Fifth Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Cassie

Philip is the apostle who was also tested by Jesus before the multiplication of the bread.  His name is Greek, so one could understand that the Jews from Greek background, also in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, would come to him to have access to Jesus.  Their request empties more than just having physical access to Jesus: “Sir, we want to see Jesus”.  However, Jesus’ reply to their request sends everyone back to the paschal mystery of His death and resurrection.  The Son of Man is just about to be glorified, and from now on, Jesus is to be seen only with the eyes of post-Easter faith.

Jesus takes this opportunity to provide one of the most enlightening theological accounts of His upcoming death and resurrection: “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (verse 24).  This tells us everything.  One might say it is the law of nature.  Yes it is, but for Jesus it comes as a free choice and from a total willingness to serve.  There is no other way to be a disciple of Jesus, to be a Christian, than being a loving servant like Him and giving away one’s life “in this world” so as to “keep it for Eternal life” (verse 25).

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

Third Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Cassie

Through the “cleansing” of the temple, Jesus was really symbolically replacing it.  Without animals for sacrifice, sacrificial worship could not be offered at the temple.  Jesus later in the Gospel of John tells the Samaritan woman at the well because of Him, worship will be offered to God not at special sites like the Jewish and Samaritan temples, but in Spirit and truth (4:23-25).  The real temple of God—place of God’s special presence– is not a building in Jerusalem, but Jesus Himself.  Thus Jesus can say, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”  John explains to us that He is talking about the temple of His body.

Jesus’ action at the temple was thus another sign of who He was and of the momentous change He was making in the relationship between God and His people.  His first disciples did not immediately grasp the full significance of the signs He worked, but their  meaning became clearer after Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  Signs such as the “cleansing” of the temple enabled people to believe in Him (Verse 11,23).

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

 

Second Sunday of Lent

Posted on by Cassie

Jesus just told His disciples that He would lead them to the cross.  He knew it would not be easy for them to follow a crucified Messiah, so He wanted to give them a glimpse of what awaited them on the other side of the cross.  The Transfiguration was an anticipation of the glory of Jesus which He would enter through His death and resurrection.  It was also an anticipation of the glory His disciples would experience if they walked the way of the cross with Him.

The dazzling white, the high mountain, the cloud, the voice from the cloud, were all images from the Old Testament that showed the glorious presence of God with His people.  The two central figures from the Old Testament were also there: Moses, as the great lawgiver, and  Elijah, representing all the prophets of old.  Jesus was the fulfillment of God’s plan, the one to whom both the law and the prophets pointed.

The voice of God speaks:  He identifies Jesus as His son and urges us to “listen to Him.”  We too can have our mountaintop experiences of God, times in which we are overwhelmed with awe and joy in God’s presence.  Yet we cannot depend on there brief experiences to last and sustain us.  We must listen to all the words of Jesus and move with Him in the way He leads us.

Praise the Father for making us His beloved sons and daughters.  Ask Him to strengthen us in our struggle with suffering and death.  Look with hope to our future transfiguration when God will raise us from the dead and take us into glory.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell