4th Sunday of Lent B
For this is how God loved the world…” Here lies the message that the Church conveys to us through the texts of the liturgy. This infinite love of God traveled a long way throughout the history of salvation, before expressing itself in a definitive and ultimate way in Jesus Christ (Gospel). The first reading shows us God’s love at work in a surprising way, through anger and punishment, in order to arouse repentance and conversion in the people (first reading). The letter to the Ephesians emphasizes on the one hand our lack of love which causes death, and on the other God’s love, which makes us live again together with Jesus Christ (second reading). In everything and above all, we see God’s love expressed in Jesus Christ.
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
4th Sunday of Lent B
"For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son" All of the history of God with man, as it is presented in the Bible, is a striking story of love. God, who out of love creates, gives life, chooses a people to make himself present among men, becomes "flesh" in Jesus Christ to save us from his flesh. And then there is man, who out of pride rejects that love and seeks to "create himself," "give himself life," "choose himself" in the concert of nations through his power and imperial ambition, "save himself" with science and technology, with parapsychology and cosmic "religions". It would seem that man understands the things of God the wrong way around. It would seem that God would like to teach man to spell out love in his mind and life, while man is only capable of pronouncing words of selfishness, hatred or indifference to anything that does not concern him. It would seem that, instead of being the supreme form of divine love, Jesus is, on the contrary, the cause of man’s confusion, of his feeling of failure, of his alienating frustration. What goes on in the human heart that prevents it from discovering in Jesus Christ the sublimity of God’s love?
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
Love only seeks the good of the loved one. However, the ways in which this good is sought may vary. Before a rebellious people or a rebellious heart, closed to the ways of God, divine love takes on harsh manifestations which try to induce man to reflect, to repent, to convert. Thus in the first reading, when faced with the haughty attitude of the people, God promises the taking of Jerusalem, the killing of many of its inhabitants, the pillaging of the city, bondage and exile to Babylon. God acted this way in a supreme effort of his love which seeks to bring a genuine conversion to the inhabitants of Jerusalem through their recognition of divine love. However, there is another form of divine love, which is grace, the gift of salvation for those who welcome it and allow it to bear fruit. Those that welcome it "…are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus for the good works which God has already designated to make up our way of life" (second reading). These good works are the works of love, with which the believer responds to God’s love. As a formidable educator of peoples, God our Lord uses either form of love with the only goal of finding reciprocal love in man. God knows full well that the greatness and happiness of man lies solely in loving and in being loved.
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
No man crucified before Christ was able to make the cross his throne and scepter. Only Christ capable of such an impossible transformation: he converted the sign of ignominy into a sign of power. For us believers, the cross is indeed the power of God. The Decalogue was a sign of the covenant between God the sovereign and Israel, his vassal. The temple, with its imposing grandeur as a building, rite and sacrifice, was a sign of the power and transcendence of God. With Jesus, God’s omnipotence becomes evident in the weakness of the flesh, in the curse of a piece of wood, in the human ignominy of a crucified man. Generation after generation, we hesitate to even begin to understand this great mystery. Those who let themselves be seduced by the mystery and penetrate it with their faith and humility achieve true wisdom for themselves and can arouse other people’s interest in doing the same.
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
When someone calls another person, the latter is obliged to give an answer. This can be positive, negative, neutral or indifferent. What the person cannot do is leave a call unanswered. When Jesus said to the two disciples: "Come and see," what did they do? "They went and saw where he lived, and stayed with him the rest of that day." And when Samuel realized that it was God calling him, he did not hesitate to answer: "Speak, Lord, your servant is listening." The person is free to give one answer or another, but he is obliged to answer, given that he is the one who is called.
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
4th Sunday of Lent B
The liturgical texts have shown us that to love God is to give oneself, to deliver oneself to him, to seek the good of the loved one. This form of love is not the most common among men, nor is it easy to attain. It occurs more frequently that people close themselves in on their own world and make themselves the subject and object of their own love. People "take advantage" of the other (husband or wife, father or son, friend, creditor or customer, student or teacher, parish priest or parishioner…) to satisfy their own egos, interests, tastes, passions. It is more frequent for us to seek our own good than to want the good of others; to care for ourselves instead of doing good unto others. It is easier not to give oneself, not to do anything for others, not to help those that are in need, not to cooperate in the different activities of the parish, not to seek concrete ways of loving God, the Blessed Virgin, our loved ones, our brothers in faith, and all people, regardless of religion, race or status. However, in most cases what is more frequent and easier is not what is best, not even for ourselves. We must convert ourselves to Love: the love that is at work in us because God gives it to us and we welcome it with joy. We must convert ourselves to Love, which takes us out of our shell and places us "without defense" before others, so that we may live by the power of Love.
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
It would be good to be able to say, "I am a Christian and everything human concerns me" The Second Vatican Council has taught us that "Christ reveals man to man" We are not going to find genuine humanity in TV programs or articles in the press, in the invasion of sounds in concerts with famous singers, in the fleeting pleasure of alcohol and drugs or in the false solidity of a deteriorated relationship… "Man" is present in all of these instances, but not the "human" dimension, not the values which stem from his dignity as image and son of God. Pope John Paul II likes to repeat that "the person is the path of the Church," and we could also add that "being Christian is the path for the person" It is evident that I am referring to a Christian who is really a Christian, a man who is measured in terms of his vocation and dignity, not according to other parameters. This is why some says that "the Third Millennium will either be Christian, or simply will not be," for man would end up destroying himself. If this is true, isn’t it worthwhile to live out the Christian vocation all the way? Why not struggle to establish in society a true humanism, a Christianity lived out with genuineness? It’s worth it!
P. Antonio Izqeuirdo, L.C., Copyright © Dicastery for the Clergy
