We’ve all heard this story of Christ meeting a women at a well. They are both thirsty, Christ for water and the woman for God. They quenched each other’s thirst.
But I’d like to say a few words on Paul’s letter to the Romans.
It would be an under-statement to say these are troublesome times. We’ve yet to come to grips with our environmental reality and now we face a viral pandemic. In a way we’ve brought it all on ourselves. Environmentally we’re living beyond our means. We can travel anywhere in the world but that blessing can expose us to many dangers. A virus that came out of a market place in China has spread around the world by jet travel. Italy is in lock down, the stock market is in shambles and tourism is at a standstill.
What we need now is the strength of God’s gift of Hope. We believe in God, we believe in God’s Son, Jesus our Christ and we believe in God’s life giving Spirit. Hope is God’s gift to us that helps us trust that God’s promises will be kept, no matter how our present circumstances make us wonder if this be true.
St. Paul tells us we are justified, made right with God, by our faith, our conviction that we are loved by God, we are precious to God. God proves this to us when God sent Jesus into our world not to judge or condemn us but to die his shameful, painful death on the cross so that might be one again with God.
No matter what we give up for Lent or what good works we do in Lent, no matter what prayers we pray this Lent the upmost conviction we must have this Lent is based on these words of Paul in our first reading;’ While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly, Christ died for you, Christ died for me. Christ died for Jewish people, Christ died for Moslem people, Christ died for Gay and Transgender people, Christ died for the refugees and immigrants of our troubled world. God our Father proves his love for all of us in that we were still sinners Christ died for us all.
We say we believe all this but there are many times in our lives when things are so confused, so uncertain, so unfair when all we can say is this simple truth; Lord I believe, help the little faith I have.
We hang on to Hope. In the face of global or personal crises we hang on to our conviction that God, our Father, our Mother is true to the promise, I am with you always even til the end of days. Hold on to hope, keep the Faith, God is with us especially in these uncertain times. Remember at this Mass those suffering from these disease, the scientists searching for a cure and the nurses and doctors caring for the sick.
This Homily entry was posted on Sunday, March 15th, 2020.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
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