SHARING
OUR FAITH
THOUGHTS
FOR PARENTS
DURING THE 4th WEEK OF LENT
Compilation of a Homily by Deacon Robert
Our
Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Lent relates an encounter between Jesus and
a fellow named Nicodemus. You may notice that I said encounter, not meeting.
Nicodemus knew he was going to meet Christ. I am sure like many of us he had
questions and arguments he was going to pose to Jesus, he had a scene played
out in his mind as to what he was going to say and how he was going to act.
Also like us it did not go as planned, it became an encounter, something beyond
our control. Encounters are always interesting because we generally find out
something about ourselves as well as about the other person.
There is something that we must understand about our ancient Hebrew forefathers.
Their society was entirely open. Under normal circumstances it was almost impossible
to keep something secret. So all things that were to be kept secret those that
were shameful were done in the dark of night. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and as
such did not want to have to endure the questions and anger of his peers, so
even though he believed that Jesus was from God. He met our Lord in the dark
of night.
In any event, in their nocturnal encounter, Nicodemus AND Jesus carried on a
lengthy conversation. Much of it was devoted to the necessity, as Christ put
it, of "being born again of water and the Spirit." Couple this with our Lord's
reference to the calvary mystery, " the Son of Man must be lifted up" and you
can see that Nicodemus was being drawn into the demands of faith.
While he was trying to get inside the soul of Christ, he discovered he couldn't
unless he allowed Jesus to get inside his soul. He was doing his probing on
a purely intellectual level, but our Lord was issuing an invitation to Faith.
There is a bit of Nicodemus in each of us. We want the encounter with Christ
because we don't want to miss the salvation mystery, but we entertain fear of
what the encounter might demand. And that, frequently, is what keeps us from
getting personal with Christ, and from accepting him into our lives by a personal
embrace, and from making a personal commitment to him by an abiding, unabashed
faith.
Oh yes, we Catholics have the treasures of our religion: the Mass, the Sacraments,
marriage, the Rosary. But do we really know Christ personally? Or do we just
hide in the group, hoping to be swept along anonymously into eternity?
Well, treasures or no treasures, we have to encounter that question at some
point in our lives. Do we know Christ personally? Do we pray WITH Him, IN Him,
as well as THROUGH Him?
In other words, what has become of our encounter with Jesus in the mystery of
Baptism? Does the encounter continue or is it on hold? Has it received our adult
ratification or is it still "in the night time?"
Unless we handle these questions with care, we could easily end up like the
chosen people described in the First reading today. Scoffing at God's prophets
and mocking his messengers, they drifted into weak faith and deteriorated morals,
ending up far from any encounter with their God.
Throughout our lives, we need ongoing encounters with our lord Jesus Christ.
Not one, but many. And our first encounter is with his mystical body here on
earth, the church, as she constantly proclaims that Jesus is the divine Son
of God and the human son of Man; that he came into the flesh to redeem us from
our wounds and sins and death; that he is the great high priest who offered
his total self in the sacrifice of the cross for reconciling mankind to God
the Father; and that her mission is to lead us into many encounters with the
savior; and that among these are abiding prayer WITH Christ and IN Him as well
as through Him.
We as parents try to pass on to our children our faith and our love of God.
Yet many of us are hesitant to show our faith in public. Like Nicodemus we hide
our belief in the dark of night. Our children can see beyond our words, and
judge us by our deeds. My question to all is. How have we shown to our children
that our faith is not just to be talked about, but something to be lived.
(Deacon)
Robert
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