March 15, 2015

4^th Sunday of Lent B

2 Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23; Ephesians 2: 4-10; John 3: 14-21

I can look at my life superficially or I can look at it in a much deeper fashion. I can read the Scriptures and say, ‘That’s a nice message’ or I can say, ‘That applies to me in a big way.’ I can say, ‘I’m living a pretty good life, I feel that I’m doing OK or I can say ‘You aren’t all that good, you haven’t begun to deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus.’ Today’s readings are meant for me specifically. I going to look at them in two ways: 1] at first sight and 2] after much deeper reflection.

The two books of Chronicles mean ‘things omitted, or passed over (in the historical books of Samuel and Kings). They span in some detail the lengthy period from Saul to the return from the exile. So they cover the period from the rise of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, their subsequent destruction, the exiles and finally the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, a four hundred plus year time period.

The authors are giving the situation of the people’s unfaithfulness. I can insert my name so easily, ‘In those days, Pete Creed added infidelity to infidelity, just not paying the attention to the Lord that he should. Early and often did the Lord send messengers to me through family, friends, confessors, spiritual directors, the sacraments, the Church…FOR HE HAD COMPASSON ON Pete Creed. But Pete Creed didn’t often pay attention and even scoffed at these thinking he had plenty of time.’ There is so much truth in this when I look at the deceptions of the devil and his doing anything to make me ‘look good in my own eyes.’ Jesus stated it succinctly in the Sermon on the Mount, “You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye.” (Mt 7:5)

In the second reading, Paul is writing to the Ephesians. In fact scholars say that this is not so much a letter to the Ephesians as to the worldwide church. Living the Word states: “Attributed to Paul writing during one of his imprisonments, Ephesians is likely pseudonymous and served as a general summary of Paul’s genuine letters, which circulated among the churches in southwest Asia Minor.” Paul is saying to me that it is God’s grace, not anything that I can do, that brings about my salvation. Though dead in my disobedience, sins and all, God’s mercy and love bring me back to life and Christ. Paul says it perfectly and backs up the theme of Lent for me this year, “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.” It is not about me, it’s about God’s love for me. Jesus wasn’t sent to condemn me, but to give me life and light. He is the light, He wants me to see this and to respond to His light and to be His light in my world. How wonderful this is, God is always seeking me out; it is His grace that enables me to see, hear and respond. Thanks Lord, help me!

The Gospel passage is one of my favorite passages and has been so for years. When I started teaching in Catholic High Schools, I somehow discovered a LP Record which was entitled, ‘Don Lonie Speaks to Teenagers.’ Don Lonie was a Christian humorist and went to countless schools, public and private, delivering his message of God’s total and complete love for every person. He based his talk on John 3:16, from today’s gospel. It reads: “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.” Now Mr. Lonie inserted his own name in this quote as I continue to do and try to remind myself to do this every day. Now it becomes: God so loved Pete Creed that He gave His only Son, so that if Pete Creed believes in Him, Pete Creed might not perish but might have eternal life.” God’s actions are for salvation not for condemnation…am I listening?

God is also challenging me to see God beyond my limited and narrow perspective. God is challenging me to see His love around me: in the love of family and friends, in His creation; and in every act of love and mercy I witness. Fr. Henri Nouwen in Here and Now, Living in the Spirit helps me so much when he says, “All human relationships, be they between parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends, or between members of a community, are meant to be signs of God’s love for humanity as a whole and each person in particular. This is a very uncommon viewpoint, but it is the viewpoint of Jesus. Jesus says: ‘You must love one another just as I have loved you. It is by your love for one another that everyone will recognize you as My disciples’ (Jn 13:34-35). And how does Jesus love us? He says: ‘I have loved you just as the Father has loved me’ (Jn 15:9). Jesus’ love for us is the full expression of God’s love for us, because Jesus and the Father are one. ‘What I say to you,’ Jesus says, I do not speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing His words. You must believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’ (Jn 14:10-11).

These words may at first sound very unreal and mystifying, but they have a direct and radical implications for how we live our relationship on a day-to-day basis. Jesus reveals to us that we are called by God to be living witnesses of God’s love. We become such witnesses by following Jesus and loving one another as He loves us. What does this say about marriage, friendship and community? It says that the source of the love that sustains these relationships is not the partners themselves but God who calls the partners together. Loving one another is not clinging to one another so as to be safe in a hostile world, but living together in such a way that everyone will recognize us as people who make God’s love visible to the world. Not only does all fatherhood and motherhood come from God, but also all friendship, partnership in marriage, and true intimacy and community. When we live as if human relationship are ‘human made’ and therefore subject to the shifting and changing of human regulations and customs, we cannot expect anything but the immense fragmentation and alienation that characterize our society. But when we claim and constantly reclaim God as the source of all love, we will discover love as God’s gift to God’s people.” I am loved…all are loved…all the time. Period!

I reflect on the words of Sacred Space 2015:

“’God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.’ Someone has said that if all the scriptures had been lost except these eleven words, we would have enough to give us hope. God, I thank You for this statement of Your love for us all.

Jesus, the Light of the World, enlightens everyone, often in mysterious ways that others cannot understand. An early-Church writer says: ‘Sinners, deprived of the light, worship in the dark.’ Lord, let me live in the light that streams from You.”