FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

27 MARCH 2022

 

          Today’s first reading makes it clear that God sees very differently from the way human beings see.  King Saul had been a successful leader according to human judgment.  But he failed to make proper sacrifices to God.  Instead of choosing offerings that were the choicest fruits and the best of the herd, Saul settled for a less than desirable sacrifice.  So God tells Samuel to go to an insignificant family in an insignificant village.  Even in Bethlehem, God sees differently than does Jesse.  Instead of choosing Eliab with his lofty stature, God instructs Samuel to choose the youngest boy, the shepherd David.  The spirit of the Lord rushes upon David when Samuel anoints him with oil.  That anointing signifies the healing of the body.  It is also a symbol of strength.  God has seen the truth about David.  As David grows and matures, he will prove his strength by defeating the mighty Goliath.  He will also provide proper worship for God. 

            In today’s Gospel, the man born blind eventually comes to see the truth about Jesus.  During this past year, the Elect preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation gradually have had their eyes opened to truth about Jesus the Christ.  During Lent, we anoint them with the Oil of the Catechumens on a weekly basis.  We ask the Lord to strengthen them to see the truth about Jesus Christ more clearly.  When they emerge from the waters of Baptism, they will be clothed with a white garment, indicating because they have put on Christ.  They will receive a candle lit from the Easter Candle, showing the truth that Saint Paul proclaims.  They will be light in the Lord.  Then they will be anointed with Oil in the Sacrament of Confirmation.  Because Chrism is mixed with the sweet perfume balsam, their anointing will suggest through the sense of smell that the Holy Spirit has rushed upon them with wisdom and strength.

            As these good people go through the Second Scrutiny, they remind us that we have been united with Christ through Baptism.  The Holy Spirit rushed upon us when we were confirmed with Chrism, sealing us with wisdom and strength.  When we priests were ordained, the Bishop anointed our hands with the sweet smelling Chrism.  That anointing reminds us that we stand in the person of Christ at the Altar to make an offering on the people’s behalf.

            The Lord chose us not according to our appearance, but because he has looked into our hearts.  The man born blind does not ask to be given his sight.  Jesus chooses him.  The man born blind cooperates with the grace given to him by going to wash in the Pool of Siloam.  When his neighbors ask how he came to see, he responds that the man called Jesus made clay and anointed his eyes.  He gradually opens his eyes and sees the truth about Jesus and worships him.  He becomes a disciple, much as our Elect will become his disciples at the Easter Vigil.

            We who have been baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit must avoid the blindness of the religious authorities.  As the man born blind gradually begins to see more clearly the truth about Jesus Christ, they become more blinded to that truth.  We are often tempted to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit to be wise and strong.  We can easily fall back into darkness.  We can fail to see Christ in the people and events around us.  We can choose to cling to the anger and resentments and divisions of these past two years.  We can fall back into destructive habits that separate us from the Lord and each other.  This second Scrutiny over the Elect strengthens them to see their past darkness as they approach the light of Christ.  In this Scrutiny, they urge us to expose our works of darkness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Instead of keeping things secret out of shame, we can expose our darkness to the bright fire of God’s compassionate and merciful love.  If we can be restored through God’s mercy as children of light, our community will be filled with goodness, righteousness, and truth. 

 

THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

20 MARCH 2022

 

          In the Ancient Middle East, men came to woo their perspective brides at wells.  Isaac met Rebekah at a well.  Isaac’s son Jacob met the love of his life, Rachel at a well.  Grateful for protecting his daughter at a well, the priest of Midian gave Zipporah to Moses in marriage.  Now, Jesus approaches Jacob’s well.  He has already revealed himself as the bridegroom when he changed water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana.  He is the faithful bridegroom who has the power to change the ordinary water of human love into the divine life of God.

            This bridegroom now courts an unlikely bride.  Some of the Fathers of the Church have called the Samaritan woman at the well a “half pagan harlot.”  Samaritans were enemies of the Jewish people, because their intermarriage with their Assyrian conquerors had introduced many pagan elements.  In his encounter with this prospective bride, Jesus speaks words of judgment.  She has been married five times.  Currently she is living with a man who is not her husband.  His judgment is honest and to the point, without being condemning or angry.

            Instead of rejecting her as being unworthy of his love, Jesus invites her to enter into a nuptial relationship with him.  Gradually, she responds positively to his invitation.  This woman represents us, the Church.  Over the centuries, Jesus has always loved his bride, the Church, despite the many scandals and sins and bitter divisions and infidelities of her members.  He continues to love us today, even in the midst of our present divisions and the scandals by those shepherds who have abused their sheep instead of caring for them.

            Convinced that Jesus is truly the Messiah for whom she had been waiting, he Samaritan woman shares in his mission of doing the will of the one who sent him.  She leaves her water jar at the well and goes into the town to proclaim the Good News to everyone she meets.  She invites them to respond to his invitation to enter into a nuptial relationship with him.  As his disciples return, wondering what happened, he invites his disciples to do the same, telling them that the fields are ripe for the harvest.  He gives us the same message.  The fields of our world are certainly ripe for the harvest.  Emerging from the worst of this pandemic, we have divisions and anger within our families, within our Church, and within our culture.  First, the bridegroom invites us to judge our own sins and failures.  Once we can be honest about ourselves, we can turn more completely to him during this Lent.  Then he sends us to do what he does for us.  We can embrace those who have become our enemies in the same way he has embraced us.  We can take the risks of reconciling with those with whom we disagree.  We can forgive those who have hurt us deeply.  As Christ’s bride, we can share that same nuptial love given to us.

            At the 10:00 Mass today, we pray the first Scrutiny over our Elect who are preparing for the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.  Like the Samaritan woman at the well, they have come to recognize the nuptial love given to them by the bridegroom.  As they prepare to satisfy their deepest thirst by passing through the waters of baptism, they acknowledge the ways they have turned away from God.  In this first Scrutiny, we pray that they will be freed from whatever holds them back.  We ask the Lord to strengthen them in these final weeks before they complete their marriage with the bridegroom in the Sacraments of Initiation.     

            These good people are powerful examples to the rest of us.  Through Baptism, we have already accepted the Bridegroom’s invitation.  They invite us to acknowledge our own sins and give them over to the Lord’s judgment.  They invite us to renew our faith in the Church, despite the many sins of her members and even of her leaders.  They invite us to be sent on the same mission as the Samaritan woman and the first disciples:  to do the will of the one who sent him.

 

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

13 MARCH 2022

 

          During Lent, we use the Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving as tools to help us turn more completely to the Lord.  We enter more deeply into a relationship with the Lord when we pray.  As we pray, we become more aware of the mystery of God, which keeps us in our human limitations from knowing God completely.  The vast mystery of God can make our faith frustrating.  Our scripture readings today provide insights into the journey to faith which involves trusting in God in both times of darkness and times of light.

            God gave Abram two promises.  Abram has already received the first of those promises.  He is living in the Promised Land.  But Abram has also spent decades in darkness, waiting for the granting of the other promise.  He has not been given a son.  As he advances in age, God’s promise seems to have faded.  But Abram trusts God’s promise that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky (pictured in the Covenant with Abram in our center aisle).  Abram expresses his faith in God’s promise by cutting up animals and putting the carcasses on either side of the road.  He walks between the animals, stating that he would rather be cut up like these animals than go back on his word.  Then God provides light for Abram under the appearance of a smoking fire pot and flaming torch passing through the carcasses.  God will not go back on his word.

            In today’s Gospel, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the top of a mountain to pray.  He has just told his disciples the dark truth that he is called to be a suffering servant.  He will be executed like a common criminal and buried in a tomb, to be raised three days later.  In a blazing instant, the face of Jesus is changed in appearance.  His clothing becomes dazzling white.  In this mysterious light, he converses with Moses and Elijah, and he speaks of his exodus that he would accomplish in Jerusalem.

            Then they hear a voice from heaven.  They had already heard that voice at the Jordan when Jesus was baptized, calling Jesus “my chosen Son.”  They hear it again and are told to listen to him.  Only after the Lord’s death and resurrection would it occur to Peter, James, and John what happened on this mountain.  They have been given a glimpse into the mysterious light of the Lord’s true identity as God’s chosen Son.  They would understand that he has fulfilled the prophecy of the Law (Moses) and the prophets (Elijah).  However, on another hilltop outside of Jerusalem, Jesus would be hanging on a cruel cross in abject agony.  The heavens will fall silent.  Jesus will not be surrounded by Moses and Elijah.  He will be surrounded by two thieves.  There is no shining light – only complete darkness.        

In our journey of faith, we also go through times when there is great light.  In those times, we feel the Lord’s bright presence in our lives.  At other times, we are plunged in darkness, and the Lord seems to be distant or not present at all.  We can learn from the experience of Abram, who trusted the Lord’s promise even in the midst of the darkness of infertility.  We can learn from Peter, James, and John in their darkness.  They walked from the glory of the Mount of the Transfiguration to the horror of Mount Calvary.  Only then would they understand what Jesus meant by his exodus he would accomplish in Jerusalem.  In entering more deeply into prayer this Lent, we reflect on the bright moments of our relationship with Jesus Christ.  In fasting, we connect more readily with the darkness of so many people in the world who do not have enough to eat.  In almsgiving, we share the gifts we have been freely given by the Lord to bring a bit of light to those in need.  We continue to turn to the Lord.  We renew our faith in him, present both in those times of bright light and in those times of unbearable darkness.

 

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

6 MARCH 2022

 

          Jesus is filled with the Holy Spirit, who had hovered above him in the form of a dove when he was baptized.  His identity is confirmed by the Father’s voice:  “This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  Now the Holy Spirit leads his Beloved Son into the desert for forty days, where he is tempted by the devil.  Saint Luke uses the Greek word diabolos, which literally means the “slanderer” or “false accuser.”

            Not only is Jesus the Beloved Son of God, he is also a son of Adam.  Our first parents heard the half-truths of the slanderer and fell for his half-truths.  Eve saw that the forbidden tree was good for food.  It was a delight to her eyes.  The slanderer told her that it would make her wise.  As a result, they convinced themselves that God was withholding something from them.  Their disobedience introduced death, the ultimate separation from God.

            Jesus is also a descendent of his ancestors, who spent forty years in the desert going from slavery in Egypt to freedom in the Promised Land.  They too were tempted, and failed each time.  When they complained that they had no food, God sent manna.  When Moses did not come down immediately from Mount Sinai, they doubted that God was with them and worshiped a golden calf of their own making.  When they won battles against their enemies, they forgot that God had been the source of their victory.

            In the desert, Jesus has fasted for forty days.  As a son of Adam, he is hungry and very vulnerable.  The slanderer exploits his weakness and tempts him to use his power as the Son of God to turn stones into bread.  Jesus resists the temptation, because his mission is to serve the needs of others, and not his own.  He resists the temptation to receive immediate power and glory, because this would be a shortcut to avoid the cross.  In resisting the third temptation, Jesus understands that his mission is not to be a showy demonstration of power.  The slanderer departs from him for a time, knowing that there will be other vulnerable moments when he can tempt Jesus to depart from the mission given him by his Father.  Jesus will resist all the temptations of the slanderer.  He will conquer the power of sin and death by entering into death himself.  Only after embracing his Father’s will and entering death will he receive dominion over all kingdoms of heaven and earth.

            The Holy Spirit has led us, the Church, who have become the Father’s beloved sons and daughters through Baptism, into this forty-day desert of Lent.  We are sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.  We are descendants of the Israelites in the desert.  We have believed the half-truths of the slanderer too often.  There is nothing wrong with physical pleasures in themselves.  But when we put all our energy into sensual gratification, we fall into gluttony and lust.  When we embrace power and riches as ends in themselves, we are prone to avarice and greed.  When ostentatious displays become our goal, we become prideful and full of ourselves.

            If we can embrace the Lenten disciplines for these forty days, we can learn to strengthen our faith and turn more completely to the Lord Jesus, who died and rose that we might have life.  When we fast, we learn to master a better sense of self-control.  When we give alms, we learn the lesson of detachment and avoid the temptation to create false needs.  When we pray, we humble ourselves before God, relying on his grace.  These disciplines are not intended to punish us for our sins.  Rather, they are intended to strengthen our wills to make choices that bring life and not death.  They can make us more resistant to the lies of the slanderer who takes advantage of us when we are vulnerable.  These disciplines are intended to prepare us to renounce the power of the slanderer and to affirm our faith in the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit at Easter.