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.
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