＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95*

King Nebuchadnezzar questioned them,

"Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the golden statue I have set up? (...)

If you won't, you know the punishment: you will immediately be thrown into a burning furnace. And then what god can deliver you out of my hands?"

 

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered, "King Nebuchadnezzar, we need not defend ourselves before you on this matter.

If you order us to be thrown into the furnace, the God we serve will rescue us. But even if he won't, we would like you to know,

O King, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up." (...)

 

Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who sent his angel to free his servants.

Who, trusting in him, disobeyed the king's order; and preferred to give their bodies to the fire rather than serve and worship any other god but their God."

 

Dn 3:52, 53, 54, 55, 56 Glory and praise for ever!

 

＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊       Gospel Reflection ：

John 8:31-42

Jesus went on to say to the Jews who believed in him, "You will be my true disciples if you keep my word.

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

They answered him, "We are the descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone.

What do you mean by saying: You will be free?"

 

Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave.

But the slave doesn't stay in the house forever; the son stays forever.

So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free.

I know that you are the descendants of Abraham;

yet you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you.

For my part, I speak of what I have seen in my Father's presence,

 

but you do what you have learned from your father."

They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Then Jesus said, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do as Abraham did.

But now you want to kill me, the one who tells you the truth, the truth that I have learned from God.

That is not what Abraham did; what you are doing are the works of your father."

The Jews said to him, "We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God."

Jesus replied, "If God were your Father you would love me, for I came forth from God,

and I am here. And I didn't come by my own decision, but it was he himself who sent me.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"The truth will set you free."

In the horror and deprivation of the concentration camps of the Second World War,

the famous psychotherapist Viktor Frankl came to realize that he was still free even though he was interned in the camp.

He had lost his whole family in the Holocaust, and yet, even in this severely restricted situation he still had a fundamental freedom.

The freedom was to choose how these unspeakable experiences were going to affect him.

Frankl survived and used his experiences to develop a therapy which focused on meaning.

 

Meaning allows people to carry on, even amid terrible suffering. We see this in the first reading,

where Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refuse to reject the truth even as they face the fiery furnace.

Their free choice is to embrace the truth, the true meaning to life, even in danger. Christ says, "the truth will set you free."

Freedom is often defined as doing whatever you like, but in the end, this is a destructive definition.

True freedom is found in choosing what is virtuous, what is good and true.

This is why we are truly free if we keep Christ's word and live the truth.