26 March 2020
Thursday of the 4th Week of Lent
“But you do not want to come to me to have life’’. Jesus is frustrated with the people of his day, because of their refusal to accept him as the one whom the Father sent. He refers to the works the Father gave him to accomplish as testifying on his behalf. The ultimate work of Jesus is his sacrificial death on the Cross. What does this work testify to? It testifies to the love that God has for the world. As Jesus says to Nicodemus earlier in the Gospel according to John; “For God so love the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
As we continue our journey through Lent our focus will move from self-examination to contemplation of the Cross. While it is important and indeed necessary for us to take stock of our spiritual lives and demonstrate our repentance of sin, by works of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, it is not in doing these things that we are saved. No, we are saved by accepting the love that the Father has for us, love made manifest in the cross of Christ. For Christians, the Cross is not a sign of death and defeat, but a sign of life and love. That is why the cross is placed in honor in every Christian home. Why we cross ourselves before prayer, when entering a church, or in blessing. In all these actions we come to Jesus that we might have life in accepting the love God has for us. – Fr. Eilerman
Let us Pray,
We invoke your mercy in humble prayer, O Lord,
that you may cause us, your servants,
corrected by penance and schooled by good works,
to persevere sincerely in your commands
and come safely to the paschal festivities.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.