Thursday of the Fifth Week

Reflection
Today’s responsorial psalm, “The Lord remembers his covenant forever,” echoes the message to us from the Genesis passage assigned for today. In Genesis 17, Abram (meaning “high father), gets a name change to Abraham (meaning father of a multitude), which signifies a change of destiny for Abraham. God then makes a promise, “an everlasting pact,” to be Abraham’s God and the God of his descendants for generations to come. God extends this same covenant of faithfulness to all of us.  A promise of faithfulness in any loving relationship needs to be fully reciprocal, so during this Lenten season, let’s evaluate our own relationship to God.

How do we seek God and put ourselves in the presence of God? Is it through worship, prayer, the Eucharist, service to others through good works, regular expressions of gratitude, or showing kindness to others? Have we reciprocally made an everlasting pact with God?

Even if all of those efforts are made, can we really make a commitment to the unseen? We can through faith and with the help of today’s Gospel reading from John. In Jesus’ response to the literalist Pharisees, “Amen, amen I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM,” He reveals Himself as the Christ. I AM is the divine name that God revealed to Moses at the burning bush. No book in all of Scripture points out more plainly than John’s Gospel that Jesus is the Son of God. As someone who calls himself “Christian” or “Christ-like”, most of my knowledge of God is through the life, teachings, death and resurrection of Jesus. May our relationships with God grow stronger during this season of Lent.

Prayer
Gracious and loving God, help us to always remember Your everlasting covenant and to remain in Your presence in all that we do. We ask this through Your Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Michael Samara, Academic Mentor/Campus Minister

Scripture
First Reading: Genesis 17:3-9
Psalm 105:4-9
Gospel: John 8:51-59

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website