Dear friends,
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, the Church is invited to rejoice. This joy has its source in the fact that our deliverance is near. However, this joy will be fully experienced at two conditions: to reconcile oneself with God and to be a new creation in Christ. This is even the core of Easter, namely that God has reconciled himself with us through the sacrifice of His beloved Son, who poured out his blood for our sake.
Today’s Sunday reminds me the beginning of Spring. During my study time at Notre Dame, Indiana, I was always amazed at the change that occurred at the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. Life was coming back after the gloom of death that shaped the whole season; seemingly dry trees, the barren ground covered with snow, and so on. Life seemed absent, since everything was almost buried. With Spring comes flowers and the new perfume that comes from there brings joy as well as renewal.
Easter we foresee and anticipate today is comparable to that new beginning. Here we are recreated in Christ and reconciled with God. This joy comes from who God is and what He has done for us. We can all scream and shout out: I am free because God has saved me in Christ. However, this joy will be fully experienced only when we open up to the grace of God, if we let it penetrate our heart and transform us from within. Lent is that time we are offered to take a time to drop all the old and ancient leaves to help us flourish anew. And because we are unable to make the move by ourselves, the Lord comes to our rescue to draw us towards everlasting life. This is exactly the source of our joy.
This past Friday, the holy father, Pope Francis consecrated the whole humanity and , especially Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. What a blessing and a sacred time! This consecration should be a starting time for us also to look in a new direction during this Lent and throughout our lives as disciples. The immaculate Heart of Mary brings us the joy of embracing God and His Son Jesus Christ.
And that joy can be fulfilled only insofar as we share it with others. Today we are all sent and commissioned to carry out the message of the joy of the Gospel: that God has called us once again in a special way to reconcile with him and with one another. We are invited to share the joy that flows from every reconciliation; for in Jesus we are reconciled with God ad with one another.
May the Immaculate Heart of Mary, united with the Sacred Heart of her Son, fille us with every blessing we need to convey the message of peace in our lives, our families, our neighborhood and our workplace. The joy of this consecration will be full when each one of us becomes a channel of its transmission.
Then, Easter will be the event we truly experience renewal as we become new creation in Christ. Let us pray for one another and for our parish family, and let us strive to be the instrument of God’s joy as we share the Joy of the Gospel.
Fr. Emery