Fourth Sunday of Lent
Lectionary: 32
Lectionary: 32
In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people
added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations
and polluting the LORD’s temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers,
send his messengers to them,
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God,
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon,
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah:
“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled.”
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!”
added infidelity to infidelity,
practicing all the abominations of the nations
and polluting the LORD’s temple
which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers,
send his messengers to them,
for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
But they mocked the messengers of God,
despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets,
until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed
that there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt the house of God,
tore down the walls of Jerusalem,
set all its palaces afire,
and destroyed all its precious objects.
Those who escaped the sword were carried captive to Babylon,
where they became servants of the king of the Chaldeans and his sons
until the kingdom of the Persians came to power.
All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah:
“Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths,
during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest
while seventy years are fulfilled.”
In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah,
the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia
to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom,
both by word of mouth and in writing:
“Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia:
All the kingdoms of the earth
the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me,
and he has also charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!”
Responsorial
Psalm PS 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6.
R. (6ab) Let my
tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
By the streams of Babylon
we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the aspens of that land
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
For there our captors asked of us
the lyrics of our songs,
And our despoilers urged us to be joyous:
“Sing for us the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
How could we sing a song of the LORD
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
may my right hand be forgotten!
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
May my tongue cleave to my palate
if I remember you not,
If I place not Jerusalem
ahead of my joy.
R. Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you!
Reading 2 EPH 2:4-10
Brothers
and sisters:
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
God, who is rich in mercy,
because of the great love he had for us,
even when we were dead in our transgressions,
brought us to life with Christ — by grace you have been saved —,
raised us up with him,
and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works
that God has prepared in advance,
that we should live in them.
Verse Before
The Gospel JN 3:16
God so
loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
so everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
GospelJN 3:14-21
Jesus
said to Nicodemus:
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
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.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,
so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
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.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
Meditation: “God so loved the world
that he gave us his only Son”
Do you know the healing power of Christ's redeeming
love and victory which he won for us on the cross? The Old Testament prophets
never ceased to speak of God's faithfulness and compassion towards those who
would turn away from sin and return to God with repentant hearts, trust, and
obedience (2 Chronicles 36:15). When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus he prophesied
that his death on the cross would bring healing and forgiveness and a "new
birth in the Spirit" (John 3:3) and eternal life (John 3:15).
The "lifting up" of the Son of Man
Jesus explained to Nicodemus that the "Son of Man" must be "lifted up" to bring the power and authority of God's kingdom to bear on the earth. The title, "Son of Man," came from the prophet Daniel who describes a vision he received of the Anointed Messiah King who was sent from heaven to rule over the earth (Daniel 7:13-14). Traditionally when kings began to reign they were literally "lifted up" and enthroned above the people. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that he will be recognized as the Anointed King when he is "lifted up" on the cross at Calvary. Jesus died for his claim to be the only begotten Son sent by the Father in heaven to redeem, heal, and reconcile his people with God.
Jesus explained to Nicodemus that the "Son of Man" must be "lifted up" to bring the power and authority of God's kingdom to bear on the earth. The title, "Son of Man," came from the prophet Daniel who describes a vision he received of the Anointed Messiah King who was sent from heaven to rule over the earth (Daniel 7:13-14). Traditionally when kings began to reign they were literally "lifted up" and enthroned above the people. Jesus explains to Nicodemus that he will be recognized as the Anointed King when he is "lifted up" on the cross at Calvary. Jesus died for his claim to be the only begotten Son sent by the Father in heaven to redeem, heal, and reconcile his people with God.
Jesus points to a key prophetic sign which Moses
performed in the wilderness right after the people of Israel were afflicted
with poisonous serpents. Scripture tells us that many people died in the
wilderness because of their sin of rebellion towards Moses and God. Through
Moses' intervention, God showed mercy to the people and instructed Moses
to "make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who
is bitten, when he sees it, shall live"(Numbers 21:8). This miraculous
sign was meant to foreshadow and point to the saving work which Jesus would
perform to bring healing and salvation to the world.
Cyril of Alexandria (376-444 AD), an early church
father, explains the spiritual meaning of the bronze serpent and how it points
to the saving work of Jesus Christ:
"This story is a type of the whole
mystery of the incarnation. For the serpent signifies bitter and deadly sin,
which was devouring the whole race on the earth... biting the Soul of man and
infusing it with the venom of wickedness. And there is no way that we could
have escaped being conquered by it, except by the relief that comes only from
heaven. The Word of God then was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, 'that he
might condemn sin in the flesh' [Romans 8:3], as it is written. In this way, he
becomes the Giver of unending salvation to those who comprehend the divine
doctrines and gaze on him with steadfast faith. But the serpent, being fixed
upon a lofty base, signifies that Christ was clearly manifested by his passion
on the cross, so that none could fail to see him." (COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 2.1)
The cross defeats sin and death
The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness points to the cross of Christ which defeats sin and death and obtains everlasting life for those who believe in Jesus Christ. The result of Jesus "being lifted up on the cross" and his rising from the dead, and his exaltation and ascension to the Father's right hand in heaven, is our "new birth in the Spirit" and adoption as sons and daughters of God. God not only frees us from our sins and pardons us, he also fills us with his own divine life through the gift and working of his Spirit who dwells within us.
The bronze serpent which Moses lifted up in the wilderness points to the cross of Christ which defeats sin and death and obtains everlasting life for those who believe in Jesus Christ. The result of Jesus "being lifted up on the cross" and his rising from the dead, and his exaltation and ascension to the Father's right hand in heaven, is our "new birth in the Spirit" and adoption as sons and daughters of God. God not only frees us from our sins and pardons us, he also fills us with his own divine life through the gift and working of his Spirit who dwells within us.
The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual power and gifts,
especially the seven-fold gifts of wisdom and understanding, right judgment and
courage, knowledge and reverence for God and his ways, and a holy fear in God's
presence (see Isaiah 11), to enable us to live in his strength as sons and
daughters of God. Do you thirst for the new life which God
offers you through the transforming power of his Holy Spirit?
The proof of God's love for us
How do we know, beyond a doubt, that God truly loves us and wants us to be united with him forever? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God proved his love for us by giving us the best he had to offer - his only begotten Son who freely gave himself as an offering to God for our sake and as the atoning sacrifice for our sin and the sin of the world.
How do we know, beyond a doubt, that God truly loves us and wants us to be united with him forever? For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). God proved his love for us by giving us the best he had to offer - his only begotten Son who freely gave himself as an offering to God for our sake and as the atoning sacrifice for our sin and the sin of the world.
This passage tells us of the great breadth and width
of God's love. Not an excluding love for just a few or for a single nation, but
a redemptive love that embraces the whole world, and a personal love for each
and every individual whom God has created. God is a loving Father who cannot
rest until his wandering children have returned home to him. Saint Augustine
says, God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love.
God gives us the freedom to choose whom and what we will love.
Jesus shows us the paradox of love and judgment. We
can love the darkness of sin and unbelief or we can love the light of God’s
truth, beauty, and goodness. If our love is guided by what is true, and good
and beautiful then we will choose for God and love him above all else. What we
love shows what we prefer. Do you love God above all else? Do you give him
first place in your life, in your thoughts, decisions and actions?
"Lord Jesus Christ, your death
brought life for us. May your love consume and transform my life that I may
desire you above all else. Help me to love what you love, to desire what you
desire, and to reject what you reject".
A Daily Quote from early church fathers: He descended so that we might ascend, by
Hilary of Poitiers, 315-367 A.D.
"God, who loved the world, gave his only begotten
Son as a manifest token of his love. If the evidence of his love is this, that
he bestowed a creature on creatures, gave a worldly being on the world's
behalf, granted one raised up from nothing for the redemption of objects
equally raised up from nothing, such a cheap and petty sacrifice is a poor
assurance of his favor toward us. Gifts of price are the evidence of affection:
the greatness of the surrender is evidence of the greatness of the love. God,
who loved the world, gave no adopted son but his own, his only begotten [Son].
Here is personal interest, true sonship, sincerity; not creation, or adoption,
or pretence. Here is the proof of his love and affection, that he gave his own,
his only begotten Son." (excerpt
from ON THE TRINITY 6.40.27)
4th Sunday of Lent – Cycle B
Note: The readings given for Cycle A may be used in place of the Cycle B readings.
Note: Where a Scripture text is underlined in the body of this discussion, it is recommended that the reader look up and read that passage.
1st Reading - 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
The book of 2nd Chronicles covers the same time period as 1st and 2nd Kings. As is the case with Samuel and Kings, the two books of Chronicles were originally one book but appear as two in the Greek version of the Bible (the Septuagint) and this division is maintained in the Vulgate and in later editions, including the Hebrew Bible.
The inspired writer was probably a Levite from Jerusalem, given his respectful attention to the Temple and its institutions; he probably edited the text – if one accepts Ezra and Nehemiah as the original authors as some have suggested – after the death of those prophets and before the 3rd century B.C. since Sirach takes it as read in the year 180 B.C.
Second Chronicles focuses on the history of Solomon and after the division of the kingdom it concentrates on the kingdom of Judah and its kings (who are all of the line of David). Finally, the book finishes with an account of the fall of Jerusalem, exile to Babylon and the edict of Cyrus, king of Persia, allowing the Jews to return to Israel. This is our reading for today.
14 [In those days] all the princes of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’S temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. 19 [Their enemies] burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans (the country of which Babylon was the capital), invaded Judah in 605 B.C. and exiled many of the craftsmen to Babylon. In 597 B.C. he conquered Jerusalem, exiling the aristocracy to Babylon. He destroyed the Temple when he quelled the revolt of Zedekiah in 586 B.C. and exiled even more Jews.
20 Those who escaped the sword he carried captive to Babylon, where they became his and his sons’ servants until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. 21 All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”
Jeremiah 25:12. This is a reflection on the evil of not listening to God’s prophets; it culminates in a declaration that the exile would last 70 years. Moreover, it is a punishment for neglecting the Sabbath-year law of Leviticus 25:4 and Exodus 23:10-11.
22 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
Isaiah 44:28 calls him the shepherd of Yahweh who will accomplish Yahweh’s will; and gives him the grandiose title of “the anointed of Yahweh,” who grasps his right hand – a title which was earlier reserved to Jewish kings and priests.
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!’”
In 538 B.C. Cyrus permitted the Jews residing in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its Temple. The text of Cyrus’ decree is quoted in Ezra 1:1-4. Cyrus had a policy of restoring the images of captured gods to their original temples, which he often rebuilt. Since the Jews had no sacred images, he restored to them the sacred vessels of the Temple which had been looted by Nebuchadnezzar.
2nd Reading - Ephesians 2:4-10
Since the 2nd century this letter has been attributed to Saint Paul, although it was not unknown at that time to attribute authorship to a famous person.
Ephesus was a large seaport city on the western coast of Asia Minor and the capital city of the Roman province of Asia. Saint Paul stayed at Ephesus during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21) and made it his base during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:1-20:1), spending about three years there.
The first three chapters of this letter (from which our reading for today is taken) announce God’s great plan, hidden from the beginning of the world, to create a Messianic people of God, a new community of people uniting in Christ both Jew and Gentile and erasing the impenetrable social and religious barriers that had previously divided mankind. It is Saint Paul’s privilege to be chosen herald of God, appointed to reveal to men this mystery of God’s love.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us,
The word “rich” is used five times in Ephesians. This stresses the abundance of God’s mercy.
“These are the true riches of God’s mercy, that even when we did not seek it mercy was made known through His own initiative. ... This is God’s love to us, that having made us He did not want us to perish. His reason for making us was the He might love what He had made, seeing that no one hates his own workmanship.” [The Ambrosiaster (between A.D. 366-384), Commentaries on Thirteen Pauline Epistles]
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Rather than “saved,” this might better be translated as “made alive” or “brought to life.” The subject here is spiritual death, rather than physical death, as in the story of the prodigal son: “because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found” (Luke 15:24). Salvation is a life-long process, the result of which we learn only at our judgment.
6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
There are three verbs used in this discourse: “brought to life (saved),” “raised” and “seated (enthroned).” This is a parallel with Jesus’ own actions in the resurrection and ascension and forcibly brings out the intimate association of the Christian with Christ.
7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
This is not “faith alone.” For Paul, “faith” is not just believing, it is living out that belief. We don’t earn our way to heaven, that is works righteousness (Pelagianism) which is a heresy, but if we don’t live out our faith we can’t attain salvation.
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
Faith is a gift which is freely given, but accepted by us at the price of surrender of “self.”
“Paul says this in case the secret thought should steal upon us that ‘if we are not saved by our own works, at least we are saved by our own faith, and so in another way our salvation is of ourselves.’ Thus he added that statement that faith too is not in our own will but in God’s gift. Not that He means to take away free choice from humanity ... but that even this very freedom of choice has God as its author, and all things are to be referred to His generosity, in that He has even allowed us to will the good.” [Saint Jerome (between A.D. 386-387), Commentaries on the Epistle to the Ephesians 1,2,8-9]
9 it is not from works, so no one may boast. 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
We don’t earn our way into heaven; and once we believe, we don’t get a free ride either – we must live out our faith all the days of our lives. We don’t live out our faith because we want to, but because the grace provided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit persuades us to. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17).
“By faith man freely commits his entire self to God...; before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist Him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth’” (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, 5).
Gospel - John 3:14-21
This part of the gospel is a familiar one: Jesus is talking with Nicodemus. Nicodemus (the name means “conqueror for the people”) was a Pharisee and is called a “ruler of the Jews” in John 3:1; which probably means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He visited Jesus at night and admitted His divine mission. Our reading today is part of Jesus’ discourse on baptism. Jesus has told Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born “again” (the word is anothen, which also means “from above”), a statement which confuses Nicodemus. This allows Jesus to explain the significance of His mission). To better understand the context, we will begin our reading at verse 10.
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? 11 Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony.
The testimony to which Jesus refers is His testimony and that of John the Baptist.
12 If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
“It was with reason that He said not: ‘You do not understand,’ but: ‘You do not believe.’ When a person balks and does not readily accept things which it is possible for the mind to receive, he may with reason be accused of stupidity; when he does not accept things which it is not possible to grasp by reason but only by faith, the charge is no longer that of stupidity, but of incredulity” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on Saint John, 27,1).
13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up,
This refers to Numbers 21:4-9 where Moses set up the bronze serpent on a pole to cure all who had been bitten by the seraph serpents. In Wisdom 16:6 the bronze serpent is called the “sign of salvation.” Being “lifted up” has a double significance when applied to Christ:
1) He is to be exalted (Isaiah 52:13), which is why we have the crucifix today, and
2) He must be raised on the cross in order to achieve His resurrection and ascension. The good thief was the first to experience the saving power of Christ on the cross.
15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
If you truly believe, you will exalt Him and the consequence is eternal life in Him. Jesus demands that we have faith in Him as the first prerequisite to sharing in His love.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
The familiar sign (John 3:16) which we see held up in the end zone at football games. Although alienated from God, the world is not evil in and of itself; it remains the object of divine compassion. The only explanation that we will ever have of the gift of eternal life (made possible for us in the redemption achieved in Christ) is the incredible love of God for the world. The term “only Son” stresses the gratuity of God’s love – it extends even to this extreme. This was prefigured in Abraham’s offering of Isaac, his “only son” (Genesis 22:2).
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
There are only two choices: (1) Belief and eternal life or (2) Rejection and destruction. There is no middle ground (see John 6:54).
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
The “name” is the being of a person in Jewish theology – if you believe in the name, you believe in all the person represents. The name “Jesus” means “God saves” and Christ was sent into the world to bring eternal life; willful unbelief makes Him the occasion of condemnation and the unbeliever passes judgment upon himself. He who does not believe is already condemned.
19 And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. 21 But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
The evildoer is the child of darkness and will not come to the light which is Christ. He who approaches the light, on the other hand, is the one who “lives the truth.” To “live the truth” is an Old Testament expression (Genesis 24:49; Ezekiel 18:8) which means to “keep the faith.” Faith brings us out of darkness and into the light; it sets us on the road to salvation. He who does the works that are of God comes to the light.
Note: The readings given for Cycle A may be used in place of the Cycle B readings.
Note: Where a Scripture text is underlined in the body of this discussion, it is recommended that the reader look up and read that passage.
1st Reading - 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
The book of 2nd Chronicles covers the same time period as 1st and 2nd Kings. As is the case with Samuel and Kings, the two books of Chronicles were originally one book but appear as two in the Greek version of the Bible (the Septuagint) and this division is maintained in the Vulgate and in later editions, including the Hebrew Bible.
The inspired writer was probably a Levite from Jerusalem, given his respectful attention to the Temple and its institutions; he probably edited the text – if one accepts Ezra and Nehemiah as the original authors as some have suggested – after the death of those prophets and before the 3rd century B.C. since Sirach takes it as read in the year 180 B.C.
Second Chronicles focuses on the history of Solomon and after the division of the kingdom it concentrates on the kingdom of Judah and its kings (who are all of the line of David). Finally, the book finishes with an account of the fall of Jerusalem, exile to Babylon and the edict of Cyrus, king of Persia, allowing the Jews to return to Israel. This is our reading for today.
14 [In those days] all the princes of Judah, the priests and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the LORD’S temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. 15 Early and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his warnings, and scoffed at his prophets, until the anger of the LORD against his people was so inflamed that there was no remedy. 19 [Their enemies] burnt the house of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, set all its palaces afire, and destroyed all its precious objects.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Chaldeans (the country of which Babylon was the capital), invaded Judah in 605 B.C. and exiled many of the craftsmen to Babylon. In 597 B.C. he conquered Jerusalem, exiling the aristocracy to Babylon. He destroyed the Temple when he quelled the revolt of Zedekiah in 586 B.C. and exiled even more Jews.
20 Those who escaped the sword he carried captive to Babylon, where they became his and his sons’ servants until the kingdom of the Persians came to power. 21 All this was to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah: “Until the land has retrieved its lost sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”
Jeremiah 25:12. This is a reflection on the evil of not listening to God’s prophets; it culminates in a declaration that the exile would last 70 years. Moreover, it is a punishment for neglecting the Sabbath-year law of Leviticus 25:4 and Exodus 23:10-11.
22 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia,
Isaiah 44:28 calls him the shepherd of Yahweh who will accomplish Yahweh’s will; and gives him the grandiose title of “the anointed of Yahweh,” who grasps his right hand – a title which was earlier reserved to Jewish kings and priests.
in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD inspired King Cyrus of Persia to issue this proclamation throughout his kingdom, both by word of mouth and in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD, the God of heaven, has given to me, and he has also charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever, therefore, among you belongs to any part of his people, let him go up, and may his God be with him!’”
In 538 B.C. Cyrus permitted the Jews residing in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its Temple. The text of Cyrus’ decree is quoted in Ezra 1:1-4. Cyrus had a policy of restoring the images of captured gods to their original temples, which he often rebuilt. Since the Jews had no sacred images, he restored to them the sacred vessels of the Temple which had been looted by Nebuchadnezzar.
2nd Reading - Ephesians 2:4-10
Since the 2nd century this letter has been attributed to Saint Paul, although it was not unknown at that time to attribute authorship to a famous person.
Ephesus was a large seaport city on the western coast of Asia Minor and the capital city of the Roman province of Asia. Saint Paul stayed at Ephesus during his second missionary journey (Acts 18:19-21) and made it his base during his third missionary journey (Acts 19:1-20:1), spending about three years there.
The first three chapters of this letter (from which our reading for today is taken) announce God’s great plan, hidden from the beginning of the world, to create a Messianic people of God, a new community of people uniting in Christ both Jew and Gentile and erasing the impenetrable social and religious barriers that had previously divided mankind. It is Saint Paul’s privilege to be chosen herald of God, appointed to reveal to men this mystery of God’s love.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us,
The word “rich” is used five times in Ephesians. This stresses the abundance of God’s mercy.
“These are the true riches of God’s mercy, that even when we did not seek it mercy was made known through His own initiative. ... This is God’s love to us, that having made us He did not want us to perish. His reason for making us was the He might love what He had made, seeing that no one hates his own workmanship.” [The Ambrosiaster (between A.D. 366-384), Commentaries on Thirteen Pauline Epistles]
5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Rather than “saved,” this might better be translated as “made alive” or “brought to life.” The subject here is spiritual death, rather than physical death, as in the story of the prodigal son: “because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found” (Luke 15:24). Salvation is a life-long process, the result of which we learn only at our judgment.
6 raised us up with him, and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,
There are three verbs used in this discourse: “brought to life (saved),” “raised” and “seated (enthroned).” This is a parallel with Jesus’ own actions in the resurrection and ascension and forcibly brings out the intimate association of the Christian with Christ.
7 that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith,
This is not “faith alone.” For Paul, “faith” is not just believing, it is living out that belief. We don’t earn our way to heaven, that is works righteousness (Pelagianism) which is a heresy, but if we don’t live out our faith we can’t attain salvation.
and this is not from you; it is the gift of God;
Faith is a gift which is freely given, but accepted by us at the price of surrender of “self.”
“Paul says this in case the secret thought should steal upon us that ‘if we are not saved by our own works, at least we are saved by our own faith, and so in another way our salvation is of ourselves.’ Thus he added that statement that faith too is not in our own will but in God’s gift. Not that He means to take away free choice from humanity ... but that even this very freedom of choice has God as its author, and all things are to be referred to His generosity, in that He has even allowed us to will the good.” [Saint Jerome (between A.D. 386-387), Commentaries on the Epistle to the Ephesians 1,2,8-9]
9 it is not from works, so no one may boast. 10 For we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance, that we should live in them.
We don’t earn our way into heaven; and once we believe, we don’t get a free ride either – we must live out our faith all the days of our lives. We don’t live out our faith because we want to, but because the grace provided by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit persuades us to. Faith without works is dead (James 2:17).
“By faith man freely commits his entire self to God...; before this faith can be exercised, man must have the grace of God to move and assist Him; he must have the interior help of the Holy Spirit, who moves the heart and converts it to God, who opens the eyes of the mind and makes it easy for all to accept and believe the truth’” (Vatican II, Dei Verbum, 5).
Gospel - John 3:14-21
This part of the gospel is a familiar one: Jesus is talking with Nicodemus. Nicodemus (the name means “conqueror for the people”) was a Pharisee and is called a “ruler of the Jews” in John 3:1; which probably means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He visited Jesus at night and admitted His divine mission. Our reading today is part of Jesus’ discourse on baptism. Jesus has told Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born “again” (the word is anothen, which also means “from above”), a statement which confuses Nicodemus. This allows Jesus to explain the significance of His mission). To better understand the context, we will begin our reading at verse 10.
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand this? 11 Amen, amen, I say to you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony.
The testimony to which Jesus refers is His testimony and that of John the Baptist.
12 If I tell you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
“It was with reason that He said not: ‘You do not understand,’ but: ‘You do not believe.’ When a person balks and does not readily accept things which it is possible for the mind to receive, he may with reason be accused of stupidity; when he does not accept things which it is not possible to grasp by reason but only by faith, the charge is no longer that of stupidity, but of incredulity” (Saint John Chrysostom, Homily on Saint John, 27,1).
13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of
Man be lifted up,
This refers to Numbers 21:4-9 where Moses set up the bronze serpent on a pole to cure all who had been bitten by the seraph serpents. In Wisdom 16:6 the bronze serpent is called the “sign of salvation.” Being “lifted up” has a double significance when applied to Christ:
1) He is to be exalted (Isaiah 52:13), which is why we have the crucifix today, and
2) He must be raised on the cross in order to achieve His resurrection and ascension. The good thief was the first to experience the saving power of Christ on the cross.
15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
If you truly believe, you will exalt Him and the consequence is eternal life in Him. Jesus demands that we have faith in Him as the first prerequisite to sharing in His love.
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
The familiar sign (John 3:16) which we see held up in the end zone at football games. Although alienated from God, the world is not evil in and of itself; it remains the object of divine compassion. The only explanation that we will ever have of the gift of eternal life (made possible for us in the redemption achieved in Christ) is the incredible love of God for the world. The term “only Son” stresses the gratuity of God’s love – it extends even to this extreme. This was prefigured in Abraham’s offering of Isaac, his “only son” (Genesis 22:2).
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
There are only two choices: (1) Belief and eternal life or (2) Rejection and destruction. There is no middle ground (see John 6:54).
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
The “name” is the being of a person in Jewish theology – if you believe in the name, you believe in all the person represents. The name “Jesus” means “God saves” and Christ was sent into the world to bring eternal life; willful unbelief makes Him the occasion of condemnation and the unbeliever passes judgment upon himself. He who does not believe is already condemned.
19 And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. 21 But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
The evildoer is the child of darkness and will not come to the light which is Christ. He who approaches the light, on the other hand, is the one who “lives the truth.” To “live the truth” is an Old Testament expression (Genesis 24:49; Ezekiel 18:8) which means to “keep the faith.” Faith brings us out of darkness and into the light; it sets us on the road to salvation. He who does the works that are of God comes to the light.
St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church,
Picayune, MS http://www.scborromeo.org
FOURTH SUNDAY
OF LENT
SUNDAY, MARCH 11, JOHN 3:14-21
(2 Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23; Psalm 137; Ephesians 2:4-10)
KEY VERSE: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life" (v. 16).
TO KNOW: It is essential for our Christian belief to know that God's love for every created being was the motivation to send the Son to redeem the world. It was not out of condemnation of the world, but to deliver it from all that is immoral and destructive. John used the theme of light and darkness throughout his gospel to show the radical difference between salvation in Christ and the workings of evil. The light of the Spirit penetrates the human heart and exposes all the darkness within. Each individual is offered a choice to respond or turn away from the grace of God. Rejecting God's love, brings condemnation upon oneself, whereas acceptance brings salvation. Each person is responsible for his or her own choices.
TO LOVE: Do I help enlighten those who are in the darkness of sin?
TO SERVE: Light of Christ, illuminate my soul and eradicate any darkness that may be found within me.
NOTE: On the Fourth Sunday of Lent, we celebrate the Second Scrutiny and Exorcism for the Elect (RCIA, 165). When the elect, catechumens and candidates are present, the story of the Man Born Blind is read (Jn 9). In the Scrutiny Rites, those preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil as well as the entire assembly are called to examine the areas in their lives that block God's love and blind them to God's healing presence.
Sunday 11 March
2018
Fourth Sunday of Lent.
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23. Psalm 136(137). Ephesians 2:4-10.
John 3:14-21.
Let my tongue be silenced, if I ever forget you! Psalm
136(137).
Let my tongue be silenced if I ever forget you!
Ninety kilometres south of Baghdad are the ruins of the ancient
city of Babylon. Part of the story of the Israelites is their captivity in this
city of Babylon. With great lament, the Hebrew scriptures recall that time when
they were removed from their promised land and forced to live as exiles. The
first reading tells the story of this time of exile.
Exile is one of the great analogies of Lent. Sin is the
manifestation of our ‘exile’ from ourselves, from others and from God. This
isn’t just a spiritual exile. It is something that can take hold of our flesh
and our bone. Lent is the yearly reminder of where ‘home’ is and to begin the
return from exile: a return home to ourselves, to others and to God through
prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
Saint John Ogilvie
Saint of the Day for March 11
(1579 – March 10, 1615)
 |
| St. John Ogilvie study |
Saint John Ogilvie’s Story
John Ogilvie’s noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and
partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending him to the
continent to be educated. There, John became interested in the popular debates
going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of
Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture. Two texts
particularly struck him: “God wills all men to be saved and come to the
knowledge of the truth,” and “Come to me all you who are weary and find life
burdensome, and I will refresh you.”
Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace
all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to
become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596
at the age of 17.
John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as
a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the
next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. At
his ordination to the priesthood in France in 1610, John met two Jesuits who
had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They
saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the
penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half
years he pleaded to be placed there as a missionary.
Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a
horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do
significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his
way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment
in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some
success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he
was soon betrayed, arrested, and brought before the court.
His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26
hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he
was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he
refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the
king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm.
At his final trial, he assured his judges: “In all that concerns
the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I
will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual
jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey.”
Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end,
even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he
would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported
throughout Scotland.
John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish
saint since 1250.
Reflection
John came of age when neither Catholics nor Protestants were
willing to tolerate one another. Turning to Scripture, he found words that
enlarged his vision. Although he became a Catholic and died for his faith, he
understood the meaning of “small-c catholic,” the wide range of believers who
embrace Christianity. Even now he undoubtedly rejoices in the ecumenical spirit
fostered by the Second Vatican Council and joins us in our prayer for unity
with all believers.
LECTIO DIVINA: 4TH SUNDAY OF
LENT (B)
Lectio Divina:
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Jesus, Light of the World
John 3:14-21
John 3:14-21
1. Opening prayer
Shaddai, God of the mountain,
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May our feelings, impoverished as they are,
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night,
and may it open our hearts to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
bringing us,
who have kept vigil us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.
You who make of our fragile life
the rock of Your dwelling place,
lead our mind to strike the rock of the desert,
so that water may gush to quench our thirst.
May our feelings, impoverished as they are,
cover us as with a mantle in the darkness of the night,
and may it open our hearts to hear the echo of silence
until the dawn,
wrapping us with the light of the new morning,
bringing us,
who have kept vigil us close to the divine Master,
the flavor of the holy memory.
1. LECTIO
a) The text:
Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so
that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ”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. For God did not send his Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has
already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son
of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people
preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who
does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that
his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.
b) A moment of silence:
Let us allow the voice of the Word to
resonate within us.
2. MEDITATIO
a) Some questions:
- God has loved the world so much…: how
many judgments and prejudices on what we think is an insensitive and far away
God. Would this not be, perhaps, because we attribute to Him that which instead
are our responsibilities?
- Light came into the world, but men have preferred darkness: whoever deludes himself by being only man and lives away from God cannot choose the light, because the illusion would vanish. How much darkness surrounds my days?
- Whoever does the truth comes out into the light. He is not afraid to show what he is. Man is not asked to be infallible, but simply to be man. Are we capable of living our weakness as a place of encounter and of openness to God as well as to others, who like myself, need to work faithfully in their space and in their time?
- Light came into the world, but men have preferred darkness: whoever deludes himself by being only man and lives away from God cannot choose the light, because the illusion would vanish. How much darkness surrounds my days?
- Whoever does the truth comes out into the light. He is not afraid to show what he is. Man is not asked to be infallible, but simply to be man. Are we capable of living our weakness as a place of encounter and of openness to God as well as to others, who like myself, need to work faithfully in their space and in their time?
b) Key to the reading:
3:14-15. “As Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must
the Son of Man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life
in Him”. For the sons of Israel, who were bitten
by the poisonous snakes in the desert, Moses offered the possibility of
salvation by looking at the bronze serpent. If man succeeds in raising his head
and looking on high, God prepares an alternative for him. He does not oblige
but is there, available. The mystery of human liberty, of freedom, is the most
lovable thing which God could invent! The choice of a look, of an encounter, of
a new opportunity… the Son of Man in the desert of the world will be raised up
on the cross as a sign of salvation for all those who will feel the need to
continue living and will not allow themselves to be bitten by poisonous
mistaken choices. Christ is there: cursed is he who has no faith, blessed is he
who believes. We, like the Israelites in the desert, have been “bitten” by the
serpent in Eden, and we need to look at the bronze serpent raised up on the
staff of wood in order not to die: “Whoever believes in him has eternal
life”.
3:16. For, in fact, God has loved the world so much, that He
gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may
have eternal life. God
loves us with a preferential love, a tangible love, a love which speaks… Could
the Father come directly? Yes, but is the love of a Father, who gives His only
Son, not greater? Every mother, if she is able to choose, prefers to die
herself rather than see her son die. God has loved us so much, to the point of
seeing His Son die!
3:17. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the
world, but so that through Him the world would be saved. A God capable of a perfect judgment sends the Son not
to judge but to be a place of salvation. Truly, it is necessary to discard
every thought and to place oneself before such a great love. Only the One who
loves can “judge,” that is, “save”. He knows the fragility of the human heart
and knows that His image, which has been darkened, has the possibility to be
clear again. It is not necessary to make it anew. The logic of life does not
know death: God, who is life, cannot destroy what He himself has wanted to
create. That, in some way, would be to destroy himself.
3:18. No one who believes in Him will be judged; but
whoever does not believe is judged already, because that person does not
believe in the Name of God’s only Son. Faith is the discriminating element in every
existence. Not to believe in the name of the Only Begotten Son: this is already
a condemnation, because he who does not accept love excludes himself from love!
3:19-20. And the judgment is this: though the light has
come into the world, people have preferred darkness to the light because their
deeds were evil. And indeed, everybody who does wrong hates the light and
avoids it, to prevent his actions from being seen. The only judgment, by which humanity is
invested, is the call to live in the light. When the sun rises, nothing can
escape from its rays… and the same thing for men. When Christ is born, nobody
can escape from this light which inundates everything. But men have constructed
their houses to be able to flee from the light of the Love which sheds itself
everywhere, houses of egotism, houses of opportunity. They have intertwined
tunnels and hiding places to continue freely to carry out their deeds. And can
a work deprived of light bear fruit? The light of existence has only one
source: God. He who withdraws from the light dies.
3:21. But whoever does the truth comes out into the
light, so that what he is doing may plainly appear as done in God. Everything which is under the rays of eternal love is
filled with light as it happens in nature. It seems that everything smiles when
the sun shines. The things which during the day are familiar and beautiful, at
night, take a form which inspires fear by the fact that they are not visible.
The sun does not change its form, but it exalts it in its beauty. Whoever lives
the truth of himself and accepts his fragility as an ornament of his being a
man is not afraid of light because he has nothing to hide. He knows that as a
creature he acts in the logic of limitation, but this does not diminish the
greatness of his work because his life is one with eternal truth.
c) Reflection:
The garden becomes a desert for the man
who draws himself away from God. And in the desert of his limitations as man he
once again finds the poisonous bites of the serpent. But God does not abandon
His children, and when they withdraw from Him, he follows them, ready to
intervene when necessary. A serpent, the symbol of healing, is raised every
time that the poison weakens the life in man, Christ the Lord. If man prefers
to look down to the ground and to remain in the desert of “I do it myself,”
God, just the same, offers Himself: as a serpent, as the only way in which man
can recognize Him. Christ has made Himself sin, damned, in order to save His
image, in order not to let human life die out. Condemnation does not belong to
God; it is man’s choice. I am completely free. God’s freedom has a price of
condemnation. Only people who are not intelligent enough do not profit from a
gift which is given to them. It is simply foolish not to accept what is best so
as not to feel as debtors. In the sphere of love the word “debt” does not
exist, because gratuitousness is the only term that can be consulted. With the
word, gratuitousness light explodes: everything becomes possible, everything
becomes an occasion. Works done in darkness or works done in God. It is better
to go frequently to halls filled by the sunshine of a never finished
apprenticeship! At least there life grows and joy fills all things with beauty.
3. ORATIO
Psalm 35
Sin is the oracle of the wicked
in the depths of his heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
He sees himself with too flattering an eye
to detect and detest his guilt;
all he says is malicious and deceitful;
he has turned his back on wisdom.
To get his way
he hatches malicious plots even in his bed;
once set on his evil course
no wickedness is too much for him.
in the depths of his heart;
there is no fear of God before his eyes.
He sees himself with too flattering an eye
to detect and detest his guilt;
all he says is malicious and deceitful;
he has turned his back on wisdom.
To get his way
he hatches malicious plots even in his bed;
once set on his evil course
no wickedness is too much for him.
Yahweh, Your faithful love is in the
heavens,
Your constancy reaches to the clouds,
Your saving justice is like towering mountains,
Your judgments like the mighty deep.
Yahweh, You support both man and beast;
how precious, God, is Your faithful love.
So the children of Adam
take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
Your constancy reaches to the clouds,
Your saving justice is like towering mountains,
Your judgments like the mighty deep.
Yahweh, You support both man and beast;
how precious, God, is Your faithful love.
So the children of Adam
take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
They feast on the bounty of Your
house,
You let them drink from Your delicious streams;
in You is the source of life,
by Your light we see the light.
Maintain Your faithful love
to those who acknowledge You
and Your saving justice to the honest of heart.
You let them drink from Your delicious streams;
in You is the source of life,
by Your light we see the light.
Maintain Your faithful love
to those who acknowledge You
and Your saving justice to the honest of heart.
Do not let the foot of the arrogant
overtake me
or wicked hands drive me away.
There they have fallen, the evil-doers,
flung down, never to rise again.
or wicked hands drive me away.
There they have fallen, the evil-doers,
flung down, never to rise again.
4. CONTEMPLATIO
When holy fear abandons me, Oh Lord, I
feel sin which speaks in my heart: these are moments of illusion, moments in
which I go to look for my failures. I experience the sense of guilt without
end, and all this is useless because I have not understood that it is only in
doing good, that the iniquitous and misleading words of evil are extinguished.
To be obstinate to evil is an attraction, almost as if this would give me more
importance and honor, more value. When I become aware that what you give me and
allow me to live is immense, then I perceive the great abyss of Your fidelity,
and I see how Your salvation does not know any limits. Everything inundates and
takes me with it, me who are in Your image and all that You have created for me
and to which I have given a name. Truly, Your grace is precious. In Your house
the abundance of protection is in force, and pleasure and delight flow like
water. If I look through Your eyes, Lord, then everything is light. And nothing
is now difficult, because my heart, purified from temptation of being God in
Your place, tells me that I will be God with You. Rivalry, competition, hostility…
vanish in the face of Your offer to participate in Your divine life. God with
you. You, the source of the image and I a reflection of that image! Your love
as sap runs through the heart, through the depth of my humanity until I find my
origin: in your Name.
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét