by: Br. DJ Garcia [cjm]
Man continues to perish with his ill-choices. Choices that have brought him to a cycle of sin and into the “abyss of misery.” St. John Eudes says that God was moved by our misery. He writes: “the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, ... is carrying all our sinfulness and wretchedness in his Heart ; that they touch him very closely ; and that if he were able to suffer, he would feel incomprehensible pain ; and that he has an infinite desire to free us from our sinfulness and to make us sharers in his eternal happiness.” And that the "In order to deliver us from the deepest abyss of misery … and to raise us up to the greatest degree of happiness, the divine mercy wanted the Son to become a man like us, mortal and able to suffer like us …."
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent—“Laetare Sunday,” this very same message resonates in today’s “gospel in a nutshell”: “God has loved the world so much, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.” Rejoice! What good news indeed! The merciful Father seeks our salvation through Jesus.
God who has “loved us first” continues to love us even as we continue living our lives in obstinacy and sin. He offers us His Son and desires that we “look upon him whom they have pierced” that we may find healing.
We are all broken and wounded. We have been bitten by the snakes of pride and self-centeredness and we continue to lick our wounds hoping that we can get healed. Jesus is offered to us but this requires us that we gaze at him—to believe, to trust, to surrender in Him.
And as we look to Jesus, the Light, our own shadows will be revealed to us. Frightening, for we may realize how hideous we may have become. In spite of this, Jesus loves us constantly and unceasingly. Lest we condemn ourselves, we need to confront the inconvenient truth that we need to change and be transformed from a life of self-centeredness to a life of selflessness.
Now is the day of salvation. Believe!
Prayer: Lord Jesus, your light reveals to my darkness. Save me, O Lord and grant me the grace to live in the light of your truth and love. Amen.
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