The passage from 2nd Chronicles reviews the history of the relationship of God with Israel and the difficulties encountered by the people when they had forgotten God.
* [36:22–23] These verses are identical with those of Ezr 1:1–3a and were to prevent the work from ending on a note of doom.In the text from Ephesians, Paul speaks of justification: by grace, through faith as the gift of God and not from works.
* [2:1–10] The recipients of Paul’s letter have experienced, in their redemption from transgressions and sins, the effect of Christ’s supremacy over the power of the devil (Eph 2:1–2; cf. Eph 6:11–12), who rules not from the netherworld but from the air between God in heaven and human beings on earth. Both Jew and Gentile have experienced, through Christ, God’s free gift of salvation that already marks them for a future heavenly destiny (Eph 2:3–7). The language dead, raised us up, and seated us…in the heavens closely parallels Jesus’ own passion and Easter experience. The terms in Eph 2:8–9 describe salvation in the way Paul elsewhere speaks of justification: by grace, through faith, the gift of God, not from works; cf. Gal 2:16–21; Rom 3:24–28. Christians are a newly created people in Christ, fashioned by God for a life of goodness (Eph 2:10).The famous Gospel passage John 3:16 speaks of Jesus as a gift in the incarnation and in the crucifixion.
* [3:16] Gave: as a gift in the incarnation, and also “over to death” in the crucifixion; cf. Rom 8:32.Edward Morse alerts us to unlikely sources of mercy and initial interpretations.
Today’s gospel reading contains a famous passage from John’s gospel — John 3:16 — which many know by heart. It is part of a larger narrative in which Jesus tells Nicodemus about his saving mission. I once read this passage as validation of the prominent role of faith in our salvation, but I now see that works matter, too. Indeed, this gospel warns those who think they can believe but persist in doing wrong.Don Schwager believes that If our love is guided by what is true, and good and beautiful then we will choose for God and love him above all else.
Our faith should not stay in our head. It should be reflected in our hearts, arms, legs, fingers, and toes as we do works that proceed from love of God and love of neighbor, which St. Augustine
Hilary of Poitiers, 315-367 A.D.Mary M. McGlone invites us to look at our prayer, our belief and our life and to ask ourselves: How does our prayer form our belief? What image of God is in our heart when we hear that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son? And perhaps most importantly, how is our prayer and our image of God made manifest in our daily interactions?
"God, who loved the world, gave his only begotten Son as a manifest token of his love. If the evidence of his love is this, that he bestowed a creature on creatures, gave a worldly being on the world's behalf, granted one raised up from nothing for the redemption of objects equally raised up from nothing, such a cheap and petty sacrifice is a poor assurance of his favor toward us. Gifts of price are the evidence of affection: the greatness of the surrender is evidence of the greatness of the love. God, who loved the world, gave no adopted son but his own, his only begotten [Son]. Here is personal interest, true sonship, sincerity; not creation, or adoption, or pretence. Here is the proof of his love and affection, that he gave his own, his only begotten Son." (excerpt from ON THE TRINITY 6.40.27)
On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we are invited to look at our prayer, our belief and our life and to ask ourselves: How does our prayer form our belief? What image of God is in our heart when we hear that God so loved the world that he sent his only Son? And perhaps most importantly, how is our prayer and our image of God made manifest in our daily interactions?
When Jesus speaks of his being lifted up as our salvation, as a light and a path to life, we begin to realize that he is talking about the cross as the ultimate revelation of love. Instead of compensating to God for human sin, Jesus reveals God's self-offering to humanity, God's unceasing love. No matter what we do to reject that love, God continually offers us eternal life. All we have to do is accept it.
Friar Jude Winkler reviews the quick overview of how God heard and rescued the people of Israel in Chronicles. The free gift from God who knows our sinfulness yet nevertheless plans to rescue us as John declares in the Gospel.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Pope Francis and “geologian” Fr. Thomas Berry about the theology of scarcity that led us to believe that we did not have enough love left to cover all of humanity!
When you love something, you grant it soul, you see its soul, and you let its soul touch yours. You must love something deeply to know its soul. Before the resonance of love, you are largely blind to the meaning, value, and power of ordinary things to “save” you—to help you live in union with the source of all being. In fact, until you can appreciate and even delight in the soul of other things, even trees and animals, I doubt if you have discovered your own soul either. Soul knows soul.References
(n.d.). 2 Chronicles, chapter 36 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/2chr/36:162
(n.d.). Ephesians, chapter 2 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/ephesians/2
(n.d.). John 3:16-17. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/john/john3.htm
(n.d.). Online Ministries - Creighton University. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/online.html
(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
(2018, March 10). Fourth Sunday of Lent: Living in God's love | National Catholic Reporter. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://www.ncronline.org/news/spirituality/scripture-life/fourth-sunday-lent-living-gods-love
(2017, December 30). 2018 Daily Meditations - Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 11, 2018, from https://cac.org/2018-daily-meditations/
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