Early and Often. The Fourth Sunday of Lent 2021

                                                           Early and Often.

The Fourth Sunday of Lent 2021

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March 14, 2021

2 Chronicles 36:14-23; Psalm 137; Ephesians 2:4-10; John 3:14-21

 

 

Early and often did the Lord have compassion on the people. That is the theme of the Chronicles reading, which today highlights the story of the Israelites being sent into slavery and rescued by God’s compassion. The Letter to the Hebrews highlights the great love God had for us by bringing us to life with Christ. The Gospel passage is the central message of God’s mercy, that God sent his Son so that we might have eternal life and always enjoy our abiding relationship. Early and often does God offer us compassion.

 

This is the central message of the Passion and Death of Jesus because this is where God’s mercy is revealed. The lifting up of Jesus on the Cross is the moment in which we come to know that we are not ever separated from God’s care, that we learn how much God understands human suffering and our fears, that we can experience that God is always near to us even when we feel cut off from God and the consolation of others. Even the worst imaginable thing that we can do to God through Jesus is not nearly enough to turn God away from desiring our friendship.

 

Early and often will God be standing there to offer friendship. To accept it, we have to ask God to take away the vestiges of fear that we carry that produces feelings of insignificance and unworthiness. We do not do God any favor by thinking stingily or meanly about the person who is the apple of God’s eye, that is you. We do our selves in as God is trying to give us affection and support and we try to limit God’s desire to find us lovable. If we allow ourselves to fully experience God’s love and our lovable nature, we change our self-perception, and our ability to thrive in relationships that can become filled with integrity and honesty. We can see ourselves as good, which allows us to view each other as good and noble. 

 

God’s love for us does not depend upon us or what we do. God loves us first, and without any initiative on our part. God’s love creates us for no other reason than God’s love. God’s offer of friendship does not depend upon our significance, but solely upon God’s desire for us. If we have heart knowledge of this reality, our world is changed. God deliberately gives the Son to a sinful world, to a world that God knows will kill the Son. If God’s love and offer of friendship did not end with the crucifixion of Jesus, then it will never end. 

 

Early and often did God give compassion to the people of Israel. Early and often did God give the world chance after chance. Early and often did God give us numerous chances in our lives. Through it all, God abided by us. God will always stand by and make this generous offer of God’s self. What a rich love. What great mercy. What an amazing God we have. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

First Reading:

Monday: (Isaiah 65) The Lord is about to create new heavens and a new earth; the things of the past shall not be remembered; there will always be rejoicing and happiness.

 

Tuesday: (Ezekiel 47) The angel brought the prophet to the entrance of the temple where life-giving water flowed forth and bringing life to all.

 

Wednesday: (Isaiah 49) The Lord finds favor with Israel and promises help on the day of salvation. The Lord will help Israel keep the commandments because He cannot forget her beauty.

 

Thursday: (2 Samuel 7) The Lord said to David: Your house shall endure forever; your throne shall stand firm forever.  

 

Friday: (Wisdom 2) The wicked said, “Let us beset the just one because he is obnoxious to us. Let us revile him and condemn him to a shameful death.” 

 

Saturday: (Jeremiah 11) Jeremiah knew their plot, but like a trusting lamb led to slaughter, had not realized they were hatching plots against him.   

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (John 4) Jesus returned to Galilee where he performed his first miracle. Some believed in him. A royal official approached him as his child lay dying, but at the hour Jesus spoke to him, his son recovered. 

 

Tuesday: (John 5) Jesus encountered an ill man lying next to a healing pool, but when the water is stirred up, no one is around to put him in. Jesus heals him and he walks away. The Jews protest that Jesus cured on the Sabbath. The Jews began to persecute Jesus. 

 

Wednesday: (John 5) Jesus explains that he is the unique revealer of God and cannot do anything on his own. He judges as he hears and his judgment is just because he does not seek his own will.

 

Thursday: (Matthew 1) The birth of Jesus came about through Mary, betrothed to Joseph. In his dream, the angel tells Joseph to take the pregnant Mary as his wife.

 

Friday: (John 7) Jesus did not wish to travel around Judea because the Jews were trying to kill him, but he went up during the feast of Tabernacles where he was spotted. He cried up in the streets, “You know me and you know where I am from.”

 

Saturday: (John 7) Some in the crowd said, “This is the prophet.” Some said, “This is the Christ.” A division occurred because of him because they could not settled how he fit into Scripture. Nicodemus interjected, “Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?” The crowd dispersed to their homes.

 

Saints of the Week

 

March 17: Patrick, bishop (389-461), is the revered Apostle of Ireland and patron saint of many U.S. dioceses. He is credited for bringing the faith to all of Ireland. He was abducted and enslaved at age 16 by pirates and taken to Ireland where he worked as a cattle herded and shepherd in the mountains. He escaped after six years and eventually returned to his native Britain where he became a priest. Pope Celestine sent Patrick as a missionary to Ireland to evangelize them. Though he was under constant risk from hostile pagans, he converted many of them and developed a native clergy by the time of his death. 

 

March 19: Joseph, husband of Mary is honored today for his support of Mary in their marriage. He is portrayed as a righteous man who obeys the will of God. Therefore, his ancestry is upheld as a virtuous stock through which God’s promises come true. We seldom contemplate his marital relationship to Mary and his responsibility to love and raise Jesus as his son. He was a descendent of King David and a carpenter or builder by trade. In Matthew's dream sequence, Joseph was embarrassed by Mary's pregnancy before their marriage, but went through with the wedding because he was a righteous man. He considered dissolving their marriage because of Mosaic Law, but is told in a dream to take Mary as his wife and to raise Jesus as his own. He is honored as the earthly father of Jesus. 

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• Mar 14, 1535. Ignatius received his degree from the University of Paris. 
• Mar 15, 1632. The death of Diego Ruiz, a great theologian, who studied on his knees. 
• Mar 16, 1649. The martyrdom in Canada of St John de Brebeuf, apostle to the Huron Indians. Captured by the Iroquois along with some Christian Hurons, he endured horrible tortures. 
• Mar 17, 1964. The death of Joseph O’Callaghan. He was awarded the US Medal of Honor for heroism as chaplain on the USS Franklin, off Japan on March 19, 1945. 
• Mar 18, 1541. Two letters arrived from Lisbon from Francis Xavier. One was addressed to Ignatius, the other to Frs. LeJay and Laynez. They were written just before his departure to India. 
• Mar 19, 1836. By imperial decree, the Society was allowed to re-enter the Austrian dominions. 
• Mar 20, 1602. The first "Disputatio de Auxiliis" was held before Clement VIII. The disputants were Fr. Gregory de Valentia SJ and Fr. Diego Alvarez OP.