Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Archives for March 2021
Saturday of
Daily Scripture, March 20, 2021
Scripture:
Reflection:
Jeremiah, Nicodemus, you and I share a common path to discipleship.
First, we have a powerful encounter with God. It is personal, often intense, sometimes gradual, but always life-changing.
Second, the values by which we’ve been living, in light of this encounter, are re-examined.
Perhaps we reassess time spent away from a spouse, children, or friends in favor of our personal entertainment or demands at work. How much we drink, eat or exercise might get a serious assessment.
Perhaps our household budget gets a second look in light of the needs of the poor.
Or we might rethink the values of workplace associates, friends with whom we lunch or play. This could lead to shifting in our seats hearing gossip, denigrating remarks, or personal, behind-the-back insults.
Thirdly, in prayerful reflection, we decide to honor our encounter with God and…change. This is risky. We might have to speak an unacceptable idea, withdraw from a group, or a long-term friendship. It always means being vulnerable. It also means chancing ridicule, alienation and retribution.
This final stage is what Jeremiah is describing in today’s reading and what Nicodemus experienced. The final stage is also what Jesus experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane and on Calvary.
The path to discipleship is similar for everyone who is true to God. The circumstances of each life may be dramatically different; the decisions we make are, in essence, the same.
Regardless of our fear, anxiety, or worry, we are assured that God will be present with us on the path and give us what we need for the journey. This brings a sense of deep inner peace and joy the world can never provide.
Jim Wayne is a board member of the Passionist Solidarity Network (PSN), and author of The Unfinished Man. He lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
Friday of
the Fourth Week
of Lent
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Thursday of
the Fourth Week
of Lent
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Wednesday of
the Fourth Week
of Lent
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Tuesday of
the Fourth Week
of Lent
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Daily Scripture, March 16, 2021
Scripture:
Reflection:
Amongst the many questions that Jesus asked in his public ministry, today’s enquiry – “Do you want to be well?” would seem to reach into our very being. For surely everyone would value the gift of wellbeing both at the exterior level of our physical bodies and at the interior level of our thoughts, memories and deeper reflections.
Thus it is surprising to read that the sick man answered Jesus, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.”
If we were to use our religious imagination one might read this answer as evidence of the man’s unwillingness to be honest with himself. In fact it seems that the answer betrays his real disposition. He is lying alongside a pool that offers a chance at ritual and real cleansing, but he does not seem all that inclined to alter his state of being. In one sense one might imagine that he is secretly happy or at least content, to be ill.
Staying ill doesn’t challenge him all that much. Yes, he is giving lip service to the fact that he should be striving for wellbeing, but he is in no hurry to be the first to the pool when it is stirred. In addition, when asked by Jesus directly if he wishes to be well he avoids the question altogether. What’s more he gives a moaning answer about being ‘beaten’ regularly on the way to the pool as if to justify his present status.
Perhaps interiorly he is simply a defeated man and his spirit is crushed. After some 38 years it might be that this man feels more comfortable staying ill rather than daring to think he might be able to be well again.
So in curing the man we see Jesus address two levels. The man’s inner disposition is matched by his external stance – both manifest a sense of powerlessness. Thus Jesus’ challenge begins at the external level – ‘get up’ and ‘pick up’ (his mat) and ‘walk away’. But we see that this challenge has an effect internally too – the man is empowered to walk away not just from the pool, but also from lethargy, from self-imposed helplessness and from a comfort-zone that while restrictive is also familiar and non-threatening.
Jesus challenges him to re-enter life itself. Thus he carries away the symbol of his limitation – his mat!
Jesus reinforces this message at their subsequent meeting, saying to the man “Look, you are well; do not sin any more…” perhaps this is a second challenge to not slip back into old, familiar and comfortable habits!
In our spiritual lives we often have moments where the word of God shifts us and moves us beyond thoughts, attitudes and practices that hold us back from living fully. In Lent we pray especially that we might experiences such conversion of heart, mind and will.
But we all have ‘default settings’ too! That is, much like computers we can go back to pre-set positions – views, attitudes and acts that are so familiar that they sneak up upon us and re-engage us, even after we have been set free by God’s grace. That’s where we need to listen to the second message of Jesus ‘you are well’ – and we need to trust this message again and again.
So as Lent progresses let us hear the words of Jesus encouraging us and beckoning us forward once more. Let us trust the One who only desires to set us free and who works to ensure that such freedom endures.
Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.
Monday of
the Fourth Week
of Lent
Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent