Lent IV-B

LENT IV.: 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23;: Ephesians 2: 4-10;Gospel: John 3: 14-21

The Hound of Heaven, written by Francis Thompson, is one of the best known religious poems in the English language. It describes the pursuit of the human soul by God. It is the story of a human soul who tries to flee from God as it thinks that it will lose its freedom in the company of God. It is the story of Thompson’s own life. As a boy, he intended to become a priest. But the laziness of his brilliant son prompted Thompson’s father to enroll young Francis in a medical school. There he became addicted to the opium that almost wrecked his body and mind. He fled to a slum and started earning a living by shining shoes, selling matches, and holding horses. In 1887 Francis sent some poems and an essay to Mr. Wilfrid Meynell, the editor of a Catholic literary magazine called Merry England. The editor recognized the genius behind these works and published them in April 1888. Then Meynell went in search of the poet. He arranged accommodation for Francis, introduced him to other poets and helped him to realize God’s love. How Francis tried to run away from God, how God “hunted” him, how divine love caught up with him – these are the themes of his stirring poem, The Hound of Heaven. Today’s gospel tells us about the breadth and depth and height of the divine love of the Hound of heaven for each one of us.

As an act of love and gratitude to God who is “rich in mercy” and as an expression of our faith, we are invited to share his sufferings by doing penance during Lent so that we may inherit our eternal salvation and the glory of his resurrection in heaven. In the first reading, from the Second Book of Chronicles, we learn the compassion and patience of God. God allowed Cyrus the Great, a pagan conqueror, to become the instrument of His mercy and salvation for His chosen people who were in exile in Babylon. In the second reading, Paul tells us that God is so rich in mercy that He has granted us eternal salvation as a free gift through Christ Jesus. Today’s gospel has a parallel theme but on a much higher level. Jesus, the Son of God, became the agent of God's salvation, not just for one sinful nation but for the sinfulness of the whole world. Through John 3:16, the gospel teaches us that God expressed His love, mercy and compassion for us by giving His only Son for our salvation.
Nicodemus came during the dark of night, to hear from Jesus about eternal life and even more about Jesus himself. But Jesus instructs him, stating that rebirth by water and the Spirit is an essential condition for entering the Kingdom of God. And he explains to him that he must believe His words because he is the Son of God. And he then asks Nicodemus to recall how Moses, the great Jewish leader saved his people by raising the image of a serpent and all who looked upon it were healed. Using this historical reference, Jesus indicates that He, too, will be lifted up, (on the cross) to heal all those who look upon Him with the eyes of faith. This seeing/believing in Him Who has been sent, will lead to eternal life.
A strong theme of John’s Gospel is that of Jesus’ being the “light”. Bad things happen in this Gospel at night or in the “darkness”. Remember, Nicodemus has come to visit with Jesus by night. John uses this symbol to present Jesus as the One Who has come into the darkness of the world to illumine the world. There are those who choose darkness and so remain unaware of their being so loved. These choose the works appropriate to darkness. The real evil is that those who choose darkness choose the evil of not knowing, accepting, and living their truth as loved and saved in Christ.
There are many dark corners in our world. Addiction to alcohol, drugs, gambling and pornography, sexual immorality, environmental irresponsibility, and a lack of purpose, are a few of these dark corners. It is very easy to pretend that these dark corners don't exist. We act like the desert nomad in the story who woke up hungry in the middle of the night. He lit a candle and began eating dates from a bowl beside his bed. He took a bite from one and saw a worm in it; so he threw it out of the tent. He bit into the second date, found another worm, and threw it away also. Reasoning that he wouldn't have any dates left to eat if he continued to look for worms, he blew out the candle and quickly ate the rest of the dates!
Our lives matter to God, and He knows all about the dark corners in our lives. He wants us to stop hiding our sin in the dark and demands that we expose every dark corner to His Light of life. He is giving to us the Light that not only shows up the dirt in our lives but cleans it away. He died so that we could be made new and clean. Freely, the light of His forgiveness shines into our lives, brightening up every corner, forgiving every sin, restoring our relationship with God, renewing our lives.

Whoever follows Jesus will not walk in darkness. We will experience the joy and peace of sins forgiven, of new attitudes and of new relationships with family and friends.

This fourth Sunday of Lent is known as 'Laetare Sunday'. In Latin laetare means rejoice. Since it occurs in the middle of Lent, as Gaudete Sunday is celebrated midway through Advent, Lætare Sunday reminds us of the Event we look forward to at the end of the penitential season, viz. the Resurrection, which cannot be contained even in Lent, though we still refrain from Alleluias and the singing of the Gloria until the magnificence of the Easter Vigil.
Joy is a fruit of God's Spirit, not a feeling that can be turned on and off. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22). Notice that St Paul places it directly after love, so close is it to the heart of the Faith. It is a gift, not a purchase.
We are the lucky ones: we know that God loves us, that we are infinitely valuable in his eyes, no matter what, in spite of our sins, failings, and weaknesses.


His love has no hidden agenda, no selfish undertones - pure generosity .This is the heart of God, of the Lord who longs for our friendship. Only when we internalize this fundamental motive of God does our Christian adventure really begin.


This is why every year, right in the middle of this penitential season, on the Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church invites us to rejoice. We have had four weeks to meditate on our weaknesses and sinful tendencies. And so now we are able to appreciate more deeply just how full and unconditional God's love is - that while we were "dead in our transgressions" as St Paul put it, God reached down and rescued us. That's how we are in his eyes – that’s the unquenchable source of the Christian's unquenchable joy.

God loves us: this is the source of our joy, whether we actually experience it or not at the moment. Quite often we see the Christian faith diminished to a morality, an account of what we should do: how we should love God and our neighbour…. But St John wrote, "In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us" (1 John 4:10). "We love because God first loved us" (1John 4:19). This is the source of our joy. He loves all of us the way we are. Despite all our sins, God is always ready to restore our relationship with him. He is faithful even when we are unfaithful. He loves us unconditionally and freely. God never gives up on any one of his beloved children. He never withholds his love from the undeserving. We are loved consistently, constantly, completely.

Happiness is conditional: it depends on good fortune, pleasant surroundings, congenial friends, a good digestion…. But joy is unconditional. It depends on nothing. You can even experience joy in times of unhappiness. It is like a ray of sunshine that suddenly penetrates the clouds, a reminder that it is always there, whether you see it or not. Such is God's love. Even when we are at our worst, God still loves us. "God loved us when we were not, and when we were His foes," said Meister Eckhart. "Whether we go near or far, God never goes far away but always stands nearby; and even if He cannot remain within, He never goes further than outside the door." There is an Irish proverb, "God's help is nearer than the door."


As St. Augustine puts it: "God loves each one of us as if there were only one of us to love." It also explains to us the universality of the love of God. God's motive is love and God's objective is salvation. We need to reciprocate God’s love by loving others. God’s love is unconditional, universal, forgiving and merciful. Let us try, with His help, to make an earnest attempt to include these qualities as we share our love with others during Lent.