Fourth Week of Lent: Mar. 26 - Apr. 1, 2006
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Authors
Alexander, Andy, S.J.
Issue Date
2006-03-26
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en_US
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Abstract
You give us strength to purify our hearts, and control our desires, and so to serve you in freedom. You teach us how to live in this passing world, with our heart set on the world that will never end. - Preface for Lent II
The Fourth Week of Lent|For the Fourth Sunday of Lent we read Jesus' words to Nicodemus in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus will be lifted up on the cross to heal us from the power of sin and death. This gospel, which is written like a trial, tells us the verdict. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."|The first readings this week can be read as powerful messages to us from our God about our Lenten journey. They also seem to be chosen with an eye to the persecution Jesus will experience.|Our gospels this week are all from the Fourth Gospel. The opposition against Jesus builds. Back in Cana, in Galilee, Jesus heals the son of a royal official. Back down in Jerusalem, he heals a man who was sick for 38 years, incurring the wrath of his enemies because he did it on the sabbath. Because of this, and that he called God his Father, they now plot a way to kill him. Jesus say his opponents do not want to come to him for life. Unafraid of them, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a feast and openly tells people that he has come from God. They did not arrest him then, "for his hour had not yet come." Thinking they know where Jesus is from (in both senses: where he lived now and his origin in heaven), his enemies insist that prophets don't come from where Jesus is from.|For the Fifth Sunday of Lent we hear God say, through the prophet Jeremiah, "I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; ... I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more." In the Fourth Gospel Jesus says that the "hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." However, he describes this glory in a surprising way, which explains who he is for us and who we are called to be: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be." And preparing us for the way he would die, and what it would mean, Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."
Daily Prayer This Week|The readings this week make it very clear that Jesus faced opposition that couldn't accept who he is. We see that Jesus comes to lay down his life that we might live. So, this week of Lent is an important time for us to ask ourselves if there are any parts of our hearts, any of our patters, that oppose Jesus and his desire to give us life. This kind of honesty can transform our lives. It can allow the grace of God to bring reconciliation and healing we might not have imagined.|Even if it hasn't been easy to get really engaged with Lent so far, we can still make a beginning, even now. The key is openness and desire. If we can feel any attraction, any sign that the Lord is possibly drawing us, then the Lord can work with us - no matter what resistance or fear we might also be experiencing. All we have to do is act out of these desires and simply ask the Lord for the grace to help us be more honest and more open to what he is offering us. For example, we can ask for the grace to examine our consciences more thoroughly. We could try a different approach to facing any resistance we might have to the Lord's working in us. We might not commit the big sins, but we may not have examined what we fail to do. Who am I failing to love, to forgive, to be generous to? With whom am I withholding affection, care, reconciliation? Where can I live more honestly, with more integrity? How might I proactively change patterns of escape with patterns of care for others?|It is a time of grace when we can experience moments of "recognition," or self-understanding. It isn't grace to "beat up on" ourselves. It is grace to feel grateful to the Lord for showing us obstacles to the life he is offering us. It is grace to feel our spirits lighten as we feel drawn to greater freedom and peace. It is incredible grace when we are drawn to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This week, let us give thanks to the Lord who deeply desires our greater freedom and joy. As we go to bed each night. let us thank the Lord for what we saw that day and renew our desires for the next day of grace.
The Fourth Week of Lent|For the Fourth Sunday of Lent we read Jesus' words to Nicodemus in the Fourth Gospel. Jesus will be lifted up on the cross to heal us from the power of sin and death. This gospel, which is written like a trial, tells us the verdict. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life."|The first readings this week can be read as powerful messages to us from our God about our Lenten journey. They also seem to be chosen with an eye to the persecution Jesus will experience.|Our gospels this week are all from the Fourth Gospel. The opposition against Jesus builds. Back in Cana, in Galilee, Jesus heals the son of a royal official. Back down in Jerusalem, he heals a man who was sick for 38 years, incurring the wrath of his enemies because he did it on the sabbath. Because of this, and that he called God his Father, they now plot a way to kill him. Jesus say his opponents do not want to come to him for life. Unafraid of them, Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a feast and openly tells people that he has come from God. They did not arrest him then, "for his hour had not yet come." Thinking they know where Jesus is from (in both senses: where he lived now and his origin in heaven), his enemies insist that prophets don't come from where Jesus is from.|For the Fifth Sunday of Lent we hear God say, through the prophet Jeremiah, "I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; ... I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more." In the Fourth Gospel Jesus says that the "hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." However, he describes this glory in a surprising way, which explains who he is for us and who we are called to be: "Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit." "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be." And preparing us for the way he would die, and what it would mean, Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."
Daily Prayer This Week|The readings this week make it very clear that Jesus faced opposition that couldn't accept who he is. We see that Jesus comes to lay down his life that we might live. So, this week of Lent is an important time for us to ask ourselves if there are any parts of our hearts, any of our patters, that oppose Jesus and his desire to give us life. This kind of honesty can transform our lives. It can allow the grace of God to bring reconciliation and healing we might not have imagined.|Even if it hasn't been easy to get really engaged with Lent so far, we can still make a beginning, even now. The key is openness and desire. If we can feel any attraction, any sign that the Lord is possibly drawing us, then the Lord can work with us - no matter what resistance or fear we might also be experiencing. All we have to do is act out of these desires and simply ask the Lord for the grace to help us be more honest and more open to what he is offering us. For example, we can ask for the grace to examine our consciences more thoroughly. We could try a different approach to facing any resistance we might have to the Lord's working in us. We might not commit the big sins, but we may not have examined what we fail to do. Who am I failing to love, to forgive, to be generous to? With whom am I withholding affection, care, reconciliation? Where can I live more honestly, with more integrity? How might I proactively change patterns of escape with patterns of care for others?|It is a time of grace when we can experience moments of "recognition," or self-understanding. It isn't grace to "beat up on" ourselves. It is grace to feel grateful to the Lord for showing us obstacles to the life he is offering us. It is grace to feel our spirits lighten as we feel drawn to greater freedom and peace. It is incredible grace when we are drawn to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This week, let us give thanks to the Lord who deeply desires our greater freedom and joy. As we go to bed each night. let us thank the Lord for what we saw that day and renew our desires for the next day of grace.
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University Ministry, Creighton University.
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