{"id":2453,"date":"2018-03-11T12:38:51","date_gmt":"2018-03-11T16:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2453"},"modified":"2018-03-11T12:38:51","modified_gmt":"2018-03-11T16:38:51","slug":"4th-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/4th-sunday-of-lent-year-b-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"4th Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

4th<\/sup> Sunday of Lent, Year B<\/a>
\n2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
\nPsalm 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (6ab)
\nEphesians 2:4-10
\nJohn 3:14-21
\nMarch 11, 2018<\/p>\n

Our first reading today comes from the Second Book of Chronicles.\u00a0 We don\u2019t hear a lot from the first or second book of Chronicles in our regular lectionary cycle.\u00a0 So, they may not seem familiar.<\/p>\n

That being said, what we hear today should be familiar.\u00a0 It talks about how the princes, priests, and people of Judah add to their infidelities and abominations.\u00a0 I say \u201cadd\u201d because, unfortunately, these behaviors are nothing new.\u00a0 The Jews are a chosen people but they often fall short of their election.<\/p>\n

Despite their failings, God never stops loving his people.\u00a0 Chronicles tells us that \u201cearly and often did the LORD, the God of their fathers, send his messengers to them, for he had compassion on his people.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 God kept sending prophets as his messengers to warn and teach them.\u00a0 They did not heed the prophets and instead mocked, despised, and scoffed <\/em>at them.<\/p>\n

Sin continues today.\u00a0 We hear God\u2019s Word over and over in our three-year cycle of readings for Sunday Mass (two-year cycle for daily Mass) but we still sin.\u00a0 We can\u2019t find our way out of the darkness.<\/p>\n

What are we to do?<\/p>\n

We turn to John 3:16, \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

God loves us.\u00a0 That\u2019s what we are to see when we look at Jesus on the Cross.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we, as Catholics, use Crucifixes.\u00a0 We know that Jesus is no longer bound to the Cross but it is the image of Jesus lifted up on the Cross that reveals God\u2019s unlimited love for us.\u00a0 If we look at an empty cross, we see what God used as an instrument of salvation.\u00a0 If we look at Jesus on the Cross, we see salvation itself.\u00a0 We see God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our light, the light that reveals our salvation.\u00a0 Yet, there are those who hate the light.\u00a0 The gospel speaks of them preferring darkness.\u00a0 I am not sure they \u201cprefer\u201d the darkness.\u00a0 Rather, perhaps they don\u2019t even realize they are in the darkness.\u00a0 We need to be explicit and say that the darkness we are talking about is \u201csin\u201d.<\/p>\n

How could one not realize their sin?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t darkness be obvious?<\/p>\n

Picture yourself standing in the middle of a large room.\u00a0 The lights are all on.\u00a0 You can see everything clearly.\u00a0 Suddenly, because of the 12 inches of fresh snow and wind, the power goes out.\u00a0 You go from bright light to complete darkness in an instant.\u00a0 The darkness is obvious.\u00a0 At that moment, you cannot see anything<\/strong>.\u00a0 If you stand there, over time your eyes will adjust and you begin to see basic images.\u00a0 You can walk around in the darkness.<\/p>\n

Now, put yourself back in the brightly light room.\u00a0 There is one difference this time.\u00a0 There is a dimmer switch on the light.\u00a0 Every few minutes, someone turns the dimmer down just a little bit, one notch at a time.\u00a0 The change of each notch is so subtle that you don\u2019t even notice it but the darkness comes and you cannot see as you think.<\/p>\n

So it is with sin.\u00a0 Sometimes our sin is big and we see the darkness.\u00a0 Other times, it is a slippery slope.\u00a0 Either way, we end up in darkness.\u00a0 What are we to do?\u00a0 How do we get out of the darkness?<\/p>\n

God, \u201cwho is rich in mercy,<\/em>\u201d is the answer.\u00a0 In sin, we have become \u201cdead in our transgressions<\/em>\u201d and it is only \u201cby grace<\/em>\u201d that we can be saved.<\/p>\n

What must we do to receive this grace?<\/p>\n

You cannot earn it from works.\u00a0 \u201cIt is the gift of God.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 It is freely given by God.\u00a0 If we desire the gift, we must strive to follow Jesus as the way and the truth and the life<\/em> but we cannot save ourselves.<\/p>\n

To be saved, we must come to Jesus with contrite hearts to ask for forgiveness.\u00a0 God eagerly waits to forgive us.\u00a0 There is only one thing that stops God from forgiving us.<\/p>\n

Us.<\/p>\n

We are the only thing that can stop God from forgiving us.\u00a0 We have to admit our sins.\u00a0 We have to ask him for forgiveness.\u00a0 The way we do this is the Sacrament of Reconciliation (confession).<\/p>\n

Going to the Sacrament of Reconciliation isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0 We don\u2019t like to admit our faults.\u00a0 We don\u2019t even like admitting them to ourselves, let alone others but it is how we hand them over to God.<\/p>\n

So, we have our annual diocesan Day of Penance this Wednesday.\u00a0 When was the last time you went?\u00a0 Do you think you need to?\u00a0 Maybe, maybe not.\u00a0 Then, make a good examination of conscience such as one found on the pamphlets<\/a> we put out last week and this week.\u00a0 Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see your sins so you can hand them over to Jesus.<\/p>\n

God is rich in mercy and ready to forgive you.\u00a0 You just have to ask with a contrite heart.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

4th Sunday of Lent, Year B 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23 Psalm 137:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (6ab) Ephesians 2:4-10 John 3:14-21 March 11, 2018 Our first reading today comes from the Second Book of Chronicles.\u00a0 We don\u2019t hear a lot from the first or second book of Chronicles in our regular lectionary cycle.\u00a0 So, they may …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘4th Sunday of Lent, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,260],"tags":[417,70,416,139],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Dz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2454,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453\/revisions\/2454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}