Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent (March 28, 2015)

FIRST Reading and//www.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/37:21 EZ 37:21-28 Thus says the Lord GODandI will take the children of Israel from among the nationsto which they have come,and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.I will make them one nation upon the land,in the mountains of Israel,and there shall be one prince for them all.Never again shall they be two nations,and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols,their abominations, and all their transgressions.I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy,and cleanse them so that they may be my peopleand I may be their God.My servant David shall be prince over them,and there shall be one shepherd for them allthey shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,the land where their fathers livedthey shall live on it forever,they, and their children, and their children’s children,with my servant David their prince forever.I will make with them a covenant of peaceit shall be an everlasting covenant with them,and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.My dwelling shall be with themI will be their God, and they shall be my people.Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,who make Israel holy,when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever. Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/jeremiah/31:10 JER 31:10, 11-12ABCD, 13 R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock. Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,proclaim it on distant isles, and sayandHe who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,he guards them as a shepherd his flock. R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock. The LORD shall ransom Jacob,he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessingsandThe grain, the wine, and the oil,the sheep and the oxen. R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock. Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,and young men and old as well.I will turn their mourning into joy,I will console and gladden them after their sorrows. R. The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/john/11:45 JN 11:45-56 Many of the Jews who had come to Maryand seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.But some of them went to the Phariseesand told them what Jesus had done.So the chief priests and the Phariseesconvened the Sanhedrin and said, What are we going to do?This man is performing many signs.If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,and the Romans will comeand take away both our land and our nation.”But one of them, Caiaphas,who was high priest that year, said to them, You know nothing,nor do you consider that it is better for youthat one man should die instead of the people,so that the whole nation may not perish.”He did not say this on his own,but since he was high priest for that year,he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,and not only for the nation,but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.So from that day on they planned to kill him.So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews,but he left for the region near the desert,to a town called Ephraim,and there he remained with his disciples.Now the Passover of the Jews was near,and many went up from the country to Jerusalembefore Passover to purify themselves.They looked for Jesus and said to one anotheras they were in the temple area, What do you think?That he will not come to the feast?”