Fourth Sunday of Lent
2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23, Ephesians 2:4-10, John 3:14-21
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Lent is a forty-day season of fasting, abstinence and penance. It is a season that is stricter, in this sense, than the rest of the year. But it is precisely the austerity that typifies Lent that is interrupted today as the Church celebrates “Laetare” Sunday. “Laetare” is a Latin word that means “Rejoice. “And it is the first word of the Entrance Antiphon of the Holy Mass that we celebrate today.
This Sunday is more joyful than the rest of the Sundays of Lent because we are celebrating the fact that we are halfway along our yearly pilgrimage to Easter Sunday. But, in reality, good Christians should always feel joyful, even when they are fasting or doing acts of penance. “The joy of Our Lord is our strength. Go in Peace.” That is one of the ways that the dismissal at the end of Mass can be phrased. In these two sentences the true meaning of our faith is summarized and underlined. The joy that we feel as we recognize that we are faithful followers of the Lord, the joy in recognizing that the Lord wants us to be happy, should strengthen us during the rest of the week. It should give us the strength we need to carry the crosses that will come up during our daily life.
Today, as I said, the Church celebrates the joy of knowing that we have reached the beginning of the last few weeks of Lent. To celebrate this event, the Church allows us to place flowers on the altar, something that is not allowed during the rest of the Lenten Season. The priest and the deacon dress in rose-colored vestments, a color that signifies joy better than violet-colored vestments, the normal color for Lent. In this way we do what our Lord always asks us to do, even though the days of penance, we don’t allow sadness and sorrow to rule our lives. We radiate happiness.
In the Gospel Reading today, Saint John explains to us the true cause of so much sadness and sin in the world. He tells us that even though Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Light of the World, came to the world, humanity preferred the darkness instead of the light. Even today, many people are afraid of the light, they turn their backs on God, they sin and act as if God did not exist. And, of course, these people, since they live spiritually in a dark and sick world, are afraid of the light. They prefer the darkness.
The Holy Mass is the summit of our faith. Even so, there are people who say that it does not interest them. Some even say that it bores them. The problem is that many of these same people, since they live in darkness, cannot see, cannot understand, that during the Holy Eucharist, Our Lord becomes really present among us. During the Holy Mass, the Light of the World, shines out again in the darkness to show us the road we should follow towards Him so that we can receive that Light in our souls and in our hearts.
A good Christian should show to the world the light received in the Holy Mass. The light should shine in him or her so brightly that they should be the image of Christ for others. In a Christian like this we see the happiness that surges out into the world from a pure heart, from a person who does not fear the Light of Christ, who tries by every means possible to ensure that the light received is transformed into good works that show his or her love for God.
Lent, even though it is a time for austerity, is also a time for authenticity. We know that there are many people in this world who will try to lure us away from our faith. Frequently, we have to make sacrifices when we are tempted to exchange our love of God for love of earthly things such as illicit pleasure, ill-gained success or power. These days of Lent place before us a dilemma. We have to choose between the light and darkness, between good and evil, between love of God and love of those earthly things that separate us from the true road to Christ. If we choose good, if we decide to follow Jesus, sacrificing those other things, we will win out in the long run. We will realize that all of those other things only end up separating us from God and doing us harm. Without a doubt, when we change our lives and choose the good, we become better persons. It could even be possible that when we show others, through our good works, that we live a joyful and pure life completely dedicated to doing good that we will influence family members and maybe even the rest of the community to do the same.
Peace and all good!
Fr. Valery Burusu
Parochial Administrator