Thursday, March 10, 2016

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Exodus 32:7-14; John 5:31-47)

Someone once asked a prominent lawyer what is the crucial factor in a winning case.  The questioner proposed different alternatives like a fair judge, a sympathetic jury, or a cooperative client.  The lawyer responded that none of these were as helpful as one credible witness.  In the gospel today Jesus presents several credible witnesses to the Jews that he is the Son of God.

Specifically, Jesus points to John the Baptist, his miracles, the Father, and the Scriptures as witnesses to his claim. John said earlier in the gospel (1:34) that Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus has also performed mighty works like turning water into wine.  The Father testifies within the hearts of Jesus’ own disciples who follow him unreservedly.  Finally, the Scriptures give testimony to Jesus by such statements as “Zeal for your house will consume me” (2:17) when he throws the merchants out of the Temple. 

We are not to blame the Jews in the gospel for denying that Jesus is God’s Son.  If they could have looked objectively, they would have seen him as divine.  But the Jews were committed to the view that the Messiah would achieve military wonders.  We do not share that expectation.  Rather we accept Jesus as an elder brother who sacrifices his life for our welfare.  His example shows us how to practice virtue.  More importantly, his death wakes us from the sinful inclination to live for ourselves.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Isaiah 49:8-15; John 5:17-30)

The Jews in Babylon must have heard the promises that Isaiah makes in the first reading on behalf of God in the first reading as incredible.  They probably asked themselves how could they escape from the mighty arms of their captors.  They likely wondered as well how they could transverse the torrid desert that lay between them and their homeland. 

Many hear Jesus’ claims in the gospel with similar questions in mind.  “How,” they ask, “can people rise from the dead?”  In an atmosphere where truth is determined by repeated experiment, rising from the dead is indeed beyond realistic possibility.

Yet we believe that God is greater than our imaginations can accept as possible.  There is the credible testimony of the apostles that Jesus died, was buried, and was raised from the dead.  There is also abundant evidence of people being radically transformed to perform acts of heroic virtue through trust in him.  We fix our sights on him, emulate his virtue, and hope beyond hope that we will share his destiny.

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Tuesday of the fourth Week of Lent

(Ezekiel 47:1-9.12; John 5:1-16)

Laetare Sunday marked more than the midpoint of Lent.  It changed the theme of the season from penance to renewal.  No more will the mass readings emphasize our fasting, praying, and service to the poor.  From now until Holy Week we will hear of being recreated for eternal life.  Today’s readings provide good examples.

Ezekiel shows how water, a universal symbol of life, flows from God’s Temple.  It becomes a torrent providing a storehouse of food and a treasury of medicines.  The gospel replaces the Temple with Jesus.  He is the source of healing grace that restores strength to the lame of body and spirit. 

Both repentance and renewal are God’s initiatives.  And both require human assent.  We often close ourselves to God’s grace by adopting the false ideals that our egos and our culture propose.  We need to forsake images of being too cool to care or too hot to handle.  In doing so, we will find God enabling us to flourish forever. 

Monday, March 7, 2016

Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent

(Isaiah 65:17-21; John 4:43-54)

The “Age of Aquarius” portends the dawn of an age of peace based on astrological signs.  Some believed it arrived in the 1960s and 1970s with the hippie culture.  But that peace has proved delusional perhaps because hippies did not ground their hope in righteous living.  The readings today proclaim a more credible age of fulfillment with Jesus.

In the first reading the prophet Isaiah announces that God is about to create something wonderful.  There will be no more fleeing one’s land because of war or famine.  Rather people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of the gardens they plant.  They will survive well beyond a hundred years because of their righteousness.

We find the completion of this prophecy in Jesus.  As the gospel indicates, he restores health to those who believe in him.  Of course, we need to ask, “Why do not people live forever?”  But don’t we share that hope in Jesus?  Just as he rose from the dead to live in glory, we -- his followers – expect to enjoy eternal life without discomfort or distress.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Friday of the Third Week of Lent

(Hosea 14:2-10; Mark 12:28-34)

Jesus’ first commandment sounds daunting.  We might ask whether we could love anyone else if we direct all our affection toward God.  Even more discouraging, it may further seem that only the strictest of contemplatives can fulfill this mandate.  The rest of us – priests in ministry as well as laity – will have to be judged as falling short.

But these kinds of conclusions are based on the premise that love is a material quantity with finite proportions.  To the contrary, love is a spiritual entity that is multiplied by use.  When we attempt to love God, we develop greater not lesser affection for God’s creation.  It is true that sometimes desire for created goods conflicts with God’s will and must be rejected.  But pursing the desire would actually be loving the created good more than the Creator. 

In today’s reading from Hosea we hear God calling us back to him.  Like dogs on an adventure we sometimes go searching for fulfillment away from our true home.  In God, however, our desires are ordered so that we might enjoy everything that is truly good.