will of the Father.

This moment invites us to consider the cost of fidelity. When we strive to follow Christ in a world that may not understand or

accept us, we too may experience opposition, confusion, or silence. These are not signs of failure. Often there are moments of deep purification.

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