LAETARE SUNDAY REFLECTION

"HE HAS CALLED YOU OUT OF DARKNESS INTO HIS OWN WONDERFUL LIGHT" 

(1 PETER 2:9).

Laetare Sunday: the Gospel moment when we glimpse the glorious Light of New Life in the Resurrection, when our Lenten sacrifices are paused and our souls strain toward the splendour of our rising in the Risen Christ.

In the Gospel on this day of joy, when we quietly step into the Gospel scene, we may find ourselves made speechless by what we witness as the events unfold. 

    Jesus Lord "was passing by and saw a man blind from birth" (John 9:1-41).

Perhaps we notice that the blind man did not ask the disciples to lead him to Jesus to ask for healing. We don't hear the man addressing Jesus so we may infer the possibility that he had never heard of this Healer. He was simply a blind man, standing at the wayside, listening to the disciples of Jesus asking the Lord if the man's blindness was the result of the sins of his parents.

The man born blind is completely silent.  

Jesus Lord chose this one to be healed, one who was enduring lifelong suffering and darkness. 

And the healing would give glory to God.

If we take this to prayer, we may be confronted with a question that may unsettle our souls: we are believers in the gratuitous Self-outpouring love of God. Do we accept our sufferings in order to give God glory when He wills to heal us?

 

Or when He wills to withhold His healing, for the salvation of our souls?.

St. Therese reminds us...

        

        "Does He not see our anguish and the burden that weighs us down? Why does He not come and             comfort us? ...He knows that it is the only means of preparing us to know Him as He knows                     Himself, and to become ourselves Divine!"

And our souls are quieted. 

The man born blind is completely silent in the Presence of the Lord.

Our minds may remember the little petition: "Lord, be near to those who seek You without knowing it" ( Liturgy of the Hours). 

And the Lord draws near to the man born blind whose life then changes for ever.

                                              

                      We hear the Lord Jesus speak....

                                          

                      "'As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.'

                         ... he spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle 

                                 and spread the clay on his eyes" (John 9:1-41).

   And Christ Jesus gives a man born blind the light of life, physical light and, as the remainder of the Gospel testifies, spiritual light; a man who had never known daylight and who had dwelt also in a profound spiritual darkness.

We may pause to ponder in prayer: who are we in this Gospel miracle moment?

At the moment of our Creation ... 

                   "... the Lord God formed man from the clay of the earth, 

                       and he breathed into his face the breath of life, 

                                  and man became a living soul" (Gen. 2:7).

            

   At the beginning of time, God, Creator, uses 'clay' and forms us, gives us life from the dust: the Breath of God breathes into our being and our soul is given life in God.

       At that moment in Genesis, we are physically formed into a living being from the 'clay' of the earth.
       At that moment in John's Gospel, Jesus Lord, God, "spat on the ground and made 'clay'.

      He touches the blind man ... us; He re-forms our 'clay,' breathes new spiritual sight into our souls, and we become a living soul in Himself.

     Jesus, Lord, God, "as long as He is in the world," never stops loving us into new life in Him.

We were, we are, and we always will be, spiritually re-formed and re-created, endlessly, in Love, into Himself.                                   

"Why are we in this world? The great reason is that God is Love and that He has loved us. He created you out of love, He called you out of love, and this love remains alive. What He has loved, He still loves; what He has given, He will never take away. As St. Paul, who deeply understood God’s nature, reminds us: “The gifts of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), and what He has begun, He will bring to completion!

God cannot let us go, He cannot abandon us, because He loves us. Our great hope is God; our great hope is eternity! He sees all things in truth and clarity, while we only see appearances. He sees us in our eternal reality. He longs to share His vision with us,  to awaken our hope in this eternal reality" (Pere Marie-Eugene of the Child Jesus). 

CHRIST IS THE LIGHT LIFTING US OUT OF OUR BLINDING SPIRITUAL DARKNESS.

And in His Love, He transforms us into ...

"THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD; ...

WHOEVER FOLLOWS ME WILL HAVE THE LIGHT OF LIFE"

(John 9:1-41).

                        THIS IS LAETARE SUNDAY: A DAY OF HOLY JOY.

A CALL TO PRAYER

On the Third Sunday of Lent in the Catholic Church's Scripture readings, we hear King David's plea to us to join him as he turns to God in prayer.

                                                                  PSALM 95 ...

                                 "COME !  

                                      HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS.

                                            LET US COME INTO HIS PRESENCE .....

                                                   LET US BOW DOWN AND WORSHIP....

                                                           LET US KNEEL BEFORE THE LORD WHO MADE US..."

                                  

It is Spirit Lord, whose words are given voice through His servant King David, Who is beseeching us to kneel down alongside His servant in this passionate call to come into God's Presence with deep humility, reverence, awe.

 

                Spirit Lord's appeal to us in these words of King David is an urgent call to prayer. 

 

                Do his words, echoing to us down through the millennia, resonate in our souls now, today?

As we set out on our Third Week of Lent, we may be given to recognize if we have been tempted to be less vigilant in our Lenten prayer promises. If so, we may dig deep and begin to identify the subtle strategies that have been utilized to tempt us to turn away from our walk alongside Jesus on His journey toward Jerusalem. Spiritual weariness? Spiritual apathy? Stress at work, at home? Have we been permitted to endure the sense of a spiritual fragility that taunts us by suggesting to us that these steps to Calvary are too risky, painful, too filled with potential life-changes that may cause our "normal" to drift out of our control?

It is with great spiritual joy that we realize, yes, we have been tempted to abandon our Lenten sacrifices.

A temptation is not a sin. Jesus the Lord was tempted by Satan himself in the Judean wilderness (Matthew 4; Luke 4). Lent is our wilderness time and when we are being tempted during these precious weeks, our proximity to the Living Furnace of Love is fine-tuning our souls for Divine possession and transformation.

It is good to remember an insight from St. Therese of the Child Jesus who was sorely and endlessly tempted, whose physical and emotional and spiritual temptations assaulted her, simultaneously, and without rest.....

"It is so consoling to think that Jesus, the strong God, experienced all our weaknesses, that He trembled at the sight of the bitter chalice - the cup that He had longed for so ardently."

And her advice to us as we falter? ...

"Always keep lifting your foot to climb the ladder of holiness, and do not  imagine that you can mount even the first step. All God asks of you is good will."

"It is God Who, in His good will toward you, begets in you any measure of desire or achievement. "(Philippians 2:12-16)

HE IS THE GIVER. HE IS THE GIFT. HE IS THE DESIRE. HE IS THE REWARD. HE IS NEVER NOT PRESENT IN OUR SOULS.

HE IS THE ALL, IN ALL.

                 PRAYER IS OUR GOOD-WILL STEP IN OUR MOUNT TOWARD GOD. 

"OUR FULCRUM IS GOD; OUR LEVER, PRAYER; PRAYER WHICH BURNS WITH LOVE. WITH THAT, WE CAN LIFT THE WORLD." (St. Therese)

To turn toward God is already to pray.....the desire to pray and the power to pray are gifted to us, rising

from the depths of our soul, inspired and graced and given breath by the movement of the Holy Spirit dwelling in those depths. To breathe is to pray if the pray-er loves God. 

                    Does the plea of Spirit Lord, calling us to pray through the words of King David,

now resonate more loudly in our souls ...

                                 "Come! ...bow down.....kneel before the Lord Who" made us?

Perhaps, when we are bowing down and kneeling before Him, we may  breathe in the words of Our Lord Jesus as He rushes to come to us in our act of humility and His invitation to us is a deeply personal one...

                                                          

              "... (Hear Him speaking our name) ... Come away by yourself with me to a secluded place and rest a while." (Mark 6:31)

We may have pre-arranged to meet Him for a regular 10 minutes each night of Lent, in a darkened , silent place, with a little artificial candle for light. 

A prayer of petition first prayed by St. John of the Cross may begin and conclude our wordless conversation with Our Lord each night...

"NOW I ASK YOU, LORD, NOT TO ABANDON ME AT ANY TIME IN MY RECOLLECTION 

                                              FOR I AM A SQUANDERER OF MY SOUL."  

                                                      (Maxims and Counsels)