Our most noble Calling: The Fourth Sunday in Lent

                                                   Our most noble Calling

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

March 27, 2022

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Joshua 5:9-12; Psalm 34; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

 

          This parable of the generous father with his two sons retains eternal difficulties that we have to wrestle with for the rest of our lives. I don’t think we ever get it figured out or settled. Much of our work in life is to reconcile the broken relationships we have, and for various reasons, we don’t want to do it or we encounter major stumbling blocks. We often look at the experiences of the two brothers and we might identify with one more than the other, but we are likewise asked to look at the father’s gift of openness and welcome that defies common sense and our human system of judiciousness, and it is the type of disposition we need in order to show our God that we understand divine love and forgiveness.

 

          In ministry, I hear the continued of heartache when parents and children have not spoken for decades or siblings cannot get over a childhood incident that one party does not remember or once-loving partners retain only the memory of hurt and pain in a now distanced relationship. Many times one person is ready to do what it takes to reconcile and welcome a restored friendship and the other person is held in one’s own prison. Even though we may come from the same family, we are unique individuals who grow because of our distinct experiences in life. The yearning is that somehow something miraculous will come along and will make each person understand that both people want the same goal. It is so hard to get there. Often we think that everything will be figured out before death, and yet we carry this pained separation to our graves. We need a savior who can help us discern how to restore what once was lost. 

 

          Let’s not give up. Ever, please. What was lost can be found once again. This is our hope. This is our faith. The hope that I found was in the first reading in which the Lord told Joshua to celebrate the Passover on Gilgal on the Jericho plains. Once the meal was celebrated, God stopped providing the manna that sustained the people for so long in the wilderness, and it was replaced by the hard work of tilling the soil and grooming the land for rich fruits and vegetables and the animals provide the meats. As the people settled, God continued to provide in a spiritual way.

 

          Our Passover, our Eucharist, is what we need in order to discern the Lord’s presence among us, and Christ’s presence in the Eucharist will work to restore our relationships. During the Paschal Christ event, God set about the work of reconciling the world to God’s own heart, and Christ called us to work for our salvation through this ministry of reconciling. It is the hardest work we can do, and the most important work because we will restore what was once lost and we will rejoice just as the Father did in the parable. We cannot lose hope. Along the way, the Eucharist will give us the courage and strength to persevere, and the Spirit will help us discern how Christ wants us to achieve our reconciliation goals, and we will end up, like the Father, rejoicing that our love will be mending, our broken hearts will be healed, our souls will be whole, because our God is one of unconditional mercy and compassion, and we will learn, that above all other things in life, this is what matters most. Then, we will understand this parable. We will understand a bit more just how much God cares for us and rejoices when we get along once again. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

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

 

There are no saints celebrated in the Roman calendar this week.

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• March 27, 1587: At Messina died Fr. Thomas Evans, an Englishman at 29. He had suffered imprisonment for his defense of the Catholic faith in England. 
• March 28, 1606: At the Guildhall, London, the trial of Fr. Henry Garnet, falsely accused of complicity in the Gunpowder Plot. 
• March 29, 1523: Ignatius' first visit to Rome on his way from Manresa to Palestine. 
• March 30, 1545: At Meliapore, Francis Xavier came on pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Thomas the Apostle. 
• March 31, 1548: Fr. Anthony Corduba, rector of the College of Salamanca, begged Ignatius to admit him into the Society so as to escape the cardinalate which Charles V intended to procure for him. 
• April 1, 1941. The death of Hippolyte Delehaye in Brussels. He was an eminent hagiographer and in charge of the Bollandists from 1912 to 1941. 
• April 2, 1767. Charles III ordered the arrest of all the Jesuits in Spain and the confiscation of all their property.