FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT

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The Gospel offers us a beautiful compendium of the whole history of salvation this fourth Sunday of Lent. Its guide us ourselves to prepare our hearts to earnestly seek him; also it helps us to redoubled our attention to the Word of God, our own plan of live, and to see ourselves in the entire human family.

The second book of the Chronicles echoes the history of infidelities lived by the people of Israel. It show us the commitment of Yahweh through the preaching of His prophets.  And how He redirects them again through the paths of the covenant agreed with their parents. The author of the book knows very well what is the key to God's action: "the compassion he felt for his people".

This compassion of God for his people and for all humanity is the hopeful thread of the three readings that the Eucharistic liturgy of this Sunday gathers. Saint Paul expresses it openly to the Christian community of Ephesus: we are saved, forgiven, called to an endless life, not by our merits or efforts, but in Christ and by Christ. And he adds a commitment that seems particularly interesting to us today: "so that we may dedicate ourselves to the good works that He himself has shown us".

Jesus' dialogue with Nicodemus leads us to the summit of this unfathomable mystery of love which is the redemptive work toward which we are heading on this Easter journey: "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, so that he will not perish none of those who believe in Him, but have eternal life. "

I think that this abundant expression of God's love for humanity that is offered today calls us, at least, to these two great realities: contemplation and action.

When we began this year the Lenten journey with the celebration of the imposition of the ashes, Pope Francis invited us to stop. This stop is necessary. We have too many hurries, too many claims and anxieties, too much noise and commotion, enveloping and suffocating us. We are overly concerned with the immediate and material realities. It atrophied our transcendental connections. The spiritual dimension of the human being languishes or completely disappears from many of our contemporaries.

We must take time to listen the beating of the mystery, to listen and delight in the Gospel what it offered to us. We must take a time for ourselves to realize that we are involved and inhabited by a Mystery of Love that explains us which is the origin and goal of our pilgrimage through this world.

The attentive and continued contemplation of the Love of the Father, which has been manifested to us in the history of his Son among us, will lead us to live a true commitment of love. Love that is not selfish and does not judge. The same Love that  believes, waits and serves without limits. It is the beginning to starts every day.

This love shows the joy of those who have experienced love in their lives. With this love the world is clothed with humility, filled with peace and hope. (cf Jer 29:11).

FR. CESAR VALEROOPFr. César Valero Bajo, OP