FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT
11 MARCH 2018
In
writing to the Church in Ephesus, Saint Paul explains how disciples should live
in a pagan culture. He reminds the
Ephesians that they were once darkness.
They were once blind to the person of Jesus Christ and the Gospel which
he proclaimed. Then he tells them that
they are now light. When they had
emerged from the waters of baptism with their sins forgiven, they were united
completely with Jesus Christ, the light of the world. In the ancient Church, they were known as the
“illuminati,” the illuminated ones who carried candles lit from the Easter
Candle to represent their new life in Christ.
Saint
Paul’s advice to them is simple: Don’t
fall back into darkness. Live as
children of the light! The verb which
Saint Paul uses is much stronger than simply “to live.” The word means “to walk”. If they walk as children of the light, it is
no temporary activity. It is a way of
life. If they live their baptismal
promises and walk as children of the light, the light of Christ will shine
through them, illuminating a culture often mired in darkness and despair.
Saint Paul
then outlines three ways that walking as children of the light will make a
difference. First, their light will
produce goodness, an intrinsic quality of the heart. That goodness will manifest itself in works
of kindness. Second, their light will
produce righteousness, sustaining a right relationship not only with Jesus
Christ, but also with each other. Third,
their light will produce truth, not just words spoken, but also actions that
are noticed. Living the truth will make
them constant, sincere, and free from falsehood. Unlike the darkness of deceit and lies, the
truth is trustworthy. These three
effects are direct gifts from God, graces given to those who walk as children
of the light by living their baptismal promises.
During this
past year, we have been working with ten people in the Rite of Christian
Initiation of Adults. Like the man born blind, they have grown in
their understanding of the person of Jesus Christ. Through prayer, study, and fellowship, they
have come to see him as more than a teacher, as more than a prophet who speaks
the truth, and ultimately as the Christ, the Messiah whose bright light illuminates
a darkened world. They were chosen by
Bishop Rhoades to spend this season of Lent as a final preparation. We pray the second Scrutiny over these good
people at the 10:00 Mass today, asking the Lord to remove any remaining
darkness from them as they prepare to be illuminated through the waters of
baptism, sealed with the Oil of Confirmation, and fed with the Body and Blood
of Christ at the Easter Vigil. Awakened
from the waters of Baptism, they will reflect the light of Jesus Christ.
As we pray
over them, the Lord scrutinizes us! We
may have been illuminated through the waters of Baptism, but we have not always
followed Saint Paul’s advice. We have
not always walked as children of the light.
As a result, we have diminished our acts of kindness, making our world
even more mean spirited than it already is.
We have not always walked in right relationship with Jesus Christ and
other people, causing even more polarization and divisions. We have not always been truthful and added to
an environment already confused about what is true and what is not. As baptized members of the Body of Christ, we
can be restored to our baptismal brilliance through the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. We can bring our “deeds
of darkness” to that Sacrament and allow the Lord to burn our sins away with
the fire of his merciful love. The
Lord’s mercy will remind us that the light does not originate in us. We can only reflect the true light, who is
Christ. Then we will join the newly
baptized at Easter in renouncing Satan and all his empty promises and all his
lies. Then we can renew our baptismal
promises and walk again as children of the light.
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