Gospel: John 14:21-26
Whoever keeps my commandments is the one who loves me. If he loves me, he will also be loved by my Father; I too shall
love him and show myself clearly to him.” Judas—not Judas Iscariot—asked Jesus, “Lord, how can it be that you will show
yourself clearly to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father

Gospel: John 13:31-33a, 34-35
When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. God will glorify him, and he
will glorify him very soon. My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for me, but as I already told the Jews, now

Gospel: John 15:9-17
As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! You will remain in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and remain in his love. I have told you all this, that my own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: Love one
another as I have loved you! There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; and you are my friends, if you do what I command you.

Gospel: John 14:1-6
“Do not be troubled! Trust in God and trust in me! In my Father’s house there are many rooms; otherwise, I would
not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again
and take you to me, so that where I am, you also may be. Yet you know the way where I am going.” Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes
to the Father but through me.

Reflection:

The Church refers to Jesus as the “desire of the nations” and
rightly so. The Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, one of the ten principal
upanishads of India (written between 9th–6th centuries BCE),
has this famous prayer, known as pavamāna abhyāroha (prayer of
purification), that captures this human desire beautifully. I give
it in transliterated Sanskrit with its meaning in parenthesis:
asato mā sadgamaya (lead us from untruth to truth)
tamaso mā jyotirgamaya (from darkness to light)
mṛtyor mā'mṛtaṃ gamaya (from death to eternal life)

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022

Gospel: John 13:16-20
Truly, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than he who sent him.
Understand this, and blessed are you, if you put it into practice. I am not speaking of you all, because I know the
ones I have chosen, and the Scripture has to be fulfilled which says: The one who shares my table will rise up against me.

Gospel: John 12:44-50
Yet Jesus had said, and even cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me,
sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. If anyone hears
my words and does not keep them, I am not the one to condemn him; for I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.

Gospel: John 10:22-30
The time came for the feast of the Dedication. It was winter, and Jesus walked back and forth in the portico of
Solomon. The Jews then gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in doubt? If you are the
Messiah, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s

Gospel: John 10:1-10
Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief
and a robber. But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. The keeper opens the gate to him and the sheep hear
his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before

Gospel: John 10:27-30
My sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me and I give them eternal
life. They shall never perish, and no one will ever steal them from me. What my Father has

given me, is greater than all things else. To snatch it out of the Father’s hand, no one is able!
I and the Father are one.”

Reflection:

In the midst of acute shortage of vocations in a country,
one provincial assumes charge and thus addresses his members in his
inaugural homily: “Believe me. There is no shortage of vocations.
There’s plenty. It is all a problem of distribution, not of numbers.” How
true! God does raise up people to tend his sheep; but not always as,
when, and where we want him to! If we care to look around, there are
many youngsters willing to serve. Sadly, how many congregations
have died out in some countries due to the sheer refusal to accept
vocations from other regions of the world! What we need to do is
to adjust our mental lenses, break down the boundaries of tribalistic
thinking, and perceive the Church as one family without borders.

© Copyright Bible Diary 2022

Gospel: John 6:60-69
After hearing this, many of Jesus’ followers said, “This language is very hard! Who can accept it?” Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring
about this, and so he said to them, “Does this offend you? Then how will you react when you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
It is the spirit that gives life, not the flesh. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. But among you there are some who do not