Fourth Sunday of Lent

God is love. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians lays out what love means. He writes, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13: 4-8). God is all these things, because He is love.

Paul's second letter to the Corinthians, today's second reading, tells us what that love is able to do for us. God's love has the power to heal and transform. He has reconciled us to Him. He does not want us to be lost and wandering in the desert like the Israelites in last week's readings. He does not want us to squander our lives, and live apart from Him, like this week's prodigal son. He, like the father in the gospel, stands at the gate, day after day, waiting for us.

The power of God's love is transformative. He makes all things new. St. Paul tells us, “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.” When we seek God, not only do we we seek a new way of life, we are able to find it. Like the father in the gospel, God is always there waiting for us. When He sees us on the horizon, He runs to us, and embraces us. He desires to have us as His own, to bring us into His love, and to change our lives. Like the son in the gospel, we sometimes feel we must grovel our way back. It is much simpler to remember that God is love, and He waits for our return.

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

You can find today's readings by clicking here!

For those in public positions of preaching, the responsibility can be daunting. That is one reason that some preachers usually settle on one audience. To put into the words of a parable, “the harvest is great, but the laborers are few”. This is one reason Moses said, “Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets! Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!"

Those that have received sacraments in the Church have been gifted with God's spirit. In Baptism and with Confirmation, we are anointed priest, prophet and king. We are called to sanctify, teach, and govern. Our priestly duty of sanctification is to bring holiness into our relationships. We do this by doing good deeds, acting with humility and praying for others. Our prophetic duty of teaching can be done by witnessing our faith and the love of Christ to others. Our kingly duty to govern includes ensuring just governance and ordering society according to Jesus' teachings.

Moses and our pastor try to fulfill these duties on their own. However, they only reach those who sit in the pews. Moses' audience only listened when he was present. Remember what happened when he went up on the mountain to get the Commandments? With Moses gone, the people made a golden bull to worship! The church is full of people who already believe or who are trying to believe. Our pastor preaches to inspire us, give us a message to tell others. They can't do it on their own, they need backup!

We regularly go out into the world: school, work, the Metro and movie theater. In each of these places, we are faced with people who turn away from God. Moses and our pastor can't get to those people as readily as we can. They have their mission and their audience. We have ours.

We are called to full participation in our faith. God has given us His Spirit and strengthened us by Baptism and Confirmation. We are called to lives of action. When Jesus left this world, he gave his apostles what they call, “the Great Commission.” It wasn't the great suggestion. We are called to serve God and our community by acting as priest, prophet and king. We are to act as a gift to our pastor by taking the words we hear today into the world so that all may hear.