4th Week of Lent – Monday B

There is one exception: us! We human beings whom he has made in his image. Okay... several billion exceptions! That is, he made us to be immortal - eternal. He has endowed us with a soul that will not cease to exist with our last breath, but he has also promised to raise up our mortal bodies while spiritualizing and glorifying them at the same time. Sounds too good? Yeah, well it kind of is, in that it's beyond our imagination and it applies only to the elect... the "glorifying" part that is. You see, on the last day, God will raise the remains of souls already deceased out of their tombs with regenerated bodies. They will in that sense, be spiritualized, but only the ones judged worthy to be allowed into heaven will be glorified. After judgement, the rest will receive the perdition of a spiritualized body, but it won't be glorified, and with that, will descend into the abyss of infernal fire and death (the second death alluded to in Sacred Scripture) forever. Heaven is real, so is hell. Purgatory will cease with the last judgement. Now, back down here, to our lowly little planet earth.

When it all disappears, the sun, the stars, the solar systems, galaxies, black holes etc... when it all fades away, YOU will still be around, because YOU are immortal and destined to be with your Eternal Father forever! You are his treasure and for this reason you can say with the psalmist: "I thank you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." We ARE his children and he has designed us so as to never slip out of existence like everything else material. Wow, right? How special we must be to him, if everything else will be allowed to pass away. Not his children.

It all serves to remind us of what is at stake, and it gives a clearer context to why Jesus (God himself) chose to suffer in order to make it happen, for nothing with the least taint of sin could ever enter into his presence to remain there forever. "It boggles the mind when one actually considers how long forever is! Our earthly life is short, yet if we don’t repent while we’re here and may live to a hundred, our damnation will be forever." (1) It is the wise who reflect on this and prepare themselves well, like the virgins who were prepared with enough oil in their lamps so as to await the arrival of the bridegroom. The Creator of the universe is beyond any holiness we can imperfectly imagine. It is a holiness which in its perfect justice requires atonement for sin, which could only perfectly be accomplished by God himself, and yet it all boils down to our decision. The consequences and effects of it are eternal, and what he is trying to accomplish in us, especially during Lent if we will let him, is this: He is trying to make our hearts and minds new, by purifying them in his mercy so as to continue to form us. It is a lifelong process for those who cooperate with his grace, for those who take the time to engage his Word, his Sacraments, and choose to grow in prayer. The more we allow God into our lives, the more he is able to transform us and, through us, to help others who may be struggling as well.

Jesus came into the world so that our lives may be full and complete. He wants us to grow in virtue and put away our old self. He wants us to discover the joy of living freely in his and our Father’s loving and caring providence. Continually he is telling us not to be afraid and not to worry because whatever seems beyond our control, is not beyond his. We need to “let go, and let God.” There are so many things which will cross our paths, whether it involves a personal struggle or some kind of predicament our loved ones or friends may be facing.  It can even be a global issue, like a war, or pandemic. In all of these, Jesus is always there calming us down and reminding us that he is with us. The grace and protection of Jesus’ presence is often invoked in the most difficult of times, and for good reason, for what has he revealed is the worst that can happen? Death? Yes, but not the death of this life, but rather of the next. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands.” Mark 9:43 And this is the good news that our Lord wanted to share with the people of his day back then, and with all of us in 2024— that he has power over death itself! A lot of people find this too difficult a message to embrace and mere wishful thinking at best. Almost like Plato’s analogy of the cave, where they kill the man who speaks of another world, preferring the indifference of the shadows on the wall before them, rather than the splendour of the light of day. In a moment we will see however, that even from death in this life, our Lord has often saved us and wishes to save us, until it be that time to make our transition. As the song goes, ".. and in dying that we are born to eternal life."

First, however, let us reflect on how in today’s gospel, Jesus and the good news he wished to share is driven out of his hometown of Nazareth, for a prophet is never accepted in his ow home town. There may have been times where you have been rejected, and shunned for a good thing you may have been attempting to convey or do, and not only is that okay, but St Francis tells us to rejoice when that happens, precisely because it happened first to the Son of God and when we suffer in solidarity with him, what did he himself promise us in the beatitudes? "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven" Matthew 5:11,12. “Blessed”… which literally can be taken to mean, “happy.” What would otherwise be a painful rejection possibly even leading to psychological consequences, becomes a wonderful gift which leads to everlasting joy and happiness. It is no wonder that Saint Francis therefore calls this, “perfect joy”. There’s joy, and then there’s perfect joy, when because of our authentic and fire-tried love for Jesus, we will have to endure some kind of suffering.

Eventually, we need to come to a point in our relationship with God where suffering for his sake, out of love for him, is no longer something which we cannot handle or feel we need to evade. Sometimes we will have to suffer on account of the ones we love. We would suffer for our wives, our children, our parents. Why would we not suffer for the One who ought to be our greatest love of all? 

The Galileans on the other hand, receive our Lord and his message. Those who were considered the worst of their society, the bottom of the food chain, were generally the first to accept him. As Saint John Chrysostom points out: “Observe how those who are spoken ill of, are always the first to come to Christ.”

Faith was always a prompt for Jesus to go ahead and do wonderful things for those who trustingly asked. And so, as he is still in the process of arriving in Galilee, the evangelist tells us he performs his second miracle, after changing the water into wine there at the wedding feast on a previous occasion. A ruler in that vicinity is distressed on behalf of his son who is so sick he is close to death. He pleads with Jesus to pray over him before he loses him forever. Yet, with Jesus, there is no eternal loss. He is the truth, the way, and the life, and whoever believes in him, even if they die in this world, shall live in the next. Jesus reassures the father that his son is healed, and so it was.