Fr Antony Christy, SDB –
THE WORD IN LENT – Friday, Fourth week
March 15, 2024 – Wisdom 2: 1, 12-22; John 7: 1-2,10, 25-30
Through the desert God leads us to freedom. This week beginning with the laetare Sunday, we have been hearing the Word indicating to us various reasons to rejoice: the untiring mercy of God, the love of God that reaches out, the covenant that the Lord has made with us and so on. While we can thus list out many such reasons to rejoice in the Lord, the Word today presents to a much deeper truth: a true person of God does not look for reasons to rejoice; he or she rejoices in the Lord irrespective of any circumstances!
When St. Paul exhorts us to rejoice always, and emphasizes the capacity to be glad whether in plenty or in want, this is the quality he underlines. The fact that we are loved by God and we are surrounded by God’s mercy, does not guarantee that we would have nothing to suffer. At times, even when we wish no harm for another, there will be those who might want to hurt us, or there might be circumstances that might put us on a rough patch in life.
There are moments in life, when we are prone to observe what the lines from the book of Wisdom tells us today: our life is short and dreary, nor is there any relief when one’s end comes. There could be some lurching in dark to see us fall. In all these circumstances, what we manifest as our mindset is what will define us – whether we are people of God or not, whether we really are persons rooted in the Lord or not.
Jesus leads the way and shows us what it means to be convinced of being a son or a daughter of God. He never gave up his identity, or never compromised on it, neither threatened by those around nor seduced by the possibility of pleasing them in some way. He held on to his identity, and spoke and did what the Lord wanted him to. There was something about him, that made his strong, and stronger in the face of the evil that opposed him and wanted to see his end. That would be true of any son or daughter of God, and that would be characteristic of any people of God.
The Church today, we the people of God today – we are challenged to be glad in our identity and vocation as people of God. There may be oppositions from within, from around and from out there! Nothing would disturb us if we rejoice in the fact that the Lord who gives us this identity is always with us. It does not matter if our hearts broke with these circumstances, the Lord remains close to those broken hearts. Irrespective of the circumstances that could assail us, let us be glad in the Lord, we know him and it is he who sends us!
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He holds doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him on.