29/03/2009 - 5th. Sunday in Lent
- B
1st. Reading Jer 31,31-34 Psalm 50 2nd. Reading Heb 5,7-9 Gospel Jn 12,20-23
"Our Father"! We have already said that the word "our"
reminds us of the fact that we are children of God in as much as we are baptized,
members of the Body of the only Son of God, belonging to the Church of Jesus
the Christ. In fact this prayer is given to us by the Church at our baptism
and we pray it in communion with the whole of the Christian community. Saying
"Our Father" we join all those who believe in Jesus so that together
we live the same mission that of witnessing the face of God, to bring forward
his Kingdom, to continue what he had started. God loves us in a special way
because we have accepted his Son, his Word, and knows that he can count on us:
knows that he can ask us to work with Jesus, and even to suffer and die with
him. When we are baptized, we are baptized in his death and we don't look for
special privileges from God, neither comfortable situations nor wealth in this
world, on the contrary, we are ready to sow expressions and signs of his love
even when this means that we have to suffer. We think of those brothers and
sisters who have to face injustices even from their family's side or fellow
workers, or because of state laws, or because of the violence by other citizens
who follow other religions. The situations in which Christians suffer because
they are believers are several, and many suffer without complaining, knowing
that they patience is a witness of the Reign of God in Jesus the Christ. These
share in the cross of the Lord under the protection of the Father, and they
suffer in the name of all their brothers. We are all grateful to them, and knowing
their passion, we receive in return, a power to resist the pressures of the
world and the temptations of the evil one. Let us not complain, but let us prepare
ourselves to offer our struggle as a prayer that gives value and consistence
to the words we are saying without any fatigue. All together, as the Body of
Christ, we have a Father, and we are happy because we are able to communicate
to each other the living experience we have of the fatherhood of a God who is
so close, so attentive, so for seeing and provider.
We are close to Easter, the moment in which we renew and revive the grace of
our Baptism. The Word of God makes us aware of seriousness of this reality.
It is the true way of being inserted in the holiness of Jesus, in his divinity,
and this mean, to share in his way of the cross. It is in his blood that the
new covenant with God is established. A covenant that lasts for ever and that
not even sin or the betrayal of man will ever break it. Jeremiah describes it
as our participation in the intentions of God: his Law shall not be given to
us from without, but within through the Holy Spirit. And our closeness to him
shall have as a fruit the forgiveness of our sins. Our sins are the motive of
the prayer and the sufferings of Jesus. He died because of our sins: this means
that they have provoked his death, but he also accepted to die to free us from
the mortal effect they have on us. Thanks to his death, he is "the cause
of eternal salvation" for those who obey him, for those who share his love
to God and to men. In today's world sin is being ignored. The consequence of
this is that one does not appreciate the value of the life and death of Jesus,
and he is looked at simply as a great good man, who can teach something and
give an example, but not more.
Listening to the Word today we are helped to see our life, in need of salvation.
If Jesus did not die and rose we would be confused, without any power in front
of the attacks of the enemy of our lives. Jesus entered into death, which is
the weapon of our enemy, and won it for us, because he filled death with his
life, with his light, with his love. The moment of dying for Jesus was the moment
of glorification at the same time, that is, the occasion to reveal to all that
in him the greatness and the power of God's love were at work. Lifted on the
cross, Jesus drew, the looks of men, of all, Jews and pagans: that is the fundamental
moment of their salvation. For this reason Jesus gave a prophetic importance
to the fact that the Greeks, that is, the pagans, were looking to meet him,
to see him. This is a sign that for him the moment of going upon his throne,
to the cross had come, to give to the Father his life for the life of the world.
Hence he fulfills the great act of love: the place where he fulfills this offer
is the place of his glory, the throne of his majesty. Jesus is fully aware of
this, and because of this, from one side his soul is troubled and would be tempted
to ask the Father to remove that hour, and from another side, he knows that
this is the way that he has to go through to fulfill the mission he was sent
for, that of overcoming "the prince of this world"; so he ask the
Father to glorify his name through his offering. The Father, through a voice
from heaven, assures that the offer of Jesus is accepted. His disciples share
in his act of love, those who want to follow him to serve him. Living our baptism
we unite with Jesus, to offer ourselves, and we would be with him also to enjoy
the eternal reward of the Father!