Good News!
March 10, 2024 at 9:14 a.m.
A Gospel Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent. We are only two weeks from Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. We are about halfway through our Forty Day Journey with Jesus and, hopefully, we have begun to encounter God in a new way and to reorient ourselves to Him. At this midpoint in our Lenten Journey, maybe when things that were new and exciting at the start of Lent have become more and more difficult, or the weather becomes more and more dreary before the onset of Spring, the Church gives us hope.
The Gospel reading for Sunday includes perhaps the most famous verse in all the Bible, which condenses the entire Scriptures down into one verse: “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.” This is it! This is the Good News that the original disciples were so excited to tell everyone after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is the Good News that traveled by letter and word of mouth to the farthest reaches of the globe and transformed the world. This is the Good News that countless Saints and martyrs happily gave of their very lives to defend. And this is the Good News that comes down to us now, in the middle of our Lenten fast, to give us hope, to inspire, and to remind us of the reason for all of this. God gave His only Son so that we could have life, not just here and now, in this passing world, but forever – eternal life in Heaven with the God who loves us even to the point of death.
In a few short weeks we will celebrate the Triduum, the Summit of our Catholic Liturgical Year. We proudly proclaim Christ crucified which, as St. Paul reminded us in the second reading last Sunday, is “a stumbling block” and “foolishness.” “But to those who are called…the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” For God so loved the World that He sent His only Son, whom He loved, to be offered up as a sacrifice on a mountain. When God tested Abraham, and called him to offer up Isaac – his only son, whom he loved, God was asking Abraham: “Do you love me as much as I love you? Are you willing to go as far as I am willing to go out of love for you?” Abraham, out of his great faith and love for God, said yes. And God, out of His great love for us, offered His Son as a sacrifice for our redemption.
So let us take great hope in that fact, and not be afraid or discouraged by our small Lenten sufferings, which allow us to partake in some small way in Christ’s saving sacrifice. Let us pick up our crosses today and with renewed fervor in this desert of self-denial and walk with Jesus step by step as he leads us on our mission of discipleship – to tell the Good News to all the world.
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A Gospel Reflection for the Fourth Sunday of Lent
Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent. We are only two weeks from Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. We are about halfway through our Forty Day Journey with Jesus and, hopefully, we have begun to encounter God in a new way and to reorient ourselves to Him. At this midpoint in our Lenten Journey, maybe when things that were new and exciting at the start of Lent have become more and more difficult, or the weather becomes more and more dreary before the onset of Spring, the Church gives us hope.
The Gospel reading for Sunday includes perhaps the most famous verse in all the Bible, which condenses the entire Scriptures down into one verse: “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.” This is it! This is the Good News that the original disciples were so excited to tell everyone after they received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This is the Good News that traveled by letter and word of mouth to the farthest reaches of the globe and transformed the world. This is the Good News that countless Saints and martyrs happily gave of their very lives to defend. And this is the Good News that comes down to us now, in the middle of our Lenten fast, to give us hope, to inspire, and to remind us of the reason for all of this. God gave His only Son so that we could have life, not just here and now, in this passing world, but forever – eternal life in Heaven with the God who loves us even to the point of death.
In a few short weeks we will celebrate the Triduum, the Summit of our Catholic Liturgical Year. We proudly proclaim Christ crucified which, as St. Paul reminded us in the second reading last Sunday, is “a stumbling block” and “foolishness.” “But to those who are called…the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” For God so loved the World that He sent His only Son, whom He loved, to be offered up as a sacrifice on a mountain. When God tested Abraham, and called him to offer up Isaac – his only son, whom he loved, God was asking Abraham: “Do you love me as much as I love you? Are you willing to go as far as I am willing to go out of love for you?” Abraham, out of his great faith and love for God, said yes. And God, out of His great love for us, offered His Son as a sacrifice for our redemption.
So let us take great hope in that fact, and not be afraid or discouraged by our small Lenten sufferings, which allow us to partake in some small way in Christ’s saving sacrifice. Let us pick up our crosses today and with renewed fervor in this desert of self-denial and walk with Jesus step by step as he leads us on our mission of discipleship – to tell the Good News to all the world.