Homily Cycle A 03-08-2026 Offered at OLPH
On Friday evening my wife, Joanne, asked
me, “What
are you going to preach about this weekend?”
I said, Sin!
Wonderful, “You are an expert!”
The reading from Exodus offers us a familiar
pattern of sin.
1. The
Israelites grumbled – we grumble.
2. They
made excuses and blamed others – we do the same.
3. They
said, “Where are You God?” – we say, “Where are You God?”
St. Paul tells us it is through our Lord Jesus
Christ that we gain access Divine Grace. The Samaritan woman reminds us that we
are all thirsting for fulfillment. She discovered that only the Lord can
provide that fulfillment.
Lent gives us the opportunity to reflect on
our religious beliefs and how we are living them.
Are they one in the same?
Do they run on parallel tracks?
Do they intersect only occasionally?
How are they connected?
Holy Mother Church invites us to examine
our discipleship. We should be humbled by the fact
that our God loves us so much that He stoops down to be with us. The
graces of Lent we help us strengthen our relationship with God.
Maybe this vignette can help us, Behold
God in your midst … An eight-year-old boy in the hospital facing surgery asks
his doctor,
“What’s it like to die?”
Neither the doctor nor anyone else on the
medical staff can answer his question directly – but one hospital employee can and
does. She isn’t a doctor, a nurse or child psychologist; She cleans the floors.
One night the boy asks her, “Are you afraid of dying?” She put down her mop … and
[replied], “Yes, I am, but I do something about it.”
She tells the boy that she believes in God
and finds comfort in the Words of Jesus. She talked to the boy as an equal, not
as a superior. The two talk for a long time and she put the boy at ease simply
by listening to him.
This Lent allow God’s grace to transform
you, allow God’s Love to purify you and allow God’s mercy to fashion you, and when
Lent is over we celebrate the promises of Easter.
Allow the “well” of the
Eucharist to refresh you and guide you.
Noise constantly surrounds us - this story
may help us - a man joined a very strict monastery. They could only say 2 words
every 10 years.
When his ten years were completed, the Abbot met with hm
and said, “You get two words.” The man said, “Bed Hard,” the Abbot said
thank you and told him to continue.
After his next ten years were completed, the Abbot met with
him, he said [again], “You get two words,” he responded, “Food Bad.”
Ten more years go by and the Abbot meets
with him again and says, “You get two words,” and the man says, “I Quit.”
The Abbot responds, “Thank God you’ve done nothing
but complain since you got here.” We are not going to run into that
situation, but a time for silence, for quiet, for listening to God should be
part of our daily To-Do-List.
Brennan Manning tells the story of an
Irish priest who, on a walking tour of a rural parish, sees an old peasant
kneeling by the side of the road, praying.
Impressed, the priest says to the man, "You must be very close to
God."
The peasant looks up from his prayers,
thinks a moment, & then smiles, "Yes, he's very fond of me." [Sermons.com
Adapted from Phillip Yancey, What's So Amazing about Grace? pp. 68-69]
God is very fond of you and me.
For the remainder of Lent pay attention to
the glimpses of God shining in your life. In 2000 Five for Fighting was
onto something with his song, Superman [It ain’t easy being me]
“I’m just out to find
The better part of me.”
We discover “the
better part of me,” when we serve God with our whole heart,
our whole soul & our whole mind. Lent reminds us to reflect on why we are
here.
For a few minutes, in silence, think about
the “well” of
grace that is being offered to you this Lent & how will you drink from it?
May God Be Praised.
