March 15^th 2015.  Fourth Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL: John 3:14-21

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: John 3:14-21

Jesus said to Nicodemus:

‘The Son of Man must be lifted up as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.
Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost
but may have eternal life.
For God sent his Son into the world not to condemn the world,
but so that through him the world might be saved.
No one who believes in him will be condemned;
but whoever refuses to believe is condemned already,
because he has refused to believe in the name of God’s only Son.
On these grounds is sentence pronounced:
that though the light has come into the world
men have shown they prefer darkness to the light
because their deeds were evil.
And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and avoids it,
for fear his actions should be exposed;
but the man who lives by the truth comes out into the light,
so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God.

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . The Gospel this Sunday has the beautiful statement from John’s Gospel: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost but have eternal life”. The Lord presents us with such a marvellous gift, and our incredible dignity lies in the fact that we can freely welcome God’s unconditional love for us. But our freedom can also lead to the abysmal poverty that comes with rejecting the love of God. Every day we make many decisions about our health, our careers, our relationships, but there is one decision in life that stands above all others: will I welcome the light that is coming into the world, the love of God for me as a person? If I decide to accept this love, then my life must change radically. It is not possible to accept this love in an authentic way and continue living the banal life that I lead. Once I accept God’s love for me, then I must renounce my self-absorption, my reliance on my own works, my striving for the approval of others. What an incredible dignity we have been given! The capacity to accept God’s gift of himself or to renounce it! We all fail and we are all in need of pardon. The important point is not the greatness of our sin but the greatness of God’s love for me.

God loved us so much that he gave his only Son, but we must accept that Son. And accepting God’s love means to allow our lives to be changed completely

Lent is a battle for our hearts and for our inner freedom. The Fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally associated with consolation and joy. Christian joy is something that has its feet firmly on the ground. Our happiness is something that is always threatened. It must be welcomed, received and defended constantly. The Gospel of John has the beautiful statement of God’s radical concern for us: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life”. The sacrifice of a son that was asked of Abraham is now given by God himself out of love for us. This Son represents the gift above all gifts, bestowed on us because we are so important to him. As a result we are presented with the incredible and beautiful task of welcoming this gift, accepting the Son who carries us with him into the love of the Father. This possibility of salvation does not come without risk. We can believe or refuse to believe. And if we believe, then we cannot continue with the same banal lives as previously! The life that has opened itself to faith cannot be the same as a life that is closed to the faith.

Our enormous dignity consists in the fact that we are free to accept God’s love. But we also have the capacity to refuse it and to sink into abysmal poverty

The first reading gives a summary of a dramatic episode in the history of Israel. The Second Book of Chronicles was the final book in the Hebrew Bible, summarizing the narrative contained in the Scriptures themselves. The passage that we read on Sunday tells of the end of the Exile. There are two elements here: there is the joy of liberation, but this is preceded by great suffering. Israel had descended to the depths of its sinfulness. Its leaders had committed infidelity upon infidelity until the nation had fallen into the hands of foreign invaders. The point is that it is very easy to refuse the gift of God. Christian happiness is not guaranteed simply by virtue of the fact that we are baptized. The greatness of the human being is his freedom to choose; and it can also lead him into abysmal poverty. We can say yes or no to God. Our will is frail and our weakness is great, but we have the incredible possibility of accepting freely the love of God.

The principal decision that we have in life is whether or not to accept the love of God

There is one decision in life that stands above all other decisions. On a daily basis we are confronted with choices regarding our health, our careers, our approaches to different issues. But the real decision of life is whether or not to accept the light that is coming into the world. What counts in life is not acceptance by others, or the approval of the world, or whether or not I succeed in my enterprises. The only thing that matters is whether or not I accept the love of God, allow myself to be loved by Him. When the light comes into the world, will I place myself before Him? Poor as I am, I have the awesome capacity to accept the light. The one who does evil hates the light. All of us do things that are wrong and all of us are weak. The question is how attached we are to our own works, how trapped we are within our own self-absorption. The first reading tells of a people who live only for themselves, following their own ways, incapable of placing themselves in the light of God. As Pope Francis says, God never tires of forgiving us, but we tire of asking for forgiveness. On this Sunday of Joy let us ask for forgiveness! And what is forgiveness? What is joy? It is the fact of being welcomed by God even though we are poor. This is true happiness! But it involves renouncing our own false images of success. Coming into the light involves denying our own works and escaping from the illusion of self-sufficiency.

Just as the people in exile were liberated by a gracious act of God, so too the Lord is ready to free us for no other reason than his enormous love for us

The first reading tells us that the people were ready for liberation after seventy years of exile and suffering. At this point it had become very clear that the salvation being offered to them was pure grace, not something that they had won by merit. The joy of liberation, consequently, was not self-celebration but praise of God. Lent is in progress. Let us hurry to welcome the light, poor as we are. The thing to keep in mind is not the greatness of our sin but the greatness of the love of God for us.