{"id":916,"date":"2018-03-21T04:39:59","date_gmt":"2018-03-21T04:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/?p=916"},"modified":"2018-03-21T04:39:59","modified_gmt":"2018-03-21T04:39:59","slug":"homily-lent-week-05-02-yr-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/2018\/03\/21\/homily-lent-week-05-02-yr-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"HOMILY LENT WEEK 05 02 – Yr II"},"content":{"rendered":"

Living Out the Cross<\/em><\/p>\n

(Num 21:4-9; Ps 102; Jn 8:21-30)<\/p>\n

*********************************<\/p>\n

Did you notice a similarity between the first reading and the Gospel? Both Jesus and Moses struggle with their audience \u2013 Moses with the Israelites and Jesus with the religious leaders of his day.<\/p>\n

Both readings invite us into a deeper faith in Jesus and a deeper life of prayer. Faith and prayer (believe and pray), are words that capture the deeper meaning of readings today.<\/p>\n

First regarding faith, in the gospel we see the sin that caused Jesus the most grief is the hypocrisy and unbelief of the Jewish religious leaders. The tension is so extreme that Jesus finally tells them that they will die in their sin, and that their sin is that of the world. They in their turn ask, \u201cWho are you?\u201d That is the perennial question of our world even today \u2013 every year there is some magazine somewhere that carries an article on Jesus of Nazareth, trying to figure out who he is.<\/p>\n

Jesus\u2019 answer is indirect: \u201cWhen you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am he.\u201d He is referring back to the first reading, the Book of Numbers, where the Israelites, who were supposed to be the Chosen people of God, were acting like anything but. They murmured against God and rebelled against Moses.<\/p>\n

We are challenged to be different: to put our faith in the Cross of Jesus as the ultimate revelation of who God is (mercy, compassion, unconditional love, forgiveness to the thousandth generation, and total non-violence), and as the key to the kingdom (acceptance of redemptive suffering without bitterness or resentment).<\/p>\n

Thousands of years before the time of Jesus, God was teaching the Israelites to put their faith in a figure on a cross that has no poison, no sin, no addiction in him. That, of course, would be Jesus who died for us on the cross, to save us from our poison, our sin and sinfulness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Interestingly, as it was then, so it is now. God does not take our suffering, obstacles or problems away. Instead, we are to look to Jesus to find the strength to work on our issues and go through our problems to a better future that will make us deeper, more compassionate persons. He forgives us, heals us and strengthens us to forgive, to apologize, to be reconciled, to love even our enemies, and to experience in that way new peace and joy.<\/p>\n

Second, regarding prayer, these readings imply two kinds of prayer: petition and adoration, or intercessory and contemplative.<\/p>\n

The first kind of prayer in that first reading is the prayer of petition or intercessory prayer. The people were being bitten by scorpions and petitioned Moses to intercede for them. So, Moses petitioned God to save them and take away the scorpions. Interestingly, God did not take the scorpions away. Instead, he instructed Moses to fashion a bronze serpent, raise it up on a standard, have the people look at it and they would live. That symbol of the Greek god of healing, has become the medic alert bracelet of today, signifying healing.<\/p>\n

This kind of prayer can be called the prayer of the Anawim<\/em>, the poor people who know they need God. This is the lesson that Peter learned walking on the water \u2013 to pray from the heart and to hang on to Jesus. We need to do this prayer every morning \u2013 ask God to give us the Spirit of Jesus just for that day, one day at a time (an important slogan of A.A.), because there is no way that we can live that day the way God wants us to live it \u2013 joyful and free. Anyone can get through the day as a dry drunk if they are determined enough, but they won\u2019t be joyful and free \u2013 for that we need God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n

Psalm 102 is a good example of that prayer of the Anawim<\/em>, a heartfelt prayer of petition, turning to God for our needs: \u201cLord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you. Incline your ear to me, answer me speedily in the day when I call.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second kind of prayer in that first reading is the prayer of adoration or contemplation. God did not take away the scorpions. Instead, God instructed Moses to construct is to a bronze serpent, raise it up on a standard, and have the people look it and they would be saved. This implies contemplation, or adoration, without words.<\/p>\n

Lectio Divina<\/em> is a good way to pray this way with its four stages: lectio; meditation; oratio <\/em>and contemplatio.<\/em> Sep 11 of the A.A. program (\u201cSought through prayer and meditation, to improve my conscious contact with God, seeking only the knowledge of God\u2019s will for me and the power to carry it out\u201d) is also all about this kind of prayer.<\/p>\n

The Eucharist is itself an act of faith in the Cross of Jesus and our greatest prayer of thanksgiving, intercession, adoration and contemplation.<\/p>\n

So, let us pray for a deeper faith in the Cross of Jesus Christ, and the ability to nurture that faith through prayer and meditation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Living Out the Cross (Num 21:4-9; Ps 102; Jn 8:21-30) ********************************* Did you notice a similarity between the first reading and the Gospel? Both Jesus and Moses struggle with their audience \u2013 Moses with the Israelites and Jesus with the religious leaders of his day. Both readings invite us into a deeper faith in Jesus […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","category-lent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/916\/revisions\/918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/archbishopsylvainlavoie.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}