4th Sunday of Lent: For God so loved the world

Study:  When have I experienced a profound moment of love?  How did that moment change my life?

Pray:  Ask for the grace to embrace and share God’s love with others.   Today.

Serve:  How might I put my love into action for another?  How might I show someone the love I have in my heart?

Pastoral Note: The 3rd, 4th, and 5th Sundays of Lent provide an option for using the “Year A” readings at Mass for the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) process, but for those who follow the usual cycle the reflection is offered below.

Mass Readings – 4th Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Do you ever wonder just how great God’s love really is?  How amazing?  How awesome?  I keep thinking about different analogies that show the reality of divine love when compared to human understanding.

For example:  If my entire awareness of God’s love could be viewed, it would be like a drop of water – compared to the Pacific Ocean of God’s love.  Or a grain of sand – compared to the Sahara Desert.  Or a single blade of grass – compared to the Midwest Prairie.

The fact is, there is no comparison that can truly show the height, depth, power, or magnitude of the love of God.  No analogy, no image, no description can do it justice…yet we can use our limited language to give us a hint:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  (John 3:16-17)

This is God’s demonstration of love.  Look at a Cross; listen to the Stations; read the Passion.  The love of God is not words or clever thoughts.  The love of God is manifest through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – out of love for us.

The question is – Do we believe it?  Do we accept in our hearts that this love is for us?  Do we live with the conviction that God values us, cherishes us, treasures us, forgives us, and loves us with this sort of intensity?

If we do believe, then our lives are forever changed.  If we receive these words and open our hearts, then God will come and transform us.  The Lord’s power is that great; once we say “Yes” to Christ we begin a process that will draw us steadily closer to God and one another.

We have heard these words so often that we can take them for granted.  We can overlook their meaning and miss the point.  Lent gives us time to search into our hearts and recognize this love for what it is – God’s way of calling us home.

May we be ready to respond!

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Note: This post was first published on March 8, 2015.