FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

26 MARCH 2017

          The great irony of today’s Gospel is that the man born into darkness comes to see the Light of Jesus Christ shining in the darkness.  The Pharisees are the religious leaders of the people.  They can see perfectly well.  But, as the man born blind comes to see (in John’s Gospel, to see is to believe), the Pharisees become more blind and choose to dwell in darkness.

            At the 10:00 Mass today, we celebrate the Second Scrutiny with the Elect.  Like the man born blind, they have opened their eyes to recognize Christ as the Light of the world.  We pray for them as they prepare to receive the light of Christ when they emerge from the waters of Baptism.  But, in praying for them, we need to be honest about the ways we fail to see (believe). I had a rude reminder of this a couple of weeks ago.  Completely fed up with all the confusion surrounding our “exile” in the gyms, I was complaining that people do not read, listen, or pay attention to instructions.  One day I went to Costco, because they sell pretty good coffee at a discount.  When I got to the checkout, I presented my Costco American Express card.  The young man told me that they no longer accept American Express cards.  He pointed to the sign which had been there for six months explaining the change.  Stricken, I slinked away wondering how my blindness to the light of Christ affects my life and the lives of so many people!

            It is my hope that our new church will support us in seeing the Light of Christ in our world.  The iconography was designed to do just that.  Let me explain the images:

1. The Good Shepherd at the top of the triumphal arch, with sheep coming to him from Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
2. His charge to Saint Peter to tend the flock, with the large image of Saint Peter on the left.
3. Above him are saints who have a connection to our parish interceding for us.
4. His charge to Saint Pius X to continue to tend the flock as a successor of Saint Peter, with the large image of Saint Pius on the right.
5. Above him are more saints with a connection to our parish interceding for us.
6. In the crossing are the evangelists, two of whom are apostles.  There are also 4 trees, reminding us that all our roads around here are named after trees.
7. In the nave are the other ten apostles.
8. Above the Altar is the cross, with the Beloved Apostle and the Mother of God standing on an anchor.  The anchor is the emblem for the Congregation of Holy Cross who founded this parish, and it is also part of the coat of arms of Saint Pius X.

As we continue our Lenten journey, we pray that the Lord will open our eyes to see him more clearly.

SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

12 MARCH 2017

          Last Sunday, we heard from the third chapter of Genesis.  We heard that Adam and Eve were not content to be creatures.  They listened to the serpent’s lie that God was withholding something from them.  In eating the forbidden fruit, they took for themselves what belongs to God alone – the prerogative to determine what is right or wrong, what is good or bad.  In listening to the serpent, they realized how vulnerable they were and how badly they could mess things up when they tried to be gods themselves.  In the next chapters, things get worse.  Cain listened to his inner voice of jealousy and murdered Abel.  As people continued to listen to the serpent’s lies, the alienating effects of their sins disintegrated life so much that God regretted his creation.  He flooded the earth and started over again with Noah and his family.  But people continued to ignore the voice of God.  Instead of listening to God’s voice, they listened to their inner voices telling them to do whatever they wanted to do.  Chapter 11 ends with the Tower of Babel, symbolizing a complete breakdown of communication among tribes and nations. 

            Today, we hear from the twelfth chapter of Genesis.  We meet Abram, who lives in the land of the Chaldees (modern day Iraq).  When God speaks, Abram listens.  God tells him to leave his homeland and all his ties with his family and to trust that God will settle him into a new land and make him a father of a great nation.  The old man knows that this move is very difficult.  He will be tested many times over in trusting God’s promise.  In listening to God, Abram will be transformed into Abraham.  Like all of us, our father in faith was not perfect.  He had his flaws and weaknesses.  But over the next 1500 years, his listening to God will establish a pattern of listening.  Moses will listen to God and lead his people to freedom.  David will listen to God and establish a house that will endure.  The prophets will listen to God and speak God’s word to people who continue to make the mistake of assuming for themselves what belongs to God – the right to distinguish between good or bad, right or wrong.

            This listening culminates when the Eternal Word of God takes flesh and dwells in our midst.  Jesus listens to his Father.  In the desert, he resists the serpent’s temptations and remains faithful to the Father’s will.  He continues to teach his disciples that the promised Messiah will bring life and salvation through suffering and death.  But his disciples have trouble listening.  Today, this son of Abraham is transfigured in the presence of three of his disciples:  Peter, James, and John.  They receive a vision, a gift from God confirming that Jesus is the true Messiah, that he has fulfilled everything in the Law and the Prophets.  The vision opens their eyes to see and their ears to hear what is impossible for humans to see or hear on our own.  Pain and sorrow, suffering and death are not the end.  The journey will end with the resurrection.   The voice that had spoken from the heavens when Jesus was baptized repeats the same message:  “This is my Beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

            That same voice speaks to us today.  Like our first parents, we listen to the lies of the serpent telling us that we are the ultimate determiners of what is right or wrong.  Too often, we have believed that lie and made sinful choices that have caused alienation for ourselves and for others.  But we are also disciples of Jesus Christ.  As we continue our forty day journey, our Lenten disciplines can open our ears to listen more carefully to him.  We can get discouraged when life is unfair and beats us up.  Carrying the cross and trusting that God will take care of us often tests our faith.  Our journey will not end on Good Friday.  It will end on Easter Sunday.  We may not have seen the same vision on the Mountain of the Transfiguration.  But, we have been given the vision of faith: God’s gift of being able to see what is impossible for human sight.   

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT

5 MARCH 2017

          Our Scripture readings begin in a garden.  Genesis tells us that God scooped up clay, breathed into it, and created us in his image.  As creatures, we were meant to be in perfect unity with God and each other, and we were meant to enjoy all the fruits of his creation.  God did not forbid Adam and Eve from eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because he was an authoritarian nitpicker who wanted them to watch what they ate.  He wanted them to know the difference between being a creator and being a creature.  That tree symbolizes equality with God.  The serpent told Eve that God was withholding something from them.  Both of our first parents listened to that lie and ate the fruit.  In other words, they were not satisfied with being creatures.  Instead of trusting that God is the final arbiter of what is good and what is evil, they wanted to assume that divine prerogative for themselves.  Once they realized their pride and arrogance, they became ashamed.  In their shame, they realized that were naked and vulnerable, and the intended unity was destroyed. That is what happens when we try to pretend that we are God, instead of being satisfied with being created in God’s image.

            Our Scripture readings end in a desert.  Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan River.  The voice from heaven declared that he is God’s Beloved Son.  Even though Jesus is the Son of God, he shares in the clay of the earth in his humanity.  When the Spirit drives him into the desert, the prince of lies tries the same tactic that had worked with Adam and Eve in the garden.  He tries to get Jesus to assume for himself the prerogatives that belong to his Father alone.  If he is the Son of God, he can turn stones into bread to satisfy his hunger after fasting for forty days.  If he is the Son of God, he can throw himself off the parapet of the temple to prove his Father’s real love for him.  If he would bow down and worship the devil, he could have all the power in the world and not have to go through the humiliation of his passion and death.  In resisting those temptations in the desert, Jesus makes up his mind to trust in the will of the Father and fulfill his mission as the Suffering Servant.  He does not make the same mistake as our first parents.

            The Spirit has led us into this forty day Season of Lent to test us.  We resemble the people of Israel more than we resemble the Son of God.  They failed the testing of the evil one over and over again during their forty year journey from slavery to freedom in the desert.  When they were hungry, they could not trust in God and demanded food.  We too look for immediate fixes from God when life gets difficult.  When they did not get immediate results, they tested God and demanded signs from Moses.  When we are afflicted with sickness or death or failure, we tend to say the same thing.  “I will believe in you, Lord, if you take away my spouse’s cancer.”  “I will get involved in one of the parish ministries if I can get my own way.”  We may not fashion a golden calf, but we certainly give much more attention to the power of wealth or personal gain or popularity than we give to surrendering ourselves to the will of God.

            Through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we are reminded that we are made in the image of God and that we are creatures, not the creator.  We learn that God is the ultimate decider of good and evil.  We learn that we make ourselves naked and vulnerable when we attribute to ourselves the prerogatives of deciding what is right and wrong.  We learn the truth that Saint Paul proclaims to the Corinthians – that sin and death entered the world through one man, Adam.  Through Jesus Christ, the new Adam, we have been reconciled and given eternal life.  Finally, we learn that what began in the garden will end in another garden.  On Easter Sunday, the Gospel will tell us that the risen Christ reveals himself to Mary Magdalene in a garden and sends her to tell the good news of the resurrection to his disciples.