Dear friends,
Slowly but surely, we are heading to the peak of the celebration of Easter mysteries. Today’s readings are reminding us the meaning and the purpose of Christ’s death. God always wanted to show compassion on his people. Sin takes us away from God and leads us to captivity. By sinning, we embark on exile journey from God and his kingdom. Yet God’s eyes are never turned away from us even at that time when we decide to embrace darkness rather than light.
The celebration of Easter mysteries brings us back to God. They renew us and make us experience God’s unending mercy and love. For, while we were still sinners, God sent His only Son in the world as a ransom for many. But before then, we are expected to open our hearts and listen to God. We are called to embrace the grace of God freely and generously given to us in Christ. Paul insists therefore on the benevolence of God’s salvation in Christ. This embrace is manifested through and by our commitment to fulfilling diverse works of mercy. The latter, rather than being understood as our ways to pay for our salvation, are to be looked at as our response to God’s grace. This helps us comprehend why Paul reminds us that none of us should boast about accomplishing works of mercy. On the contrary, they should be revelatory of our identity as Christians and disciples.
But how does one realize these works of mercy amidst the feeling of hopelessness and despair? John gives us the answer in the gospel. We are to look up to Christ crucified on the Cross. For He is the only one to give us true peace and hope. Like the Israelites in the desert, we are invited to look up to Christ on the Cross whenever the serpent of hopelessness, despair, or discouragement bites us. It is on the cross that we find comfort and consolation from every challenge and test we encounter on our life journey.
Christ on the cross reveals us the depth of God’s love and mercy for us. When sin strikes us and leads us in dark valleys, today’s gospel reminds us that there is still a remedy for our salvation and rescue: Christ crucified. Whenever we look at Him on the cross and we cry out our sins and weakness, time again blood and water gush from his side to cleanse us. Lent is precisely the Kairos, the appropriate time we are afforded to return to Him, to look up to Him from the ashes of our nothingness and powerlessness. This coming Thursday, we will have the opportunity to exactly look up to Him in an incredibly special way as we celebrate our Parish Penance Service. I urge to you to consider making benefit of this time of renewal to let Christ heal you from every wound.
Let us continue to pray for one another and for our parish family.
Fr. Emery