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The
judgement on the world is called ‘love and mercy’
IV Lent Sunday
Year B - 26.03.2006
- 2Chron.36:14-16,19-23
- Psalm 36
- Ephesians
2:4-10
- John
3:14-21
Reflections
Death
and life, judgement and salvation, condemnation and faith, darkness and
light,
evil and truth... are all expressions of a dualism that is
characteristic
of John, that can be seen even in today's Gospel. Human history
of all
times is made up of these contrasts, tensions and partial victories,
sometimes
of evil, other times of good, according to the powers and events that
pile on
top of each other or clash. What preoccupies and stresses the human
heart most
is wondering which will prevail in the end, what the last word will be.
Optimism and depression, hope and despair, all depend on the answer to
this
dilemma.
John
himself, in recording Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus, gives us the
answer
that gives hope: God's love prevails over the evil of the world. God's
judgement on the world is salvation, offered as a gift; God's final
word is not
death, but life. “God loved the world so much that he
gave his
only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may
have
eternal life.” (3:16) Condemnation is, in the end, a personal choice
that some
people make; it is the heritage only of those who prefer darkness and
hate the
light (v.19-20). God's design is for life. “Over sin and evil in the
world, the
light of God's love shines constantly” (F. Mauriac).
The
reading the history of the People of Israel from an anthropological
angle, as
given in the Book of Chronicles (1st Reading), is done in terms of
sin-punishment-salvation. Sin was general: leaders, priests, people -
all
“added infidelity to infidelity” (v.14), but despite that, the Lord
“loved his
people” and sent his messengers tirelessly (v.15). After experiencing
defeats,
deportations and slavery, the people at last find the way of return to
the
homeland open to them. The liberation proclaimed by Cyrus, King of
Persia, is
seen as a final intervention by God, which fulfils his promise of
salvation (v.
22).
For
Paul (2nd Reading), at the origin of the divine plan for the
world there
is a "God rich in mercy" who loves with a great love
(v.4) and offers everyone superabundant grace and “goodness towards us
in
Christ Jesus” (v.7). In Him we have salvation, through faith; “and
this... is
by God's gift” (v.8). This gift is not reserved for a few; God
offers
it to all, even if by diverse ways and in different times. The sign of
this
universal salvation is the Son of Man raised from the earth in the
desert of
this world — for everyone! He is the judgement of divine love over the
earth: a
judgement of mercy! (*)
It
is enough -- but necessary, so as not to close our eyes to the light --
to gaze
on Him. He is the Son, the first of many sons and brothers, lifted up
“so that
everyone who believes may have eternal life in Him” (Jn.3:15).
Salvation is
offered to the one who believes, to whoever raises their eyes towards
Him, to
those who “look upon the one they have pierced (Jn.19:37). Keeping a
gaze of
love fixed on Him is the source of salvation and mission. St. Daniel
Comboni
recommended this to the future missionaries of his Institutes who were
to work
in Africa. “The constant thought of the great purpose of their
apostolic
vocation must engender in the students of the Institute the spirit of
sacrifice. They will develop in themselves this most essential
disposition by keeping
their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, loving him tenderly and
seeking
always to understand more fully the meaning of a God who died on the
cross for
the salvation of souls. If they contemplate and appreciate a mystery of
such
great love with a living faith, they will consider themselves blessed
to be
able to offer themselves to lose everything and to die for him and with
him.” (Writings,
2720-2722).
The Pope's
Words
(*)
“Believing in the crucified Son means "seeing the Father," means
believing that love is present in the world and that this love is more
powerful
than any kind of evil in which individuals, humanity, or the world are
involved. Believing in this love means believing in mercy. For mercy is
an
indispensable dimension of love; it is as it were love's second name.”
John Paul
II
Encyclical
Dives in Misericordia
(1980), n.7
In the
steps of Missionaries
-
27/3: St. Rupert (+718 ca.), Bishop of Salzburg, evangeliser of Austria
and
Bavaria.
-
30/3: Bl. Ludovico of Casoria (Naples, 1814-1885), A Franciscan who
worked and
created institutions to redeem African children from slavery and to
educate
them
-
30/3: St. Leonard Murialdo (Turin, 1828-1900), founder of the Society
of St.
Joseph, for the education of the young and for the Missions.
-
1/4: Bl. Ludovico Pavoni (Brescia, 1784-1848), pioneer of vocational
and
occupational schools for young people, a promoter of the Catholic press
and
Founder of the Sons of Mary Immaculate (Pavoniani).
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Edited by Fr. Romeo
Ballan, mcci - Former Director of CIAM, Rome
Website:
www.ciam.org “Word for the Mission”
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