4^th Sunday of Lent (B); 3-14-2021

2 Chr 36:14-16,19-23.  Ps 137.  Eph 2:4-10.  Jn 3:14-21

Deacon Jim McFadden

            Today is the 4^th Sunday of Lent, a.k.a.  “Laetare”, that is, “rejoice,” because the opening antiphon of the Eucharistic liturgy invites us to that joy:  “Rejoice, Jerusalem—“Be joyful, all who were in mourning.”  This is how the Holy Mass begins.  The question is: are we joyful?

            If we answer “yes,” we can ask: what’s the basis of our joy?  The reason gets to the nature of God Who is Love:  God loves us unconditionally as today’s Gospel passage  so famously tells us:  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”

 (Jn 3:16).  These words, spoken to Nicodemus, summarizes a theme that goes to the heart of the Christian message:  even when things go awry, even when the situation seems desperate, we’re not alone—God intervenes, offering mankind salvation and joy that is a consequence of participating in God’s divine life. We believe that Jesus is ‘Immanuel’—God among us—which means that God is not aloof, does not remain apart from us as the Deists would imagine. Rather, through the mystery of the Incarnation, God enters into the history of mankind; he “meddles” in our life; he enters into our personal story to animate it with his grace and to bring it to fruition and culmination. 

            As we heard a few Sundays ago at the Transfiguration, we’re called by the Father “to listen to him,” which means we obey and trust even when his Word is sometimes opaque, unfathomable.  We trust Jesus’ Word because we know that God is Love and His will always promotes the Good.  Consequently, we resist the temptation to value our own self-aggrandizement  over God’s providential will, to think that we can navigate through life without God, and to claim an autonomous freedom from him  and his Word.  When we find the courage to recognize our True Self—that I am who I am in relationship to God: that I am imago Dei, that I am a beloved child of God—we then humbly recognize that we’re called to take our weakness, brokenness, and limitations into account. 

            Such humility and trust is challenging, especially in the midst of such uncertainty and anguish brought about so much medical, political, economic, and social upheaval.  We wonder about our future and that of our children and grandchildren.  We’re worried whether we may catch the coronavirus and, if we do, will we be among the 525,000+ Americans who have perished from this brutal virus. 

            Such fear and anxiety explain why many people, searching for a way out, sometimes take dangerous shortcuts, such as self-medication through alcohol or drugs.  Others drop into a rabbit hole where they become immersed in all sorts of conspiracy theories that offer bizarre explanations for our current situation.  That’s why it’s important to recognize our limitations and our weaknesses; not to beat ourselves up, but to offer them to the Lord with the prayer: “Lord, without you, I cannot do one good thing.  Lord, I need you.”  As soon as we utter this prayer, the healing process begins.  As members of Jesus’ mystical Body, the Church, as soon as we surrender to our Lord, he takes us by the hand, walks with us, and never abandons us—never!  Jesus is Immanuel—he is with us and for this reason we “rejoice”!  This is not pie-in-the-sky, Pollyanna enthusiasm but comes from the firm faith that God is, indeed, with us. 

            Such conviction is the basis of our Hope in God the Father, who is so rich in mercy which we see so poignantly described in the parable of the Prodigal Son.  It’s our loving Father who gave us his only begotten Son for our salvation to the point where he died for us on the Cross.  As followers of Christ, we begin our day with the hope that God is always with us, always loving us, always showing us the Way home.  That’s why we can find small joy in our ordinary experience because there is a Presence sustaining our lives. 

            We must resist the temptation to become disheartened when life gets tough, when the wheels seem to be falling off.  We must not get down on ourselves when our limitations, weaknesses, and sins become problematic.  We don’t give into discouragement because God is near; he is as close to us as our next breath which we experience when we go into prayer.  If we wonder just how much God loves us, we simply have to gaze upon the crucified Christ, which tells me, “God loves me.” 

            Brothers and sisters, let us always remember that God is greater than our circumstances, limitations, weaknesses, and sins.  These cannot overcome us because we know that through Jesus’ Death and Resurrection he has won victory over sin, death, and the power of Satan.  God is greater than anything we have to contend whether it be our infidelities, weaknesses, sins, and even a global pandemic.  Jesus is right here and how: he is always present.  He is the Way home and he is reaching out his hand to guide us.  We just have to let him take us by the hand and follow his Way.  We gaze upon the Cross and move forward.  That’s the Lenten journey. Amen.