March 22, 2015

5^th Sunday of Lent B

Jeremiah 31: 31-34; Hebrews 5: 7-9; John 12: 20-33

If it hasn’t happened already, this is the time one looks back at Lent and looks at all the resolutions, plans, dreams even of what this Lent would be about and where it would lead me. How much closer will I be to the Lord, was the hope when Lent began…now one says, I really goofed that up, or I certainly wasn’t as good as I had hoped to be. Where has God been?

It’s so interesting, I do it consistently myself, I look at my life, the world through my eyes and seldom do I look from God’s eyes. If I did, like the readings today, it would tell me much about my loving God and His plan and His love.

Jeremiah starts off, “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” There were many covenants between God and His people, ‘I will be your God, you will be My people.’ The constant was that God’s people were unfaithful to every covenant from Noah through Moses. They always failed to keep their side of the bargain. And God was consistent…God adapted to every situation the people found themselves in and continued to offer new covenants, new opportunities to be His ‘faithful’ people. In fact the word ‘covenant’ is used more frequently in Jeremiah than in any of the other prophetic works. The old covenant, which was written on stone tablets and given to Moses is contrasted with a ‘new’ covenant that Jeremiah foresees will happen in the future. What makes this covenant new is that it will be written on the heart. God is setting the standard within the very core of each person. St. Anthony Messenger Press Sunday Homily Helps puts it this way, “God’s forgiveness will be the driving force of this new covenant. The people will be so moved by God’s compassion that they will find the motivation within themselves to be loyal to God. Such devotion to God will come naturally to them; it will no longer have to rely on the teaching of the externals which people must conform. One dramatic display of this divine grace was the restoration of the people after the Babylonian Exile.” The people will know that God loves them and has loved them first and always loves. Will the people be moved? Am I moved? God is willing once again to continue His plan for heaven for each person alive and make it reachable. So it’s up to me!

Jesus teaches this in the Gospel by showing that the ultimate act, His love, God’s love is the gift of His life. He loses His life out of love which ultimately results in preserving each person for eternal life. If I respond to God’s invitation…if each person responds to God’s invitation. “Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. Whoever serves Me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be. The Father will honor whoever serves me.” What do I have to do: to live as Jesus and the Church teach me: loving God and loving each and every person, in my life and everywhere.

There is a story told about the meaning and depth of the sufferings of Jesus many years ago by a farmer in a remote Irish village. He was looking at the crucifix hanging behind the altar on Good Friday and exclaimed, “To think that the likes of Him would do the likes of that for the likes of me.”

It all comes down to the immense love that God has for me and each person in our good deeds and even in our horrible sinful ones…God just loves. And each person’s life is an opportunity to say ‘YES’ to that love. That’s what my life is all about and what it is for. Fr Henri Nouwen in Here and Now Living in the Spirit says, “Our death is a full coming home to that love. Do we desire to come home? It seems that most of our efforts are aimed at delaying this homecoming as long as possible.” I get so enamored with earth and the things of this world that I do not see that they are gifts to help me to be grateful and to bring others to the knowledge and the love of God. How am I doing…this is the reason for my Lenten time apart.

Fr Nouwen continues, “We are challenged once again to look at our lives from above. When, indeed, Jesus came to offer us full communion with God, by making us partakers of His death and resurrection, what else can we desire but to leave our mortal bodies and so reach the final goal of our existence? The only reason for staying in this valley of tears can be to continue the mission of Jesus who has sent us into the world as His Father sent Him into the world. Looking from above, life is a short, often painful mission, full of occasions to do fruitful work for God’s kingdom, and death is the open door that leads into the hall of celebration where the King Himself will serve us.

It all seems such an upside-down way of being! But it’s the way of Jesus and the way for us to follow. There is nothing morbid about it. To the contrary, it’s a joyful vision of life and death. As long as we are in the body, let us care well for our bodies so that we can bring the joy and peace of God’s kingdom to those we meet on our journey. But when the time has come for our dying and death let us rejoice that we can go home and be united with the One who calls us the beloved.” And God calls me and each person His Beloved. How wonderful! Did I realize that in my Lenten journey so far God has called me His Beloved? Does this make a difference as I continue on to Palm Sunday and Holy Week in the coming weeks?

It is in dying to my own needs and wants, that I bring the new life of Christ’s resurrection into my life and the life of others. The symbol of the grain of wheat in the Gospel is God’s pledge that I can do great things and even powerful ‘miracles’ when I let go of myself…when I let go of my prejudices…when I let go of my fears and ambitions and BE JESUS…JESUS CRUCIFIED to others.

I reflect on:

• I look back on my life and see my sufferings…what have I learned from them? Now do I see the presence of God in them? Who were the ‘love people’ God sent to help me?
• How would I respond to the farmer who said, “To think that the likes of Him would do the likes of that for the likes of me.” What questions would I like to ask him? What does this teach me?
• Who has planted seeds of hope in my life? How have I shared my gratitude When have I found that my own ‘death’ has led to life? Do I fear death or moments of trial?

Sacred Space 2015 says:

“Jesus, in this time of prayer, I imagine you putting a grain of wheat into my hand. You and I chat about what it can mean.

When I next eat bread, it will have a deeper significance for me. When I share in the Eucharist, I will try to be aware that it means Your own life, which is blessed, broken, shared out, and consumed for the life of the world.”