Daily Homily 3-23-2020
Homily for Monday the Fourth Week of Lent (March 23rd)
We are moving into the second half of Lent. Easter looms on the horizon. Are we prepared to renew our Baptismal promises?
The readings at Mass shift to a new perspective today. We begin to read from the Gospel of John. The scriptures we have read in the first four weeks of Lent have spoken about the need for repentance and they came from Matthew, Mark and Luke. The readings that we have the second half of Lent at Mass reflect on the Christological mystery. Why did Jesus come? What did he accomplish? These readings are taken from the Gospel of John.
John 4:43-54 tells the story of one of Jesus’ signs. The writer of John does not speak of miracles. He writes about a sign. A sign is something that points to a meaning beyond itself.
Jesus heals the son of a royal official. The official is a non-Jew. Jesus has just preached earlier in this chapter about how he has come to teach everyone. His mission is bigger than just making disciples of Jewish believers. He wants to appeal to all people of good will who want a faith perspective.
Jesus charity extended beyond those who thought and believed exactly the way he did. He saw good in everyone he met.
We must widen our view of who our neighbor is. Presently, we need to notice the needs of each person we meet. As we have heard from many leaders recently, we must pull together if we are going to make it through the plague we now are experiencing. Jesus came that we all might be one (John 17:20-21). Maybe we will be more unified when this crisis is over. Graces can come out of the worst situation.
Dear Parishioner,
We received word from the chancery that the parish churches will not be open for Holy Week. This is heartbreaking for us all. None of us have experienced this in our lifetime.
We will carry on. The plan now is to livestream a simplified version of the Holy Week Services. This will not be ideal, but we will do the best we can to keep our community connected.
Let’s pray for each other and especially that our households might be protected from the scourge of this virus. May God extend his mercy to us. I will write again tomorrow to keep you up to date.
Fr. Mark