LIFE IS OUR CHOICE TO MAKE

MONDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT   

Dan 13:41-62; Ps 23; Jn 8:1-11

Our Choice to live a Spiritual Life

The Gospels we have heard for three consecutive Sundays of Lent have been thematic; the Church uses these different themes to prepare us for the coming Paschal celebrations. The theme of water of life, or the living water, was presented on the third Sunday at the encounter of our Lord with the Samaritan woman. The theme of the light of the world was presented on the fourth Sunday with the healing of the man born blind. The theme of life was presented yesterday, the fifth Sunday, with the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In each of these encounters, the Son of Man offers himself as the living water, the spiritual light, and the life of the world respectively. The offers remain open for each of us to accept or not. At each point of these encounters, our Lord makes it clear that it was not the making of the needy person that he or she is found in that position of need. But they are placed in their needy position for the manifestation of the glory of God. When Jesus heard of Lazarus's sickness, he informed the disciples that the sickness was not unto death but ordained for the glory of God to be manifested. Every one of our needs is allowed by God for the manifestation of his glory in our lives. However, we must cooperate with him in faith.

God permitted the exile of his people to Babylon for a given number of years. True, their sins against God were the immediate cause of their exile; yet they were exiled for the manifestation of the glory of God. What each of them in exile makes of their situation in Babylon depends on their cooperation with the grace of the word of God granted them. Daniel and the three young men made use of the opportunity of their exile to show forth the glory of God in Babylon to the astonishment and conversion of the king of Babylon and his people. The young woman, Suzanna, of whom we read in the passage from the book Daniel, maintained her integrity of life even in Babylon. But the two elders used their opportunity in exile to enrich themselves materially and corrupted their souls with lust. They turned their backs on the word of God and the life it offers to embrace depravity, evil, and death. Daniel’s words to each of them say as much. “You have grown old in wickedness, and now the sins of your earlier days have overtaken you, you with your unjust judgment, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of guilty men, when the Lord has said, ‘You must not put the innocent and the just to death.’” To the second, he says: “Spawn of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray! This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel, and they were too frightened to resist; but here is a daughter of Judah who could not stomach your wickedness!” Every one of us was conceived in sin and born a sinner. Our corrupt nature weighs us down to depravity. Our sinful condition and state of life are not of our making, but for the glory of God to be manifested in us. We must not remain in sin for grace to multiply.

The Eternal Word of God assumed our nature to give us the opportunity to better our lot. He brings the water of purification and life to us; He shines the light of God on our darkness; He proposes the life of God for our participation and communion with God. It is for us to desire and choose good over evil. Thus, the psalmist assures himself of God’s presence and help, saying: “If I should walk in the valley of darkness, no evil would I fear. You are there with your crook and your staff; with these you give me comfort.” Fortunate was the woman caught in adultery, for the Son of Man was there to give her the opportunity to choose an alternative desire in place of the dark and lustful desire of the flesh. The Lord knows we were born in sin and with sinful desires, for he understands our constitution. “As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, ‘If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.’ Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again.” He assumed our nature and dwelt among us as the answer to our problems and needs. With water he quenches our spiritual thirst, with his blood he redeemed us; with his word he enlightens our darkness, and he gives us his Spirit to be our life. Jesus is with us; we need not continue in sin. He gives us a chance to become new creatures as he did to the woman. “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ ‘No one sir’ she replied. ‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘go away, and do not sin anymore.’” Let our love and desires be for the heavenly banquet God has prepared for us in Jesus Christ, and we shall be renewed by eating of him.

Let us pray: O God, by whose wondrous grace we are enriched with every blessing, grant us so to pass from former ways to newness of life, that we may be made ready for the glory of the heavenly kingdom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.