How can I, on this Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent, reconcile the Gospel’s provocative call—“You are gods❓”—with Laudato si’’s reminder that we must respect the eternal #law of creation, especially when I witness the tender care of a broody hen at The Glenn and, despite our son Daniel’s hospice care, continue to pray for his miracle through the intercession of the Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, who reminds me that God gave us love enough to seek Him rather than to hoard❓
Gospel
The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me❓”
The Jews answered him,
“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, ‘You are gods”‘❓
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’❓
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,
“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”
And many there began to believe in him.
Lent Day 35 Lectio Divina on the word “law“
Sometimes I find myself looking for comfort in control—believing that if I just follow every natural law of cause and effect, good will come to me. But life at The Glenn reminds me that creation has its own rhythms: the budding of trees after frost, the broody hen fiercely guarding her eggs—not because of instruction, but because of instinct woven into the law of life itself. I am invited not to control, but to witness and wonder.
In Laudato Si’, I read that the laws of nature were not made to be manipulated at whim, but respected as part of God’s eternal order. This feels especially personal now, as I watch Daniel face his illness with courage and grace. I know I cannot rewrite the law of biology, but I can embrace the higher law of love—still praying for a miracle, even as I prepare for every outcome.
Fulton Sheen reminds me that the deepest law is love—not to hoard it in fear or despair, but to spend it freely on our way back to God. I see this in every small act of care: the chick nestled under its mother, the neighbor who brings a casserole, the prayer whispered in the early morning. The law of love demands a response, not retreat.
And still, I wrestle with this Gospel: Jesus doesn’t just speak the law—He reframes it. He says something so audacious that even the most religious among us flinch: “You are gods.” It turns the law from limitation to invitation. Could it be that the law is not meant to keep me small, but to point me toward divine intimacy❓ Is that the reason why Jesus asks:
This responsibility for God’s earth means that human beings, endowed with intelligence, must respect the laws of nature and the delicate equilibria existing between the creatures of this world, for “he commanded and they were created; and he established them for ever and ever; he fixed their bounds and he set a law which cannot pass away” (Ps 148:5b-6). The laws found in the Bible dwell on relationships, not only among individuals but also with other living beings.
FROM PARAGRAPH 50 OF THE ENCYCLICAL LETTER LAUDATO SI’ OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME