We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for the 4th Sunday of Lent, Year C

Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast. (cf. Is 66:10-11)

We began our Eucharistic Liturgy today with these words from our Entrance Antiphon, and they give us this Sunday’s nickname… Laetare Sunday, from the Latin word that means “Rejoice.” We are just past the halfway mark of Lent! The joy of Easter is drawing near… there are still weeks of discipline and repentance ahead, but our goal is in sight!

What leads us into joy? What prepares our hearts to receive the fullness of consoling joy the Father has prepared for us? The second operative word for our liturgy today is “Reconcile.” We heard it in the Collect, or Opening Prayer, we heard it in our second reading, and our Gospel couldn’t capture the mystery of reconciliation more vividly!

Even in our second reading it is there, albeit a little hidden! Joshua has led the people of Israel across the Jordan River, and their escape from the slavery of Egypt and their long 40 years wandering in the desert is complete. It didn’t take so long for them to come out of Egypt, but it took a lot longer for Egypt to come out of their hearts… So the Lord tells them, “Today I have removed the reproach of Egypt from you.” They celebrate at Gilgal on the Plains of Jericho, it is the Passover. They remember their rescue from Egypt, the way that the Angel of Death passed over them because of the blood of the Paschal Lamb. And, the next day, having arrived, the manna ceased… they would now be fed with the produce of the Promised Land.

Notice how much journey and process is involved… God calls Abraham, then later Isaac, then latter Jacob, also known as Israel… Israel’s sons end up in Egypt, and long years later they have come out of Egypt and have entered the Promised Land. And, yet, this was still perhaps well over a thousand years before Jesus was born in Nazareth! God calls us in freedom, He doesn’t force us, and so responding to that call is a journey! One very fruitful way that we can read and apply the Old Testament history to our lives is to see in the historical struggles of these men and women are own personal struggles to respond to God!

What does it mean to be reconciled to God? How do we get there? What are the obstacles? Listen to the psalm:

Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.

At its root, reconciliation is something God does for us and in us… “from all his distress he saved him.” God offers… will we respond and accept this salvation? And therein lies the obstacle, our will, our persistent choosing away from God.

As we reject God’s will and God’s law, we get farther and farther away into the outer darkness, the wasteland, the “distant country” of our parable. We end up in a place like that lost son, eking out a poor miserable existence, wishing we could eat some garbage. In our materially wealthy world, this is a very accurate spiritual description… rampant poverty and emptiness, even if the car is new and the plate is full! And if the thought occurs to go back, to turn back, to repent… very often we severely limit or doubt God’s mercy. Notice that even as the son turns back, he expects only to be hired, not to be loved. This is what happens when we begin to bargain with God. We offer Him little dribs and drabs in return for some service or result. And some don’t even turn back for fear of being rejected… “Father, I’m excommunicated because I got a divorce.” “Father, I don’t know if God can forgive what I’ve done.” Brothers and sisters in Christ… these lies are driven by the Enemy, who wants us to stay far away out of fear. God can forgive anything if we want to be forgiven. That doesn’t mean that all the consequences of past sin are quick or easy to work out, but God’s door is open. Trust the Lord’s mercy! Most important, come to confession, especially if it’s been a long time, especially if some heavy sin or burden has been weighing on your heart. If you didn’t already get my letter, you will on Monday… go through that examination of conscience and prepare yourself to receive infinite mercy!

There is a second barrier that we erect… the barrier that the elder son puts firmly between himself and his father’s love… this is self-righteousness! I would hazard a guess that for many of us who find ourselves here at Mass, this may be the greater danger… many of us, by God’s grace, do not frequently commit serious public, or hidden sins. Many of us may not carry deep in our hearts the desperate fear that we have been cast out and can never go back. And, yet, that doesn’t mean that the enemy isn’t gnawing at us and trying to keep us away from God’s joy. We can be so very close to God’s altar, and yet so far away. Do we think God owes us something? All we have is a gift. Do we think we can nurse little bitter grudges against our siblings or neighbors? We keep saying, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others.” Do we look down on all those people “out there?” May God save us from such darkness! At the end of the story, the elder son who never left is himself far, far away from the Father. That can happen to us, even as we are indeed here, even as we are practicing our faith. We, too, are in need of reconciliation!

Now, at the end, we come to the greatest challenge… are we, in St. Paul’s words, “ambassadors for Christ?” This is the goal, not only that we would be reunited in the Wedding Feast of the Lamb, not only that we would be welcomed back into the Loving Father’s arms, but that having received this gift we would share it with others. This is the New Evangelization, this is the Mission… missio in Latin means sent… we are sent with glad tidings, that we have been redeemed, reconciled to God. St. Paul says it beautifully:

Whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come. And all this is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and given us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

Our trespasses have not been counted against us! Can we embrace this fully and deeply? If so, we can then bring these tidings of joy and truth to all those who are so much in need of that message. Call them to mind… the spouse who should be sitting next you your, or your children who should be taking their children to Mass somewhere… your neighbor or boss or employee, your classmates at school… they need God just as much as you do, and if you will be reconciled, then you become an ambassador, a messenger, who brings that to them. With St. Paul, I implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God! We have three weeks before Easter… do not waste this time, get in the box, go to confession, receive God’s mercy, and offer it to each person in your life who needs it too.

+ J. M. J. +