Life Giving faith

Hope
The midpoint of Lent is here.  Hopefully a new pattern of prayer, fasting and almsgiving has been established. If not, it is good to begin again. Remain steadfast with hope in the Lord and trust in his grace. The Sunday Mass Readings for the 3rd and 4th Sundays in Lent reveal the depth of trust during times of thirst and darkness. These are moments by God’s grace, are through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, the one whom we lean into by faith and hope.

God Provides

The 3rd Sunday of Lent begins with the Israelites’ desert journey with little to no water (Ex 17: 3-7). Be reminded in the previous chapter, God provided manna and quail after the Israelites grumbled at Moses that they had nothing to eat. Here, we see a thirst for water. It seems only natural to ask for this.

Perhaps it was not so much the asking as it was the disposition. The Israelites were suffering, upset, impatient, struggling, fatigued, parched, and hopeless to the point of despair. The asking came from a complaint because of the suffering due to physical hardship. Did they forget so soon the miracle of the manna and quail? Did they not recall that God provides? Why did hope subside so quickly? Had their faith been lost so soon? Despite Moses’ attempt to reassure hope and trust in the Lord, the Israelites grew angry; bitterly angry. Moses desperately pleaded with the Lord to help lest they kill him. God provided, as always, with water from, of all places, a rock.

When have I been “thirsty” for something so deeply, turning to God for help? Whom have I complained to that God has forgotten me in the desert of the moment? Have I ignored their reassurance of trusting in the Lord? Have I hardened my heart? When have I been the messenger of hope only to be rejected and doubted? What “rock” did God ask me to strike?  What happened when I struck the rock?  “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. beside restful waters he leads me; he refreshes my soul” (Psalm 23: 1-2).

Hope

St. Paul writes, “... hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Romans 5:5). Faith informs hope. When faith is strong so too is hope. Life without hope is like a sailboat without wind, very much afloat yet simply adrift.  Hope gives faith the winds to a destiny, promised and yet to come. Paragraph 1817 in the Catechism states, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit.”

Living Water

We read in John 4:5-52 the account of the Samaritan woman’s encounter with Jesus. We come to discover she, the Woman at the Well, was filled with faith and hope. Even though her lifestyle lacked virtue, it was her faith and hope in the promise of the coming of the Messiah that ultimately enabled her to hear and believe who Jesus said he was. Like the Israelites she was in her own desert, drawing water from a life of sin and isolation. Yet, in the ordinary of her day, Jesus interrupted her routine and offered more than what regular well-water could quench in a lifetime. In fact, the living water Jesus gives is eternal, life-giving, as he relieves all physical, spiritual, mental and emotional thirsts we experience. The power of the Holy Spirit calls us forth from our desert world and into the salvific waters of his mercy.

Have I hopefully come to meet Jesus at the well? What am I thirsting for? What path am I on and will it lead to Jesus, who invites us into his mercy? “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage” (Psalm 23: 3-4).

Look Into the Heart

The 4th Sunday of Lent begins with the anointing of young David, least likely to be king of Israel yet most beloved by God because of the disposition of David’s heart. We read, “Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance, but the LORD. 
 

looks into the heart” (1 Sam 16:7). What does God see when looking into my heart? How do I see others? Is appearance primary, or am I most inspired by who they are? How does my heart inform my thoughts, decisions, and actions? What is the source that fills my heart? Have I embraced the anointing of my baptism? “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. You spread the table before me in the sight of my foes; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows” (Psalm 23:5).

Opened My Eyes

St. John’s Gospel (Jn 9:1-41) describes the account of the miraculous healing of the Man Born Blind. Imagine never seeing the face of your family, not to mention the beauty of the earth. We can close our eyes and try to grasp this, yet unlike those whose vision is impaired, we can simply open our eyes and see. This encounter comes with restoration of physical, as well as spiritual sight. At times we experience spiritual blindness. Since Jesus came for “recovery of sight to the blind” (Luke 4:18). Then what does this “recovery look like?”  Christ invites us to “see” as he sees, to know as he knows, to serve as he serves and to love as he loves. Jesus desires to open our eyes to his life. He calls us from the darkness of the desert into the light of his life. The blind man’s physical sight is healed by the very spittle of Jesus, mixed with dirt to make a clay paste which was smeared over his eyes, washed off in a pool. His eyes were open. So much controversy was generated over this miracle. Some believed, while others doubted. Hence Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind”  (John 9:39).

Cardinal Robert Sarah in his book, The Power of Silence, explains Silence of the Eyes, “For some years now there has been a constant onslaught of images, lights and colors that blind man. The silence of the eyes consists of being able to close one’s eyes in order to contemplate God who is in us, in the interior depths of our personal abyss.” (Sarah, R., Diat, N., & Miller, M. J. (2017). The Power of Silence: Against The Dictatorship of Noise).

“What am I filling my eyes with? Does what I consume lead me to God or lead me astray? Am I willing to be open, to ask Jesus to restore my sight? Is Jesus the light of my life? Lord, help me to see! “The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want. Only goodness and kindness follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for years to come” (Psalm 23: 6).

Dow is the director of the Office of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Diocese of Baton Rouge.