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." Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him. (Dn 3:14-20,91-92,95)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040925.cfm
The story of the Fiery Furnace captures the imagination and invites us to trust ourselves to God’s providential care and to sing, “Glory and praise for ever!”
So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses, "Make a saraph and mount it on a pole, and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live." Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole, and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent looked at the bronze serpent, he lived. (Num 21:4-9)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040825.cfm
The story of the Bronze Serpent seems to contradict the commandment against graven images. Yet, Moses makes the bronze serpent as the Lord asks, and the people are healed. The early church used this story in its preaching of Christ Crucified.
Susanna cried aloud: “O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be: you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me.” (Daniel 13:1-9, 15-17, 19-30, 33-62)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040725.cfm
In the story of Susanna God saves the innocent. In the gospel story of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus saves the guilty. The good news of Lent is that all are saved! Today's photo is a stained glass window of the Trial of Susanna.
Jesus straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then 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.” (Jn 8:1-11)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040625-YearC.cfm
The richest man in the world has said that the fundamental weakness of civilization is empathy (compassion). They once asked Jesus his opinion of empathy, and Jesus answered: “Let the one without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Do we follow the values of the richest man in the world, or do we follow Jesus, the Compassionate?
Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say that the Christ will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (Jn 7:40-53)
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/040525.cfm
Jesus has always caused division: Feed the hungry, Welcome the stranger, Care for the sick, the imprisoned and the least among us , Love your enemies. Do we follow him or the values of the world?
