INTERCESSIONS:  

That God may dispel darkness and be the light that shines in our hearts, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That he may gently lead us to Christ, the light of the world, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That we may open our hearts to God and acknowledge him as the source of light and the witness of truth, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That he may heal us and preserve us from the unbelief of this world, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That, saved by him who takes away the sins of the world, we may be freed from the contagion and forces of sin, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, we may never fail to profess the Good News of salvation and share it with others, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That all of us, by the example of our lives, may become in Christ the light of the world, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

That every inhabitant of the earth may acknowledge the true God, the Creator of all things, who bestows upon us the gift of Spirit and life, let us pray to the Lord:

R.         Lord, hear our prayer.

EVENING REFLECTIONS (All in St. Peter’s)

 1. Wednesday 20 March at 7pm.  (The woman at the well—1st Scrutiny.)

2. Wednesday 27 March at 7pm.   (The man born blind—2nd Scrutiny.)

3. Wednesday 3 April at 7pm.       (The raising of Lazarus—3rd Scrutiny)

Jesus Talks With a Samaritan Woman

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”
                                                                                                   John 4 New International Version (NIV)


 

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home  seeing.

⁸His neighbours and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹²“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

John 9 New International Version (NIV)



 

2nd Scrutiny Prayer

Lord Jesus,

at your own baptism

the heavens were opened

and you received the Holy Spirit

to empower you

to proclaim the Good News to the poor

and restore sight to the blind.

Pour out the same Holy Spirit on us,

who long for your sacraments.

Guide us along the paths of right faith,

safe from error, doubt, and unbelief,

so that with eyes unsealed

we may come to see you face to face,

for you to live and reign for ever and ever.

                                                                                                                   Amen.