5th Sunday of Lent - A (March 29, 2020)

“Untie him and let him go”

John 11: 1-45

Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

Lazarus was ill.

His sisters sent word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.”

When Jesus saw Mary and the people weeping, “he became perturbed and deeply troubled.”

“And Jesus wept.”

So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”

With the current health crisis that our world is facing, let us spend some time meditating on these words.  Let us live the love that Jesus has for us, which is revealed in a unique way when we suffer.

“If you believe, you will see the glory of God.”

We know the rest of the story. 

But not just the story of Lazarus.

More importantly, we know the story of Jesus, who is the Resurrection and life.  

4th Sunday of Lent - A (March 22, 2020)

Jesus Sought Us Out

John 9: 1-41

“As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.”

The man did not ask Jesus to heal him.  Nor did anybody else do so on the man’s behalf.

Jesus reached out to the man in need and healed him. 

At the end of the Gospel passage, “when Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him.”  The verb here could mean that Jesus came across the man (by chance).  It could also be translated as Jesus sought him out. 

That Jesus took the initiative to heal the man, and what Jesus would say next indicate that Jesus sought him out.  “I came so that those who do not see might see.”

In these days of anxiety and much suffering, may we be more aware and believe that Jesus knows our sufferings and our needs.  May we believe that he always reaches out and heals us.   

Image:  El Greco, Healing of the Man Born Blind, wikipedia.org

3rd Sunday of Lent - A (March 15, 2020)

Savior of the World

John 4: 5-42

Today, Jesus tells us that he is and he gives us water of life.  His words of truth free us and bring us into the family of God, as they did for the woman and the people of that Samaritan town.

The next two Sundays, He will reveal that He is “the light of the world,” “the resurrection and the life.”

He “is truly the savior of the world.”

The Samaritans in today’s Gospel believes in him.

May we have the same faith.     

Image:  Sébastien Bourdon - Christ and the Samaritan Woman, commons.wikimedia.org

2nd Sunday of Lent - A (March 8, 2020)

The Vision

Matthew 17: 1-9

Lent in some ways offers us a chance to visit the spiritual eye doctor to check or refocus our vision.

The vision is Jesus Christ, the “beloved Son, with whom God is well pleased.”  He is the model for us to live as God’s sons and daughters. 

We see this vision when we pray and we reflect on his life.  This life was given to others to the point of the cross.

We also learn about this vision when we listen to him, as God instructs us. 

Living this vision is living a holy life (2nd reading) that brings blessing to “all the communities of the earth” (1st reading).

Image source:  www.agnusday.org