Maryland.
Below is the full text of the homily delivered by Rev. Brillis Mathew for the Fourth Sunday of Lent at St. Bernadette Catholic Church, Silver Spring, Maryland.
Readings of the Day:
First Reading: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 | Responsorial Psalm: 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 | Second Reading: Ephesians 2:4-10 | Gospel: John 3:14-21
Fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday. 'Rejoice Jerusalem' - This is how the liturgy invites us to celebrate this Sunday and this week. We are in the middle of Lent. Lent is a season of grace; it is a special time that God has given all of us to renew our spiritual lives so that we may walk humbly with our Lord and glorify him with our lives.
In the first reading today, we heard from the second book of Chronicles how “all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.” Last week, we heard about this temple. We also heard how God wants us to cleanse our temples, our lives, which are temples of the Holy Spirit. Here we see how God is using this pagan king. The Word of God says the Lord inspired King Cyrus of Persia. God can inspire any person. God can use any means to bring his salvation. The central theme of today’s readings is that God’s salvation is a free gift through his mercy.
In today’s second reading, we heard from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. St. Paul wants us to know that this salvation is absolutely a free gift, not because of anything we have done. He wants us to know that God is rich in mercy. Very often, we forget that fact. God is rich in mercy. Therefore, God is also expecting all of us to be merciful and kind. St. Paul also says, “by grace, you have been saved.” This grace is the secret, the most important thing. In John 1:14-18, the Word of God says grace came through Jesus Christ. This grace is going to change our lives. St. Paul also says, “by grace, you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God, it is not from works, so no one may boast.” It’s a free gift.
We are God’s special work of art, Ephesians 2:10, “for we are his handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for the good works that God has prepared in advance.” Our lives are very important. Our lives are meaningful and worth living because God created us. We are his special piece of art. Sometimes we don’t realize it, we don’t understand it, but we are so precious in the hands of God. He created us so that we may bear fruit and fulfill the mission that God has designed for you and me. Though God has given us the free gift of grace, we have to cooperate with that grace. We have to cooperate with the Lord. We should allow God to work in our lives so that grace will become active and alive. That grace will mold us and fulfill the special plan God has for all of us.
Today’s Gospel is a familiar Gospel passage. Sometimes this familiarity can blind us. Each time we read the Bible, we have to read as if it is the first time, with a fresh heart and mind, so that God will speak to us each time in freshness. The Word of God says, “God so loved the world.” He wants us to know how much our God loves us. Our God is not one who is always after us to punish us. Last week we heard about the commandments, and in my preaching, I mentioned that we sometimes take them as negative (don’t do this, don’t do that), but God is giving us the freedom to do good. We can do good as much as we want.
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.” That is what we are going to celebrate in a very special way. He died for us. He suffered for us. He took all our poison. In today’s reading, we heard how Moses raised a serpent. Everyone was dying at that time, and the serpent was an image full of poison. But here, to save everyone, Jesus absorbed all of our poison and interceded in front of the Father, saying it’s not them but me. He carried our crosses, our sorrows, our sins, and our failures. This week, we are invited to reflect on how much our God is loving us. God is not loving us because we are perfect. God loves us despite all our weaknesses, failures, and messiness. He loves us. He loves us passionately even when we fail to meet his expectations. We need to keep on reminding ourselves of this, and we also have to love others. Scripture clearly reminds us that he did not come to condemn anyone. We also have no duty to condemn anyone.
Finally, the Word of God is also reminding us that though Jesus came into this world, people preferred darkness to light. That is our default mode. But the most important thing in our lives – we are human, we can make mistakes, we can go through the valley of darkness – but still we need to look for that light who is Jesus, who is in us, in our hearts, and in our lives, an unseen companion in our lives. We need to see that light in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, in all the people who are around us, and in the saints. During this Mass, this Laetare Sunday, we can pray that our hearts may also rejoice in the Lord, knowing that the Lord is with us, and for that desire to be with the Lord, to walk with the Lord, and to glorify the Lord with our lives. For that grace, during this Mass, we can pray.