USJ-R PEER MINISTRY

Happy Easter!

: Sunday Gospel with Reflection
EASTER SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S RESURRECTION
John 20: 1-9

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don't know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.

REFLECTION

Easter is the greatest and the most important feast in the Church. It marks the birthday of our eternal hope. "Easter" literally means "the feast of fresh flowers."

Today we are celebrating Christ's victory over the grave, the gift of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus. He gave up His life, and from the grave He was raised to life again on the third day. New life rises from the ashes of death. Every day, we rise from the ashes of sin and guilt and are refreshed and renewed by our living Lord and Savior with His forgiveness and the assurance that He still loves us and will continue to give us the strength we need."

We celebrate Easter with pride and jubilation for three reasons:

1) The Resurrection of Christ is the basis of our Christian Faith, for it proves that Jesus is God. That is why St. Paul writes: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain; and your Faith is in vain… And if Christ has not been raised, then your Faith is a delusion and you are still lost in your sins… But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep” (I Cor 15:14, 17, 20).

In the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our Faith in Christ, a Faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross..." (CCC # 638).

If Jesus Christ did not rise from the dead, then the Church is a fraud and Faith is a sham. But if Jesus really did rise from the dead, his message is true! Without the Resurrection, Jesus would have remained forever a good person who had met a tragic end. People would remember some of his teachings, and a handful of people might try to live according to them. All the basic doctrines of Christianity are founded on the truth of the Resurrection. “Jesus is Lord; He is risen!” (Rom 10:9) was the central theme of the kerygma (or "preaching"), of the apostles.
2) Easter is the guarantee of our own resurrection. Jesus assured Martha at the tomb of Lazarus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life; whoever believes in Me will live even though he dies” (Jn 11:25-26). Christ will raise us up on the last day, but it is also true, in a sense, that we have already risen with Christ. By virtue of the Holy Spirit, our Christian life is already a participation in the death and Resurrection of Christ (CCC #1002, #1003).

3) Easter is a feast which gives us hope and encouragement in this world of pain, sorrows, and tears. It reminds us that life is worth living. It is our belief in the Real Presence of the Risen Jesus in our souls, in His Church, in the Blessed Sacrament, and in Heaven that gives meaning to our personal, as well as to our common, prayers. Our trust in the all-pervading presence of the Risen Lord gives us strength to fight against temptations and freedom from unnecessary worries and fears. The prayer of St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, reads: “Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ within me, never to part.”

Exegesis: The Resurrection of Jesus had certain special features. First, Jesus prophesied it as a sign of His Divinity: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”(Jn 2:19).. Second, the founder of no other religion has an empty tomb as Jesus has. We see the fulfillment of Christ's promise on the empty cross and in the empty tomb. The angel said to the women at Jesus’ tomb: “Why are you looking among the dead for One Who is alive? He is not here but has risen” (Luke 24:5-6). The real proof, however, is not the empty tomb but the lives of believers filled with His Spirit today! The third special feature is the initial disbelief of Jesus’ own disciples in his Resurrection, in spite of his repeated apparitions. This serves as a strong proof of his Resurrection. It explains why the apostles started preaching the Risen Christ only after receiving the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

Proclamation and witness-bearing are the main themes of today’s readings. The Gospel explains the empty-tomb Resurrection experience of Mary Magdalene, Peter and John. Mary Magdalene proclaims her personal experience: “I have seen the Lord.”

Life messages: 1) We are to be Resurrection people: Easter, the feast of the Resurrection, gives us the joyful message that we are a “Resurrection people.” This means that we are not supposed to lie buried in the tomb of our sins, evil habits, and dangerous addictions. It gives us the Good News that no tomb can hold us down anymore - not the tomb of despair, discouragement, doubt or death itself. Instead, we are expected to live a joyful and peaceful life, constantly experiencing the real presence of the Risen Lord in all the events of our lives. “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad” (Psalm 118:24).

2) We need to seek our peace and joy in the Risen Jesus: The living presence of the Risen Lord gives us lasting peace and celestial joy in the face of the boredom, suffering, pain, and tensions of our day-to-day life. “Peace be with you!” was Jesus’ salutation to his disciples at all post-Resurrection appearances. For the true Christian, every day must be an Easter Day lived joyfully in the close company of the Risen Lord.

3) We are to be transparent Christians: We are called to be transparent Christians, showing others, through our lives of love, mercy, compassion and self-sacrificing service, that the Risen Jesus is living in our hearts.

4) We need to live new, disciplined lives in the Risen Jesus: Our awareness of the all-pervading presence of the Risen Lord in and around us, and the strong conviction of our own coming resurrection, help us control our thoughts, desires, words and behavior. This salutary thought inspires us to honor our bodies, keeping them holy, pure and free from evil habits and addictions. Our conviction about the presence of the Risen Lord in our neighbors, and in all those with whom we come into contact, should encourage us to respect them and to render them loving, humble and selfless service.

5) We need to remember Easter in our Good Fridays: Easter reminds us that every Good Friday in our lives will have an Easter Sunday, and that Jesus will let us share the power of his Resurrection. Each time we display our love of others, we share in the Resurrection. Each time we face a betrayal of trust and, with God’s grace, forgive the betrayer, we share in the Resurrection of Jesus. Each time we fail in our attempts to ward off temptations – but keep on trying to overcome them – we share in the Resurrection. Each time we continue to hope – even when our hope seems unanswered – we share in the power of Jesus’ Resurrection. In short, the message of Easter is that nothing can destroy us – not pain, sin, rejection, betrayal or death – because Christ has conquered all these, and we, too, can conquer them if we put our Faith and trust in Him.

6) We are to be bearers of the Good News of Resurrection power. Resurrection is Good News, but at the same time, it’s sometimes painful because it involves death. Before the power of the Resurrection can take hold in our own lives, we’re called to die to sin, to die to self. We may even have to die to our own dreams, so that God can do what He wants to do with our lives. Resurrection is about seeing our world in a new way. Early that Easter morning, Mary did not find what she was looking for, the dead body of Jesus. But she found something better than she could have imagined: The Risen Jesus. Sometimes, the things we think we want most are not granted to us. What we get instead is an experience of God’s new ways of working in the world. That’s the power of the Resurrection. When those moments come, we must spread the news--just as Mary did: We have seen the Lord!

(Fr. Antony Kadavil)

Source:
https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2020-04/easter-sunday-reflection-vatican-news0.html

have a blessed Sunday!

Have a Blessed Palm Sunday! Have a meaningful Holy Week.

: Sunday Gospel with Reflection
The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ acccording to Mark
Mk 14:1-15:47 or 15:1-39

As soon as morning came,
the chief priests with the elders and the scribes,
that is, the whole Sanhedrin, held a council.
They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
Pilate questioned him,
“Are you the king of the Jews?”
He said to him in reply, “You say so.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Again Pilate questioned him,
“Have you no answer?
See how many things they accuse you of.”
Jesus gave him no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Now on the occasion of the feast he used to release to them
one prisoner whom they requested.
A man called Barabbas was then in prison
along with the rebels who had committed murder in a rebellion.
The crowd came forward and began to ask him
to do for them as he was accustomed.
Pilate answered,
“Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?”
For he knew that it was out of envy
that the chief priests had handed him over.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd
to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate again said to them in reply,
“Then what do you want me to do
with the man you call the king of the Jews?”
They shouted again, “Crucify him.”
Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?”
They only shouted the louder, “Crucify him.”
So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd,
released Barabbas to them and, after he had Jesus scourged,
handed him over to be crucified.

The soldiers led him away inside the palace,
that is, the praetorium, and assembled the whole cohort.
They clothed him in purple and,
weaving a crown of thorns, placed it on him.
They began to salute him with, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
and kept striking his head with a reed and spitting upon him.
They knelt before him in homage.
And when they had mocked him,
they stripped him of the purple cloak,
dressed him in his own clothes,
and led him out to crucify him.

They pressed into service a passer-by, Simon,
a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country,
the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to carry his cross.

They brought him to the place of Golgotha
—which is translated Place of the Skull—,
They gave him wine drugged with myrrh,
but he did not take it.
Then they crucified hit and divided his garments
by casting lots for them to see what each should take.
It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
The inscription of the charge against him read,
“The King of the Jews.”
With him they crucified two revolutionaries,
one on his right and one on his left.
Those passing by reviled him,
shaking their heads and saying,
“Aha! You who would destroy the temple
and rebuild it in three days,
save yourself by coming down from the cross.”
Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes,
mocked him among themselves and said,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
come down now from the cross
that we may see and believe.”
Those who were crucified with him also kept abusing him.

At noon darkness came over the whole land
until three in the afternoon.
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of the bystanders who heard it said,
“Look, he is calling Elijah.”
One of them ran, soaked a sponge with wine, put it on a reed
and gave it to him to drink saying,
“Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.

Here all kneel and pause for a short time.

The veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.
When the centurion who stood facing him
saw how he breathed his last he said,
“Truly this man was the Son of God!”

The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you O Lord Jesus Christ

REFLECTION


The Church celebrates today as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. It is on Palm Sunday that we enter Holy Week, and welcome Jesus into our lives, asking him to allow us a share in his suffering, death and Resurrection. This is also the time we remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. That is why the Holy Week liturgy presents us with the actual events of the dying and rising of Jesus. The liturgy also enables us to experience vicariously, here and now, what Jesus went through then. In other words, we commemorate and relive during this week our own dying to sin and selfishness and rising in Jesus, which result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption. No wonder Greek Orthodox Christians greet each other with the words, "Kali Anastasi" (Good Resurrection), not on Easter Sunday but on Good Friday. They anticipate the Resurrection. Just as Jesus did, we, too, must lay down our lives freely by actively participating in the Holy Week liturgies. In doing so, we are allowing Jesus to forgive us our sins, to heal the wounds in us caused by our sins and the sins of others and to transform us more completely into the image and likeness of God. Thus, we shall be able to live more fully the Divine life we received at Baptism. Proper participation in the Holy Week liturgy will also deepen our relationship with God, increase our Faith and strengthen our lives as disciples of Jesus. But let us remember that Holy Week can become "holy” for us only if we actively and consciously take part in the liturgies of this week. This is also the week when we should lighten the burden of Christ’s passion as daily experienced by the hungry, the poor, the sick, the homeless, the lonely and the outcast through our corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Palm/Passion Sunday liturgy combines contrasting moments, one of glory, the other of suffering: the welcome of Jesus into Jerusalem and the drama of his unjust trial and suffering, culminating in his crucifixion and death.

The first part of today’s Gospel describes the royal reception which Jesus received from his admirers. They paraded with him for a distance of two miles: from the Mount of Olives to the city of Jerusalem. In the second part of today’s Gospel, we listen to the Passion of Christ according to Mark. We are challenged to examine our own lives in the light of some of the characters in the story like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, Pilate who acted against his conscience and condemned Jesus to death on the cross, Herod who ridiculed Jesus and the leaders of the people who preserved their positions by getting rid of Jesus.


Life Messages: 1) Does Jesus weep over me? There is a Jewish saying, “Heaven rejoices over a repentant sinner and sheds tears over a non-repentant, hardhearted one." Are we ready to imitate the prodigal son and return to God, our loving Father through the Sacrament of Reconciliation during this last week of Lent and participate fully in the joy of Christ’s Resurrection?

2) Am I a barren fig tree? God expects me to produce fruits of holiness, purity, justice, humility, obedience, charity, and forgiveness. Am I a barren fig tree? Or do I continue to produce bitter fruits of impurity, injustice, pride, hatred, jealousy and selfishness?

3) Do I expect Jesus to cleanse my heart with His whip? Jesus cannot tolerate the desecration of the temple of the Holy Spirit in me by my addiction to uncharitable, unjust and impure thoughts words and deeds; neither does He approve of my calculation of loss and gain in my relationship with God.

4) Do I welcome Jesus into my heart? Am I ready to surrender my life to Him during this Holy Week and welcome Him into all areas of my life as my Lord and Savior, singing “Hosanna”? Today, we receive palm branches at the Divine Liturgy. Let us take them to our homes and put them some place where we can always see them. Let the palms remind us that Christ is the King of our families, that Christ is the King of our hearts and that Christ is the only true answer to our quest for happiness and meaning in our lives. And if we do proclaim Christ as our King, let us try to make time for Him in our daily life; let us be reminded that He is the One with Whom we will be spending eternity. Let us be reminded further that our careers, our education, our finances, our homes, all of the basic material needs in our lives are only temporary. Let us prioritize and place Christ the King as the primary concern in our lives. It is only when we have done this that we will find true peace and happiness in our confused and complex world.

5) Are we ready to become like the humble donkey that carried Jesus? As we "carry Jesus" to the world, we can expect to receive the same welcome that Jesus received on Palm Sunday, but we must also expect to meet the same opposition, crosses and trials later. Like the donkey, we are called upon to carry Christ to a world that does not know Him. Let us always remember that a Christian without Christ is a contradiction in terms. Such a one betrays the Christian message. Hence, let us become transparent Christians during this Holy Week, enabling others to see in us Jesus’ universal love, unconditional forgiveness and sacrificial service.

6) Can we face these questions on Palm Sunday? Are we willing to follow Jesus, not just to Church but in our daily life? Are we willing to entrust ourselves to Him even when the future is frightening or confusing, believing God has a plan? Are we willing to serve Him until that day when His plan for us on earth is fulfilled? These are the questions of Palm Sunday. Let us take a fresh look at this familiar event. We might be surprised at what we see. It could change us forever.

7) We need to rejoice and weep: Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday are two sides of the same coin because we have to rejoice and sing as we receive Jesus into our lives as our Lord and Savior and we have to weep and mourn as his death confronts us with our sin. Yes, we were there in the crowd on both days, shouting “Hosanna!” and later “Crucify Him!” Because of what Jesus has done for us and our Faith in him, one day we will be in that great crowd gathered around the throne of God, and there everyone will shout words of praise, heavenly hosannas, that will ring through all eternity, "To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" Rev (5:13). (Fr. Antony Kadavil)

Source:
➢ https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2018-03/palm-sunday-reflections.html

Photo: ctto

Be not afraid. Good Morning!

Good Morning!

May the Lord receive our YES today. Happy Solemnity of the Annunciation.

Count your blessings. Good Morning!

The Lord hear our prayer. Good Morning!

Our God shepherds us. Good Morning!

In joy and in sorrow, may Jesus be lifted high in our lives. Have a blessed Sunday!

: Sunday Gospel with Reflection
Fifth Sunday of Lent
John 12: 20-33

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John
Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.

“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven,
“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”
The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder;
but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered and said,
“This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.
Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself.”

He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

The Gospel of the Lord.

REFLECTION:

From time to time, probably, all Christians ask themselves, 'what would it have been like to have been in the gospels, to have seen Christ face to face?'
We came to know Jesus not by having met him during his life on earth. Rather we were introduced to him by reputation: those who formed us in the Christian faith told us about him. But just knowing things about Jesus is not what the Christian faith is about. We want to know and love Jesus. Having heard about him and having believed what we have heard, ultimately, we wish to see Jesus.

This is where today's gospel comes in. The Greeks who say to Philip, 'we wish to see Jesus,' say this not only in their own name, but also on behalf of all those throughout history who will hear about the fame of Jesus, but not have the opportunity to see him in the flesh. The Greeks speak for us. When Jesus hears that there are some Greeks wanting to see him, his reply is not directed just at them, but it is a reply to all who wish to see him. Up to this point in St John's gospel, we repeatedly read, 'his hour had not yet come.' Now, things change. Now, Jesus says: 'The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified.'

And once the voice of the Father has thundered from heaven, the gospel seems to shift up a gear. After years of preaching and working of miraculous signs, the Passion of the Christ begins: the whole sequence of events that we commemorate over the next two weeks.

But remember what it is that triggers this momentous change: the arrival of some anonymous Greeks and the seemingly innocuous request, 'we wish to see Jesus.' The consequences of such a simple phrase probably surprised the Greeks, and might surprise us.

But the fact is that the whole mission of Jesus was that he should be seen; and be seen not just by the Jewish people, but by the whole of the wider world which the Greeks represent.

When we say that Jesus' mission was that he should be seen, we are not talking about the first-century equivalent of being mentioned regularly in a newspaper society or gossip column. Christ is not a celebrity, he is the 'source of eternal salvation'; we don't long to see him with the eyes of idle curiosity but with the eyes of faith.

It is that vision of faith which saves us from our sins, and seeing God in eternity is the reward of salvation. And so it is the news that the world is ready to see him that triggers the saving work of Christ: his passion and death.

At the end of today's gospel, Jesus says:�'I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.'�This is the closest he comes to actually answering the request of the Greeks who wish to see him. They were to see him, not for a quiet chat, but instead lifted up on the cross. There, they were drawn to him not by the grotesque spectacle of crucifixion, but by the love of God and their thirst for his mercy, which comes only through Christ.

In the liturgy we too are present in the gospel. We say 'we wish to see Jesus', and we do see him lifted up before us, at every celebration of the Eucharist. We see him in a particularly intense way through the celebration of the liturgy of Holy Week. We see Christ, and he draws us to himself, in the all the sacraments, especially at this time the Sacrament of Penance and the reception of Holy Communion.

The Christ we now see through sacramental signs, we still long to see face to face. This too is promised to us; Christ who was exalted on the cross was also raised from the dead, and draws all who long to see him to the fullness of happiness for all eternity in the vision of God, a joy that as yet we cannot possibly comprehend.

Jesus is near his end in the gospel of today. The acclamation of Palm Sunday is over and the crowds melt away. Jewish plotting for his arrest is stealthily working. What precipitates his words, 'Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified', is the approach for the first time in his ministry of Greeks (Gentiles) seeking him out. It was 'to gather into one the dispersed children of God' that Jesus was to die.

Jesus responds in a general comment, implicitly acknowledging these respectful 'other sheep'. The 'hour' of his death and resurrection, his glorification, has finally come for him to be lifted up and draw all people to himself: gentiles together with people of Israel.

This is the triumphal purpose of his life, the 'hour' that has been in abeyance until now. Yet 'Now my soul is troubled', he exclaims; literally, 'my soul shudders'. In the next chapter in John's gospel Jesus shudders when he indicates that Judas Iscariot will betray him, thereby setting in train the Jewish and Roman collusion to his crucifixion.

In anticipation at this earlier moment Jesus might beg his Father to save him from the agony foreseen, but he maintains his submission. 'Father, glorify your name!' concedes that God's plan for him must be realised; that the Lamb of God who bears the divine name will be forever glorified in the decisive exorcism of evil wrought by his crucifixion: 'When you lift up the Son of Man you will realise that I AM.'

Jesus presents a brief parable. Symbolically he is the still-potent grain of wheat fallen to the ground; from the ground-down Jesus springs the harvest of believers glorified by him, with him, to gain eternal life. His actual death is the determinant of victory in the agony of seemingly succumbing to the 'Prince of this world', in order to vanquish this spurious Prince, for whose overthrow the Word had become flesh.

Jesus must 'hate his life in this world' - surrendering earthly life, which apart from his persistent harassment he surely enjoyed, as we do our life now - to gain eternal life; which gain is for us his servants as we follow in serving him.

'He loved them to the end' in humble service. At the supper the Lord and Master washed his reluctant disciples' feet. As his servants we must be like him: 'Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am there will my servant be. Whoever serves me the Father will honour'; that is, in serving we too will be glorified.

Our deaths may not be as imminently foreseen as Jesus' was at this, the close of his ministry. Our lives though are not to be withheld from the Father and those with us in this life. To come to share fully in the glory that Jesus won for us we have to expend our lives in committed humble service to our fellow-disciples.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).

What in your life do you need to let go of today? What might you need to leave behind? What needs to die so that something new can arise?


Sources:

➢ https://www.torch.op.org/torch/seeing-the-christ
➢ https://interruptingthesilence.com/2018/03/19/the-secret-to-life-a-sermon-on-john-1220-33/

Be blessed by the POWER of His LOVE! Have a blessed Sunday!

: Sunday Gospel with Reflection
Jn 3:14-21
Fourth Sunday of Lent

Jesus said to Nicodemus:“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

The Gospel of the Lord

REFLECTION

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It is probably one of the best known verses in the New Testament. Many quote this verse quite often.

What makes this verse well loved and so popular? The popularity of this verse perhaps stems from the fact that it tells us about the great drama of love and redemption between God and man. But basically, this short verse is well loved and remembered because it conveys to us a very basic truth: GOD LOVES US.

Knowing that God loves us makes us special and answers our basic need of being loved. When God loves, He loves us no matter who we are, regardless of whether we’re good or bad. The truth will always remain that God loves us and nothing will ever take us away from this love (Rom 8:38 – 39).

John 3:16, however, also tells us about a different story line in this drama. It tells us of the sad tale of man’s refusal to be loved by God and the tragic choice he makes to do evil. In doing evil deeds, man plunges into the dark. Left alone and all by himself, man is doomed. As man drifts aimlessly along the waters of history, he perishes and quickly fades away. But precisely when all seemed lost and hopeless does God intervene. As mankind spiraled down to perdition, God, out of His great love, gives His only beloved Son. He gives His Son to the world so that through Him, man may not perish but live.

The knowledge of God faithfully and unconditionally loving us gives us courage and confidence to face life despite all our faults, our frailties and limitations. Knowing that God is with us at whatever circumstance we may find ourselves in, gives us so much hope even when things are not at their best. God’s love radiating through the humanity of Jesus makes God more understandable and reachable.

This Sunday’s Gospel is considered to be the very heart of the New Testament, God never fails us of His unconditional love.

This verse, is a beautiful summary, from the lips of the Savior, of the heart of salvation. As Pope Benedict XVI stated, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” And that is an apt description of the season of Lent: a transforming encounter with a person, the Son of God, who gives us life, direction, purpose.

Nicodemus, a Pharisee, sought out an encounter with Jesus. He came at night, fearful of being seen with Jesus The nighttime, in John’s Gospel, symbolizes the spiritual darkness in which man lives apart from God, a theme introduced in the opening verses of John’s Gospel (Jn 1:4-5). This ruler of the Jews realized his need for spiritual light, readily confessing his belief that Jesus was “a teacher who has come from God.” Surely he must have been challenged by Jesus’ declaration that “whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.”

A decisive direction was presented to Nicodemus. Yet the Apostle John does not describe what reaction Nicodemus had to the words of Jesus; the secretive visitor seems to have silently disappeared back into the night. Perhaps St. John did not immediately reveal Nicodemus’s choice because Nicodemus, in a certain way, is each of us. We have met Jesus, we have sat at his feet, and we have heard his words. What will we do?

This is one of so many brilliant qualities of the Fourth Gospel, which is a literary and spiritual icon offering a window into the mystery of Christ—and into the mystery of our own hearts. We can relate to Nicodemus. He no longer wanted to be in the darkness, but he was not ready to step fully into the light. He would stay in the shadows for a while longer, pondering the person and words of Jesus.

But eventually Nicodemus did, cautiously, step forward a bit, coming to Jesus’ defense before his fellow Pharisees (Jn 7:50-52). But his appeal for fairness was met with suspicious anger. Perhaps he pondered again these words: “whoever lives the truth comes to the light…”

We meet Nicodemus again, after the Crucifixion. Pilate had given Joseph of Arimathea permission to remove and bury Christ’s body, and Nicodemus, “the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds” (Jn 19:39). He was finally in the light completely, revealing himself as a disciple of the Son of Man who had been lifted up “so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Lent is a time to come into the light and to embrace the gift of eternal life. On our part, if we look around with the eyes of love, God’s love is manifested and it allows us to experience eternal life.

Jesus tells us that if we look at Jesus and believe in Him then He will give us eternal life. Eternal life is life lived in the unending presence of God.
One does not have to wait until some unknown future to have this desired life. It can begin in the here and now for those who have faith in Jesus. This life is defined by God and not by humans. St Augustine tells us that God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love. That shows the depth of his love for humanity. His whole essence is love and He loves the entire world itself.


Our God is loving and merciful. He is not a God who condemns; rather people choose to alienate themselves from his love. John says that all those who do wrong deliberately hate the light and choose darkness. A person who lives by truth and integrity is not afraid of the light. Such a person has nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Some people condemn themselves by turning away from the light.

However it is still the people who must choose to live in the light or to remain in darkness. Jesus is the Light. He is the only way. He is the only Truth. He is the only Life.

During this time of Lent, let us review our hearts to determine where we stand. Are we walking in the Light of God or are we walking in the darkness? Are we walking partially in the Light and partially in the darkness? Our eternal life and salvation depends entirely on our living faith that calls us to look up to Jesus on the Holy Cross.

Pope Francis commented on this merciful love of God seen on the Cross. He said, “Never forget this, [God] is rich in mercy.… The Cross of Christ is the supreme proof of the Love of God for us: Jesus has loved us ‘until the end’ (Jn. 13:1), meaning not only at the final moment of his earthly life, but until the extreme limit of love. If in creation the Father has given us the proof of his great love by giving us life, in the passion of His Son He has given us the sum of all proofs: He has come to suffer and die for us. And this love that is so great is the mercy of God, because He loves us, He forgives us. With his mercy, God forgives all and God always forgives.”

The whole purpose of the Lenten season is to bring us to unite ourselves with Christ on the Cross, to allow God who is rich in mercy to make us rich in mercy, by bringing us to recognize how much we need that mercy, to come to receive it and then to lead us to share it lavishly with others. We can’t enter into Jesus’ joy in this world or the next without this dual experience of God’s loving forgiveness, receiving it and paying it forward.

Let us keep walking through this Lent, asking God to open our hearts, hoping that we might in some way realize the immensity of God’s love and begin to respond to it more faithfully every day! Let us walk in the light!

God, how you love us! You love us so much that you gave us what was most dear to you, Jesus your beloved Son. Thank you so much Lord. Thank you for loving me. Amen.

Sources:

➢ https://christdesert.org/2015/03/homily-for-4th-sunday-of-lent-2015-cycle-b/
➢ http://catholicpreaching.com/the-joy-of-gods-merciful-love-fourth-sunday-of-lent-b-march-15-2015/
➢ https://msjnov.wordpress.com/
➢ https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2018/03/10/john-316-and-the-journey-from-darkness-to-light/
➢ Men of Light reflections