These reflections are a result of more than 40 years of ministry as a Roman Catholic priest. Most of these years I spent in the Diocese of Charlotte which covers Western North Carolina. Now I am retired, and live in Medellín, Colombia where I continue to serve as a priest in the Archdiocese of Medellín.
Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” “Assuredly, O king,” they answered. “But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.” (Dn 3:91-92)
The three youths in the fiery furnace is one of those Bible stories that just stays with you. God watches over us even when it seems that everything and everyone is against us.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.
R. O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.
Lent has always consisted of Prayer, Fasting and Works of Mercy. It seems that Lent 2020 is teaching us more about prayer. As Saint Paul reminds us, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thes 5:17). And so with the Psalmist we remind the Lord: “Hide not your face from me . . . incline your ear to me!”
Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” (Jn 8:10-11)
In the story of Susana and the Elders (Daniel 13:1-64) the whole assembly praises God “who saves those who hope in him . . . Thus was innocent blood spared that day.” (Daniel 13:60,62) But the gospel of Jesus and the Adulterous Woman is another story altogether. The tag line could have read: “Thus guilty blood was spared that day.” Or as the wonderful poster at the diocesan retreat center said while showing a hand holding a rock: “Jesus was once asked for his support of the death penalty--His reply, Let one who is without sin cast the first stone.”
I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. (Jn 11:25-26)
In time of great fear of death and disease, the Lord reminds us as he reminded Martha: “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” and then asks her, “Do you believe this?” And Martha answers for all of us:
“Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” (Jn 11:27)
O Lord, my God, in you I take refuge. (Psalm 7:2a)
In the story of the Storm on the Lake, the disciples cry out in fear, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Yesterday, in the midst of the torment of the Covid-19 virus, Pope Francis, in his apostolic blessing Urbi et Orbi, invited the world to take refuge in the Lord who indeed cares for us.
As Pope Francis said: “We have realized that we are on the same boat.” How many people every day are exercising patience and offering hope, taking care to sow not panic but a shared responsibility. How many fathers, mothers, grandparents and teachers are showing our children, in small everyday gestures, how to face up to and navigate a crisis by adjusting their routines, lifting their gaze and fostering prayer. How many are praying, offering and interceding for the good of all. Prayer and quiet service: these are our victorious weapons. Like the disciples, we will experience that with Christ on board there will be no shipwreck. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies."
