Fourth Sunday of Lent 2023
Laetare Sunday; Rejoice Sunday. We are about halfway through the season of Lent. So how do you know that there’s more work to do to become more like Christ before the Paschal celebration of Easter? Look at it with a sense of humor. You are on Greta Thunberg’s speed dial, but your last contribution to feed the poor was in December–1988. Or you have a whole box of red MAGA hats, but your Friday abstinence consist of Lobster Thermidor or Coquilles Saint-Jacques. Left, right or center, we are all sinners in need of repentance and grace. If we want to be saints, there’s always more to do.
I’m going to focus on today’s Scriptures to help stimulate your mental juices, so maybe you can be creative in your focus on holiness and helping others. The Lord fussed at the prophet Samuel, who had anointed the utter disappointment, Saul, as Israel’s original king, because he was just grieving over the choice, regretting his action. Moan and groan but don’t do anything to make the situation better. Then, when he goes off to Bethlehem to find a replacement for Saul, he gets all excited about how the first seven sons of Jesse look. Samuel, by himself, would probably have chosen any one of them. But it was the teenage redhead, David, who had a heart closest to the Lord’s, and the Lord prevented Samuel from anointing anybody else.
Perhaps you are in management. You know the kind of leader needed for your job. Are you mentoring younger employees into management, training a possible successor for yourself or some other important worker? Do you have a church ministry? Did you recruit other parishioners to help, and are any of them being prepared to step up into your work if you can’t do it in the future? There’s something we all need to be sensitive to. Pray, discern, and get to it.
Psalm 23 is everyone’s favorite prayer, I think, other than the Lord’s Prayer. Have you ever prayed it slowly, thoughtfully, and let the images sit for a while in your mind and heart? And don’t treat it as a psalm about yourself. You may find a chance to share your thoughts and feelings with a family member or friend. The Lord is my shepherd, sure. But God wants to be everybody’s shepherd, and spread a table of grace for all people.
Saint Paul in his letters pulls no punches, does he? The images of light and darkness figure large in his writings and also those of Saint John the Evangelist. Christ is our light; the forces of evil work in darkness. That’s why all these vampire movies and occult stories take place in the dark, and in dark and stormy nights. It’s easier to hide sinful deeds in the darkness–sexual sins, gossip, murder, theft. For now, consider your own behavior, and cast Christ’s light on all of it. There may be some evil, small or good, that troubles your conscience. That’s God’s light stimulating your mind. Repent, confess and ask God for a firm intention never to do that again. And share your experience so the light can shine on your family and friends. But do so kindly.
When the blind man–he had absolutely no vision from birth–felt the touch of Jesus smearing spit-based mud on his eyelids, I can imagine his emotions. Light streamed into his eyes; his brain was stimulated by millions of electrical impulses. It was like living in two dimensions and being lifted into a third. But since Jesus performed this miracle on the Sabbath, the elites of the town clucked their tongues and told him that his narrative was misleading–fake news. This Jesus fellow was a sinner, so He could not have done such a thing. The man, however, believed his own eyes. He refused to admit that the objective truth was in any way a lie. He followed the science, not the official narrative, and eventually came to believe in Jesus as Son of God. He suffered a kind of martyrdom as a result–thrown out of the synagogue.
Perhaps there’s a reality in our spiritual or religious lives that we know to be true, but that one or more of our family or friends just doesn’t accept. What do we do? Pretend it did not happen? Of course not. We should be willing to share that Good News, that Gospel, with others, and remain calm and loving without backing down. Defend the Truth; live in the Light of Christ. Rejoice!
