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Reflections
for Sunday, March 3, 2013
Today's Gospel is difficult for us. This parable told by Jesus challenges
us immediately: is there any good result in our lives from our following
the Lord? This is a strong Lenten message. It is not meant to condemn us
but to tell us clearly that when we follow Jesus Christ, we are expected to
live as He lived: doing good to others, serving others and seeking always
God's will.
The first reading, from the Book of Exodus, tells of the Burning Bush that
Moses encountered in the desert. This is a much more comfortable image for
us. God chooses to reveal Himself to Moses and gives a clear message: I
have come to save My people and bring them into the land that I have
promised them.
God wants to save us. God will save us. We are invited to respond.
Salvation is always a gift and we must accept the gift. Lent is the time
to spend some time being aware of the ways in which we refuse God's gift of
salvation to us, a time of our seeking to respond more faithfully to this
gift.
The First Letter to the Corinthians tells us that all of those who followed
Moses had good intentions but most of them did not end up being faithful to
the call of God. These kinds of writings can be scary for us. They speak
only the truth. We would like to know that we are saved. We would like to
know that God will have mercy on us. The challenge of Lent is to recognize
that we do not respond, that we can respond and that God is always
merciful.
Sometimes all that we humans can do is ask God to remove our sinfulness,
our lack of responding. We don't seem to have the capacity to do it
ourselves or consistently choose the way of the Lord. So, with confidence
during Lent, we can ask God to change us, to transform us, to let us see
His presence as Moses saw Him in the burning bush.
No matter how hard we try to be faithful, our human condition is always
with us and we fail. This is the story of our ancestors in the faith and
it is our own story. Lent is a time for humility and self-awareness—yet
without feeling sorry for ourselves. We have to keep on trying and most of
all we have to ask God to burn out all within us that is not of Him. We
ourselves can become the burning bush: totally on fire with God's love and
yet not yet consumed by it.
Lord, have mercy on us in this time of Lent!
Readings of the day:
First Reading: Exodus 3.1-8a, 13-15
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10.1-6, 10-12
Gospel: Luke 13.1-9
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