Lent V

Lent V2015 – Cycle BJeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51; Hebrews 5:7-9; John 12:20-33

When I was being transferred from a former parish, a parishioner asked for an appointment whose purpose I realized was to express that the reason he never fostered a relationship with me was because he didn’t want to experience the hurt and pain when I left.   I have always thought how sad this man’s experience of life was. How many other relationships did this man pass up because of fearing the possibility of hurt and pain due to loss?

Without being a Luddite in relation to contemporary technology, I have to wonder if that same fear…

• …is not behind people who are sitting next to each other choosing to text rather than directly converse with each other(?)

• …of some young people not willing to answer a land line phone because they would have to talk to another person in “real time”(?)

• …of calling people “friends” on Facebook who you never have encountered, shared a meal, touched and embraced, looked into their eyes or heard their voice in any other reality than maybe Skype(?)

This is not a diatribe against technology but addressing the fear that keeps us from the risk and hard work of authentic and trusting human relationships. If we cannot foster human relationships with whom we live than how do we foster a relationship with Jesus who infuses the cosmos?

The Gospel relates that some Greeks, want to meet Jesus, spend time with him and listen to him. Jesus’ response is interesting: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” [John 12:24] The man in my former parish has regretfully chosen to remain a grain of wheat. He is a good person but remains an exterior husk. To risk relationship means to break out of the husk and begin sending down roots into the life-soil of another person and together shoot up the new life of a relationship into the warm sun.

Relationship will always consist of risk and encounter and the possibility of loss.   And this is also true of a relationship with Jesus. An encounter needs to be risked: “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” [John 12:21]

In his Apostolic Exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel”, Pope Francis stresses the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He invites all Christians at that very moment they are reading to stop and renew a personal encounter with Jesus Christ or at least be open to letting Jesus encounter the reader. He asks that all of us do this unfailingly every day. [See Apostolic Exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, #3] Francis understands that there has only ever been one way of truly getting to know another person and that is spending time with them. Just what the Greeks wanted to do with Jesus. Some such encounters we call dating and courtship.

Francis writes, “The Lord does not disappoint those who take this risk.” Recall, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies…” The pope continues, “whenever we take a step toward Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.” [Apostolic Exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, #3]

And this personal relationship with Jesus is not just for our own sake as important as that is. It is not solely about our salvation. It is so that we in turn can introduce other people to Jesus. Listen again, “Some Greeks came to Philip – Philip went and told Andrew – Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus”. If people are to come to know Jesus it will only be through people who know him. Here the Latin dictum applies, “Nemo dat quod non habet” – “You cannot give what you do not have.” That is why the Church lays particular stress in the Baptismal Rites on the parents knowing and accepting their responsibility to raise their children in the practice of the faith. Faith here understood not as Church teachings and law, sacramental and liturgical practices and prayers but faith primarily understood as having a personal relationship with Jesus. An uncomfortable question for parents is, did you introduce/do you introduce your children to Jesus as Philip and Andrew did for the Greeks or did you introduce them to Catholic culture? There is a wide channel between Catholic culture and practice and a personal relationship with Jesus. The culture flows from the relationship and I think we have been trying to do it the other way around for far too long. “Some Greeks came to Philip – Philip went and told Andrew – Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus”.

In the face of the human suffering from poverty, disease, thwarted opportunities and violence to loneliness, emptiness, and the fear of death can we understand why many people have been turning away from a church that, as Francis has said, has grown “obsessed” with abortion, gay marriage and contraception? …whose bishops have betrayed them and often live extravagant lives?   …a church perceived and often experienced as rooted in the letter of the law and not in understanding and mercy?

People are simply looking for someone who cares about them and are willing to take the time to listen to them. This caring is found in a loving and trusting relationship. It begins with God’s care for us in Jesus Christ.

So where do we begin? How do we welcome God’s love for us?

We must hear again – or for the first time – the core of the Gospel message: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen and free you.” [See Apostolic Exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, #164] We must not only hear it; we must experience in a profound way that the resurrection of Christ is not an event of the past but “a vital power…an irresistible force” in our world for rebirth, reconciliation and healing. Pope Benedict put it succinctly, “”Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, [Being a Christian is an] encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” [Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, #217]

The essential first step is to acknowledge our full dependence on God. As Jesus taught, “…apart from me you can do nothing.” [John 15:5] Getting to know Christ involves learning to think as he does, to join him in seeking what he seeks and loving what he loves. [See Apostolic Exhortation, Joy of the Gospel, #267] Then we must put this Christ – relationship into acts that remake us. For this initial step Francis recommends listening to the Word of God through which God speaks to us, Bible study to understand our sacred writings and their meanings, praying and receiving the Eucharist, turning to Christ in prayer, receiving spiritual direction, and works of mercy and reconciliation.

For many Catholics a personal relationship with Christ may sound too private, too personal, too soapbox preaching and evangelical(?) But since the beginning it was never private but it was always evangelical, that is, the spreading with joy of the good news. “Some Greeks came to Philip – Philip went and told Andrew – Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus”.

I wonder what the experience was between those Greeks and Jesus.

More significantly, what is the experience between you and Jesus?

[Some phrases and thoughts were taken from Rediscovering Jesus, AMERICA Magazine, Timothy Schilling, March 16, 201]