Fourth Sunday of Lent
Year B
Lectionary: 32
Reading I
2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23
In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people
added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations
and polluting the LORD’s temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers,
send his messengers to them,
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God,
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon,
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah:
“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled.”
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!”
Responsorial Psalm
137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (6ab) Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Reading II
Eph 2:4-10
Brothers and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them
Verse Before the Gospel
Jn 3:16
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
Gospel
Jn 3:14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
God wants the best for us as His children. Just like any good parent wants the best for their children so does God want the same thing for us. Jesus emphasizes this in the Gospel reading today when He says,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.”
Jesus is the messenger and our greatest advocate who is ready to guide us to The Father. He describes Himself as the light that has come into the world. He then contrasts Himself with a world cloaked in darkness; which by our nature is something that we prefer in comparison to the light. Even though we as God’s children, just like all children, tend to meander away from God into the darkness Jesus offers the light as a guiding force from where we can always find our way back.
God has always been the solution to everything that threatens and confounds us. Throughout the history of God’s relationship with man there has been a repeated cycle of us straying from God and facing the consequences of that action. Afterwards there comes repentance, forgiveness, and a repairing of the relationship. This can be viewed as the spiritual conflict between good and evil throughout the universe, in this world, and in our own lives. The Revelation of Jesus Christ marks the beginning of the final age where all of the evils in existence, welcomed into God’s creation by us through Original Sin, will be utterly destroyed and Jesus will then hand over The Kingdom to His Father. All imperfections will become perfect. A New Heaven and a New Earth will result. As part of our faith-life it is our spiritual responsibility to recognize this conflict on the universal level and on the personal level within us. Just like in all of God’s creation it is through Jesus Christ that all of the conflict will end.
With an acceptance of Jesus Christ as The Son of God represents a reaction to the light in this world which is Jesus. We then step out of the darkness and into the light. Jesus tells us that the darkness can never overcome the light thus we in the light can never be harmed by the darkness. We can only be harmed if we go back into the darkness. Does this mean that everything will be perfect in our lives? Of course not but what it means is that Jesus is active within us during times of trial and will make all the difference of overcoming it or not. There will always be victory when Jesus is with us. Even death cannot overcome us because we as God’s children are eternal. This is important to notes: if we truly believe that we are God’s children and are destined for eternal life then what is there left to worry about? It is only when we weaken ourselves by listening to doubts and fears which may seep into our thoughts that we can find ourselves in trouble. The only way to confront this is to focus more intently on Jesus.
Unworthy that we may be, we are made complete through Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul reminds us that the Love of God and salvation through Jesus Christ is something that is given to us and not something that is earned. When we start to realize that what is being offered to us is free the shame of being unworthy fades away and is replaced with thankfulness and joy. We are not humiliated by the presence of Jesus but are humbled which is a beautiful place to be: the removal of pride opens the door for God’s grace. We have the ability to be the biggest obstacle between us and God and we should make every effort to remove ourselves by opening the door for Jesus because we were the ones who shut it and locked it in the first place. We hold the key; all we have to do is use it.
The Crucified Christ is the place to start unlocking the door that we locked. Jesus Christ came into this world, fully human and fully divine, so that it would be easy to approach Him and through Him finally approach God; entering into a relationship with Him. It is also through Him that all came; eternity is revealed through Jesus. The Eternal God came in His personhood to be with us and so that we could interact with Him just as we interact with His creation. This is what we learn in Sacred Scripture and through the Magisterium of the Church. This understanding is central to our faith and, that being so, should be central in our lives. To encounter God we have to encounter Jesus. To encounter Jesus it is necessary to be introduced to The Crucified Christ because that is why The Word became Flesh in the first place: to suffer, to be crucified, and die for the forgiveness of our sins and for the salvation of our souls.
During Lent we are invited to take all of our burdens and lift them upon our own cross; journeying with Christ towards Calvary as He carries His cross laden with our sins. He feels our burdens while we are encouraged to feel His. The Crucifixion becomes a shared moment where the bond between Jesus and us strengthens as a result. It is through suffering that relationships are made stronger and ours with Jesus is no exception. The more pain and hurt we experience in our lives the more we can experience Jesus on a personal level. He knows us so intimately that every painful thought or event is felt by Him. I can share as a father that whenever my children had a bad experience I felt that very same experience mentally, physically, and spiritually. Jesus Christ feels the exact same thing for EVERYTHING IN HIS CREATION. He takes all of these things and puts them upon His cross. Then He walks towards His own death. It is a necessity for us to walk with Him. He is doing it for us and has done it for all of our lives.
Deacon Tom
My sisters and Brother in Christ,
Rejoice in the Lord! This Fourth Sunday of Lent is always about rejoicing. We rejoice because we have made it halfway through Lent! We rejoice because the Lord continues to call us His people and to draw us to Himself. We rejoice because we know that Jesus came in the flesh for us, died for us and is raised from the dead for us.
The readings today make us very aware that we are still sinful humans, called to grow in faithfulness and love. The first reading is from the Second Book of Chronicles and gives us the sad history that God’s people were unfaithful and finally taken from their own land into exile in Babylonia. The story does not end there, however. Instead this story gives us cause for rejoicing because God brings some of His people back to Judah, to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple.
This account from the Second Book of Chronicles is a pattern that is repeated over and over in the life of our Jewish ancestors and also in the life of our Church. We humans find it difficult to remain faithful. When we are unfaithful, God allows us to suffer the consequences and then, quite often, at least a remnant will return to the Lord. Then there is rejoicing!
The second reading is from the Letter to the Ephesians and speaks again about our human failings and God’s mercy. “God, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ. It is the gift of God.”
Finally today’s Gospel from Saint John tells us “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him…. Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”
Our hearts are hardened and our ears are closed and so often we do not listen to these words of the Lord. Even when we do listen to them, often we do not believe them. Today, on the Sunday of Lent when we should rejoice, let us open our hearts and listen to God. He only wants to tell us that He loves us and invites us to live a life of commitment to Him.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
It is not easy to rejoice always in the Lord. This Sunday liturgy calls us to rejoice and sometimes our hearts just cannot be there. The Second Book of Chronicles tells of the infidelity of our ancestors in the faith. They just could not remain faithful to God and became worse and worse. Today, at times, our world seems headed in the same direction. We need only think of the countless innocent people still being killed in terrorist attacks around the world. How can this go on in our world?
God allows evil but God does not do evil. Sometimes our hearts resist God because an evil has touched too close to us. In the account from the Second Book of Chronicles, God allows His people to return to their homeland. This is not because all of His people had become good, but only because God is merciful. He does not hold our sins against us.
The Gospel from Saint John reflects this also: look to the Lord for mercy and you will be healed. John is so very clear: God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Every time that we meet up with an image of God that makes God appear as someone waiting to destroy us or condemn us, we should think of this passage. God loves us even more than we love ourselves.
The Letter to the Ephesians tells us today that even when we were dead in our transgressions, God raised us up to live with Him. So often we Christians don’t really believe that God can love us as much as that, and so we come up with limited images of God’s love for us. Think of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Father runs to meet his son even before the son has had a chance to apologize. There is no sense here that God will treat His people with anything except love.
Far too often it is we who do not love ourselves because we don’t trust God. Can we really let God love us in this time of Lent. Will we come to trust Him that He loves us more than we could ever imagine? Then we can rejoice in the Lord!
CHRIST IN THE DESERT MONASTERY
2 MIN READ
It’s optional, but I’ve always liked it — when the Church’s sacred ministers wear “pink” on Laetare Sunday — Roman Catholicism’s Fourth Sunday of Lent.
The day’s theme comes from the entrance antiphon reflecting on Isaiah 66:10-11: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exalt and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”
Laetare is the first word — meaning “rejoice” — in the Latin text. On Laetare Sunday (as similarly with the Third Sunday of Advent’s Gaudete Sunday) the Church expresses hope and joy in the midst of our Lenten fasts and penances. Call it pink — or, more fittingly, rose — this change in color indicates a glimpse of the joy that awaits us at Easter, just before we enter into the somber days of Passiontide.
The joy of Easter being around the corner is symbolized in a few other interesting liturgical possibilities. During Lent, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal forbids flowers adorning the altar. But on Laetare Sunday (as well as solemnities and feasts within the season), there’s a temporary halt to these penitential observations! I remember well decking out the altar with pink roses on that day when I was once a parish liturgy director.
At one time, marriages were generally forbidden during Lent, but Laetare Sunday was often associated as a day when marriages could be celebrated during the penitential season. While marriages are now only forbidden on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, Laetare Sunday is still a fitting day for those wishing to be married before Eastertide.
Laetare Sunday is the Church’s way of giving us a “shot in the arm” as we approach the darkness and horror of the days through Good Friday and Holy Saturday. It’s an opportunity to savor and keep in the back of our minds what awaits us on Easter Sunday — the reality that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, and that our hearts will always be filled with joy!
Being aware of traditions and customs assists us in celebrating the beauty of our faith. As you can see, there is much associated with even a nondescript day like the Fourth Sunday of Lent — not to mention the rest of the season, or the 50 days of Easter and beyond. Take advantage of the richness of our Catholic traditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment