Wednesday, April 9, 2025

 Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

 (Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

"There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three," wrote Abigail Adams rejecting the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.  She was not a theologian but the upright, intelligent wife of the second president of the United States.  The same difficulty vexes anyone who relies on common sense.   It is why the Jews reject Jesus in the Gospel of John.

The Jews know where Jesus is leading them when he says in today’s gospel, “I tell what I have seen in the Father’s presence…”  Earlier in the gospel it was stated that they tried to kill Jesus because he “called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”  Being monotheists, as today’s first reading amply testifies, they will not tolerate any suggestion of two Gods.  Neither should Christians.

It is hardly imaginable, much less intuitive, how the Son and the Father are one God.  Virtually skipping logic, we call it “mystery” but hold to the concept firmly as the guarantor of our redemption.  Indeed, we posit a third figure of the one God, the Holy Spirit who completes the work of our salvation.  It is because Jesus is God that his death and resurrection have universal application.  It is because he is God with the Father that our deaths as well will blossom into resurrection.

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

 Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

Most people think of freedom as the absence of physical restrictions.  As long as one can go where she wants and say what she wants, she is free.  But this is a limited freedom.  A really free person is not bound by inner forces like an addiction or a vice.  If someone cannot stop gambling even after putting the deed to his house as collateral, who can think of this person as free?  In today’s gospel Jesus refers to this fuller kind of freedom as not being “a slave to sin.”

The reading curiously refers to “Jews who believed in him (Jesus).”  Their faith in Jesus as Lord evidently wavers like people today who were baptized but don’t practice the faith.  When Jesus challenges them to follow him completely, they demur.  They want to keep the prerogative of doing what they like when those deeds do not comply with Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus rightly implies that they are acting more like children of darkness than children of light.

It's tempting to hold out for one’s independence.  Something inside us wants to do what we want to do when we want to do it.  Such an outlook will only lead us to folly.  More sadly, it will deny us of the joy of being with Jesus.

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In 1969 Dr. Jerome Lejeune received a prestigious award for uncovering the genetic condition that results in Downes Syndrome.  His friends advised Dr. Lejeune to say nothing about abortion at the reception ceremony if he wanted to receive the Nobel Prize for medicine.  But he couldn’t be silent about the awful truth that some would use knowledge from his discovery to secure abortion.   At that ceremony Dr. Lejeune said that medicine should never serve the taking of human life but always the support of it.  Dr. Lejeune never received the Nobel Prize, but he likely died a free man.  In today’s gospel Jesus provides the principle on which Dr. Lejeune acted.

Jesus is in a running interrogation with the Jews.  He states that truth will set a person free.  He is referring to the truth of God’s love which sent him into the world to make up for sin’s deadly effects.  The Jews respond that they are not children of sin but of Abraham and of God.  Jesus retorts that true children of God would be heeding his word, not trying to kill him.

We may find similar attacks on Jesus today.  Desecrating his image is becoming acceptable.  It is the work of dishonorable people trying to deny Jesus’ sacrifice and his teaching.  We need to raise our voices in protest.  Such distortion of the truth of Jesus is outrageous.  When we say this, we will experience the freedom that Jesus brought into the world.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

 Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

Pope Francis was warned that he was taking a risk in going to Iraq.  Believing that the Christians there needed support, he went anyway.  While in the city of Mosul, which was ravaged by ISIS five years ago, the pope spotted three children and an elderly man.  Although they were Muslim, the pope had his car stopped, went over to the children, and blessed them.  A Muslim historian commented that he could see the city as the most beautiful in the world “because I saw it through the eyes of the pope.”  Pope Francis’ love for the suffering encapsulates what Jesus means in today’s gospel.

Jesus is speaking with those Jews “who believed in him.”  They are likely people who are fascinated by his healings but unwilling to change their ways.  Jesus challenges them to be true disciples by “remain(ing) in his word.”  He means that they must acknowledge the Father’s love for them by caring for one another.  The people, however, retort that they are already children of God because they are of the family of Abraham.  Jesus then tells them that being born into a family does not qualify anyone as a child of God.  One must live as he has taught them.

It is not easy.  One Iraqi woman told the pope on his visit that she is trying to forgive the terrorists who murdered her son.  Forgiving one’s mortal enemies culminates the lessons that Jesus gives.  Most of us are still trying to recognize that others have virtues that often surpass our own.

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

The ironic lament, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” helps to understand today’s gospel.  Jesus is shown defending himself against Jews “who believed in him.”  Although it is not certain, the evangelist is probably reading back into the life of Jesus a debate that took place in the early Church.  By “those who believed in him,” John has in mind Jewish Christians with an inadequate understanding of their faith.  They do not recognize that Jesus frees people from the burden of the Law.

St. Paul provides a complete explanation of this idea in his Letter to the Romans.  He writes that only by faith in Christ as God’s only true messenger can one live righteously.  Trying to observe the parts of the Law which describe a righteous life by oneself is impossible.  It would be like digging a canal with a teaspoon.  Faith in Jesus implies loving God and neighbors with more than words.

Many today have a tenuous hold on faith. Like those who are said to believe in Jesus in the gospel, they do not understand what faith implies.  This kind of Christian largely follows secular norms with little attention to worship and doctrine.  We need to remind them of what faith in Jesus entails.  Inviting them to Mass or our small, faith-based communities may provide them some insight into authentic Christianity.  Faith calls us not to abandon such people but to endeavor to show them the light of Christ.

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet the young prince is looking for evidence to convict his uncle of murdering his father.  He gets an idea when a troupe of actors comes to town.  He will devise a play that shows how the murder took place.  When his uncle watches the action, his visible reaction should betray his guilt.  Something similar is taking place in today’s gospel passage.

John’s Gospel not only tells the story of Jesus but contains hidden in the action the fate of the Christian community he left behind.  The controversy in today’s passage shows how part of that community -- “those Jews who believed in him” – lack a firm faith.  They accept Jesus as a prophet but do not see him as the only source of freedom which is equivalent to salvation.  They think that they are free by virtue of being children of Abraham.  Their opposition to Christians who find Jesus as the only way to salvation is dramatically portrayed when Jesus says that “are trying to kill” him.  The Judaizers who incurred St. Paul’s wrath by insisting that the Galatians be circumcised are equivalent to these half-hearted Christians.

We live in a time when many see other ways to salvation besides Jesus.  Some believe that freedom comes from not being bonded to other people.  Others think that freedom is the right to do whatever one wants short of physically hurting others.  We believe that Jesus’ way of selfless love for others brings the freedom of the children of God.  Next week we will celebrate the bestowal of that freedom in the paschal mysteries.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

In a movie about the revolution in Nicaragua, a peasant boy tells an American helicopter pilot that he wants to fly.  The airman takes the boy for a ride in his helicopter, but the flight does not satisfy the boy’s desire.  He explains that he wants to fly like a bird, not to be transported in a flying machine.

The story illustrates the lesson that Jesus gives in the gospel today.  The Jews think they are free because they are not slaves of anyone.  But this is very limited freedom.  Jesus would provide them full freedom where they could act as righteously as they deeply desire.  It is the freedom of Yo-yo Ma on the cello or Venus Williams on the tennis court.

As Jesus says, freedom comes from accepting him as God’s Son.  He brings the rule of life that disengages us from attachments to fortune, fame, and force and sets our sights on eternal life.  He accomplishes this by sending us the Holy Spirit.  The grace of the Holy Spirit is what the coming Easter season is all about.

Wednesday, April 9, 2-14

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

As if they were victims of a viral pandemic, the minds of many young men are being permanently infected by pornography. The vice creates desires impossible to fulfill so that finding happiness in marriage will likely also prove elusive. Ironically, in the name of sexual freedom consumers of pornography are being enslaved by the gross images. The same irony underlies today's gospel passage.

Jesus confronts the Jews with the truth that he is from God. This fact should be evident from the great signs that he has performed. But his opponents refuse to be swayed. Instead, they dismiss him as an upstart for which Jesus accuses them of being enslaved to sin. He alone can free them from sin because he brings the truth to the world. That is, he teaches them by deed as well as word the priority of sacrificial love for others.

The dialogue of this gospel may sound stilted to us. Jesus appears almost self-righteous, and the Jews in clinging to the traditions of their fathers do not seem as malicious as they are made out to be. We should remember that the Gospel of John was written in midst of a fierce persecution of Christians by Jews who were reforming themselves after the devastating defeat of the rebellion against Roman rule.   Jesus becomes the Christian spokesperson vindicating belief in his divine Sonship.  His teaching on communal love is verified by the lives of the saints through the centuries as well as his own crucifixion. To really be free we must love as he loved.

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20.91-92.95; John 8:31-42)

"There is not any reasoning which can convince me, contrary to my senses, that three is one, and one three," wrote Abigail Adams rejecting the Christian doctrine of the Trinity.  She was not a theologian but the upright, intelligent wife of the second president of the United States.  The same difficulty vexes anyone who relies on common sense.   It is why the Jews reject Jesus in the Gospel of John.

The Jews know where Jesus is leading them when he says in today’s gospel, “I tell what I have seen in the Father’s presence…”  Earlier in the gospel it was stated that they tried to kill Jesus because he “called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”  Being monotheists, as today’s first reading amply testifies, they will not tolerate any suggestion of two Gods.  Neither should Christians.

It is hardly imaginable, much less intuitive, how the Son and the Father are one God.  Virtually skipping logic, we call it “mystery” but hold to the concept firmly as the guarantor of our redemption.  Indeed, we posit a third figure of the one God, the Holy Spirit who completes the work of our salvation.  It is because Jesus is God that his death and resurrection have universal application.  It is because he is God with the Father that our deaths as well will blossom into resurrection. 

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Lent

(Daniel 3:14-20, 91-92, 95; John 8:31-42)

In a movie about the revolution in Nicaragua, a peasant boy tells an American helicopter pilot that he wants to fly. The airman takes the boy for a ride in his helicopter, but the flight does not satisfy the boy’s desire. He explains that he wants to fly like a bird flies, not to be just transported in a flying machine.

The story illustrates the lesson that Jesus gives in the gospel today. The Jews think they are free because they are not slaves of anyone. But this is very limited freedom. Jesus would provide them full freedom where they could not only walk wherever they wish but act as righteously as they deeply desire. It is the freedom of Yoyo Ma on the cello or Venus Williams on the tennis court.

As Jesus says, freedom comes from accepting him as God’s Son. He brings the rule of life that disengages us from attachments to fortune, fame, and force and sets our sights on eternal life. He accomplishes this by sending us the Holy Spirit. The grace of the Holy Spirit is what the coming Easter season is all about.

Homilette for March 12, 2008

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent

(John 8:31-42)

Perhaps you have heard the term “cultural Catholics.” It refers to those who identify themselves as Catholics but only minimally practice the faith. They see their occasional Mass attendance more as a family tradition than an expression of religious commitment. Also, they dissent from many of the Church’s teachings like the crime of abortion and the infallibility of the Pope. Today’s gospel pictures Jesus addressing himself to these Catholics as the “Jews who believed in him.”

Cultural Catholics in the United States and Europe adhere to a strictly political notion of freedom. A product of the Enlightenment, political freedom means the absence of external constraint on an individual’s actions. Since this kind of constraint typically comes from government, an example would be the right to practice one’s religion without official censure. The Jews in the gospel express their adherence to this notion of freedom when they say that they have “never been enslaved to anyone.” However, like cultural Catholics today, they overlook a critical dimension of freedom when they refute Jesus for speaking of enslavement to sin.

Sin -- an internal restraint -- often undermines freedom more than religious or political oppression. Many find themselves entrapped in pride, lust, anger, or another of the so-called capital sins. They cannot put their lives in order often because they do not even recognize that sin has a grip on them. Jesus, of course, offers to save all from sin by sending his Holy Spirit. The Spirit enlightens us to recognize sin’s entrapments and empowers us to resist them. But we have to call on Jesus with true faith to receive the Spirit.