Fourth Sunday of Lent (March 22, 2009)
God loves us so much that He gives us His only Son. Don’t think that He gave Jesus to us two thousand years ago and now He’s gone. No, that’s not the case. Jesus came and He stayed. He is with us right now. Yes, He is with you too. He walks with each and every one of us every step of our journey, not just this 48-step journey, He walks with us in our journey through life.
Last night I was talking with a dear friend and we were commenting how difficult it is to get people to make a commitment to attend an Emmaus retreat or any other retreat for that matter. We were in a fundraiser for a very good cause. The place was pretty full in spite of the fact that it was raining and that the economy is in pretty bad shape. We thank God for that because all the funds raised were going to help very poor people in the Dominican Republic. However, I couldn’t help thinking how easy it is to attract people to have a good time with music, food and drinks, but how hard it is to attract people to spend a weekend on retreat or to attract people to serve. It seems that in service it’s always the same people. Where is everyone else?
In today’s reading Jesus tells us that “people preferred darkness to light…” Most of the people I know I would say that in general they are very good people, they have a good heart and they consciously don’t hurt anybody. However, more than half are completely ignorant of what they are missing. They go through life looking for happiness in all the wrong places. They think that money and temporary pleasures is the key to happiness, so if I dare to try to open the door just a little bit to show them what there is on the other side, they shut it in my face.
We all know someone that does not want to experience the light. We cannot force them, all we can do is pray. In the meantime, let’s continue walking because we are already catching a glimpse of the light that awaits us at the end.
Fourth Sunday of Lent (March 11, 2018)
Today is Laudate Sunday. Laudate is a Latin word which means praise. This Sunday is supposed to be a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent. It gives us a glimpse of the light in the darkness. It gives us hope that even when we are going through difficult times, when our cross seems too heavy to carry, we will see the light. At the end of our journey, we will experience the resurrection.
Today, the priests at mass will wear rose color vestments instead of purple. Purple represents death and suffering, whereas pink or rose is the color of joy and happiness. Today we celebrate a little Easter in preparation for the big Easter celebration that we will experience in just three weeks.
Let’s continue our journey. The light is near.
God loves us so much that He gives us His only Son. Don’t think that He gave Jesus to us two thousand years ago and now He’s gone. No, that’s not the case. Jesus came and He stayed. He is with us right now. Yes, He is with you too. He walks with each and every one of us every step of our journey, not just this 48-step journey, He walks with us in our journey through life.
Last night I was talking with a dear friend and we were commenting how difficult it is to get people to make a commitment to attend an Emmaus retreat or any other retreat for that matter. We were in a fundraiser for a very good cause. The place was pretty full in spite of the fact that it was raining and that the economy is in pretty bad shape. We thank God for that because all the funds raised were going to help very poor people in the Dominican Republic. However, I couldn’t help thinking how easy it is to attract people to have a good time with music, food and drinks, but how hard it is to attract people to spend a weekend on retreat or to attract people to serve. It seems that in service it’s always the same people. Where is everyone else?
In today’s reading Jesus tells us that “people preferred darkness to light…” Most of the people I know I would say that in general they are very good people, they have a good heart and they consciously don’t hurt anybody. However, more than half are completely ignorant of what they are missing. They go through life looking for happiness in all the wrong places. They think that money and temporary pleasures is the key to happiness, so if I dare to try to open the door just a little bit to show them what there is on the other side, they shut it in my face.
We all know someone that does not want to experience the light. We cannot force them, all we can do is pray. In the meantime, let’s continue walking because we are already catching a glimpse of the light that awaits us at the end.
Fourth Sunday of Lent (March 11, 2018)
Today is Laudate Sunday. Laudate is a Latin word which means praise. This Sunday is supposed to be a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent. It gives us a glimpse of the light in the darkness. It gives us hope that even when we are going through difficult times, when our cross seems too heavy to carry, we will see the light. At the end of our journey, we will experience the resurrection.
Today, the priests at mass will wear rose color vestments instead of purple. Purple represents death and suffering, whereas pink or rose is the color of joy and happiness. Today we celebrate a little Easter in preparation for the big Easter celebration that we will experience in just three weeks.
Let’s continue our journey. The light is near.
No comments:
Post a Comment