• 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13. God judges not by external appearances but by what he sees in the heart. David, young, spontaneous and innocent is preferred to his older and stronger brothers. After his anointing the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him.
• Ephesians 5:8-14. Live as children of “light [which] produces every kind of goodness and justice and truth.”
• John 9:1-41. On the Sabbath Jesus mixed spittle with dirt, and with the mud he restored sight to a man blind from birth. This man was later rejected from the synagogue for confessing Jesus as Messiah.

Thoughts for your consideration: By John Gonzalez

The internet age has revolutionized global communications and information sharing. With the situations in Africa and Asia the impact of barrier free communications is already making a tremendous social impact. Former state secrets and Government manipulation of information are now subjected to a form of technological transparency never before experienced.  This social reality offers an interesting context for the admonition by St. Paul in the second reading for this week:

Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.

The motives and political intents that have directed national policies are being exposed. The opinions of the people however are also finding a vast market of exposure through these same communication technologies. With the advent of wikis, blogs and social networks people are able to publically express their own opinion on every topic under the sun. Religious blogs are out there in droves and they offer a faith perspective from every viewpoint imaginable. The internet may reveal national motives and intents but it is still difficult to identify the motives and intent of individual bloggers. The question that we must ask ourselves is how can we discern the consistent Gospel message in light of this new form of evangelization?

In the Gospel passage Jesus had to confront the dark motive and intents of the Pharisees. His action was plain and simple, he healed the blind man. Jesus’ ministry of healing was very much part of this divine mission of bringing sight to the blind both spiritually and physically. The Pharisees choked on literal interpretations and rituals in an attempt to dismiss the Good News of God’s healing hope for all people. They also claimed authority through the name of Moses in order to create division and tension by trying to suggest that any disciple of Christ has abandoned the teachings of Moses and our thus thrown out of the synagogues. Jesus embraces the humble blind man who accepts the simple goodness of God’s work and rebukes the Pharisees who are blinded by their own self righteousness.

In the first reading God reminds the prophet Samuel that He does not perceive nor evaluates us the way we humans do. While we judge by external qualities God “looks into the heart.” The young David may not have the leadership stature that Eliab has but God obviously sees a great potential within this humble and innocent youth. The quality of leadership is not measured in how they rule but in how they serve. David does not look to rule but to serve the people of Israel. Similarly Paul tells us in another letter that the mission of Christ was not to be served but to serve:

“Though he was in the form of God, [Jesus] did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave… he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8)            

So it is that are faith calls us to serve the suffering human community through a message of charity, healing and unity. Through the forms of social communication many people including myself have undertaken the ministry of new evangelization to promote the Good News of Christ. But again the motive must be seen as consistent with the Gospel message. Messages based on division, fear and judgment are antithetical to the Gospel message of inclusion, hope and forgiveness.

Pope Benedict XVI has carried on the tradition of offering an annual message in observance of World Communication Day. His recent messages have offered guidance on the use of the new media technology to promote the ministry of new evangelization that is consistent with the Gospel tradition. In the 2009 message  Pope Benedict XVI offers the following admonition which offers a good guidance for discerning the Good News within this new social media.  

 I would encourage all people of good will who are active in the emerging environment of digital communication to commit themselves to promoting a culture of respect, dialogue and friendship. Those who are active in the production and dissemination of new media content, therefore, should strive to respect the dignity and worth of the human person. If the new technologies are to serve the good of individuals and of society, all users will avoid the sharing of words and images that are degrading of human beings, that promote hatred and intolerance, that debase the goodness and intimacy of human sexuality or that exploit the weak and vulnerable.

• Sirach 24: 1-4, 8-12. Wisdom proclaims her life with God before the creation of the world. Afterwards she wandered the world restlessly until she fixed her abode at the Jerusalem temple.
• Ephesians 1:3-6, 15-18. Before creation God predestined us in Christ as the object of his love and as his very own adopted children Paul prays that we can be enlightened in the great hope to which God has called us.
• John 1:1-18. In the beginning before creation the Word was with God and the Word was God. This Word came to dwell in our midst and offered us a share in his fullness.

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

This week’s readings we celebrate the mystery of Christ as the “Logos” or as John put it in his Gospel, “The Word.”  Last week we reflected on Jesus as the child of Mary and Joseph and his role within the dynamics of the Holy Family. This week we contemplate Christ as “The Word” that became flesh and the “Logos” that is the second member of the Holy Trinity. Within these reading the contemplative philosopher among us will be drawn to the words of Sirach who himself was a famous Jewish Philosopher in the second century BC. Sirach, who like Socrates was drawn to wisdom, comprehends the vast mystery that is the Divine Wisdom.

The first man never finished comprehending wisdom, nor will the last succeed in fathoming her. For deeper than the sea are her thoughts; her counsels, than the great abyss.

In reflecting over these readings we are forced to consider the concept of predestination. Paul’s letters to the Ephesians talk to us about how we have already been “destined” by the Will of God to be His adopted children. Sirach and John reinforce this notion by remind us that the “Logos,” The Wisdom of God, has been active at the foundation of the world in carrying out God’s destined plan for creation. And yet, in Jesus’ public ministry, we hear Jesus inviting us all to share in God’s perfection. Throughout the Gospel, in the Beatitudes, in the Last Judgment reading of Matthew, in the Good Samaritan parable in Luke, in the exhortations made by Paul, James and Peter in their respective epistles, time and time again we are freely invited to partake in the Kingdom of God by living a life of charity and social justice. This is the theological tension that our faith has wrestled with regarding “Predestined Grace” and “Free Will,” the same tension that brought about the great split between the Catholic Church and the Protestant denominations. How should we understand our motivation and incentive towards an expression of Love through acts of charity and social justice if our salvation is indeed predestined?

This past week I had the pleasure of speaking to a neighbor who is also an architect and who in the last few years designed architectural plans for his new house. It surprised me to learn that as he began the construction of his new house unforeseen conditions popped up everywhere forcing him to redesign his plan again and again. Ultimately his goal was accomplished and a new house was built for his family but the final plan had evolved greatly from his initial design. As he was telling me his I thought of the passage in Jeremiah where God instruct Jeremiah to visit a potter’s house. As the potter shaped his clay Jeremiah witnessed the potter reshaping it because the original design did not come out as plan. God reminded Jeremiah that as the Potter did to this clay so too can God act with regards to His own creation.

The wisdom of God is beyond human comprehension. God’s wisdom has us destined towards a perfect social union. Yet this union is based on our ability to freely develop this union. God’s revelation, and more specifically the revealed example of Jesus Christ, offers us the plan for constructing this union which of course God designed and which he may have to redesign based on the unforeseen conditions of our own free actions. Actions of charity and social justice are not methods for us to achieve our own salvation but rather they are the expressions of God’s ultimate social plan (the Kingdom of God) which we are invited to live out. The Biblical passages mentioned in the second paragraph remind us what actions are expected from this union. We may not be able to fully comprehend the final plan, but fortunately for us God supplements our ability to reason with the revelation of “The Word” that became flesh and whose “life was the light of the human race.”

Thoughts for your Consideration: by John Gonzalez
In this Sunday’s readings we are invited to be renewed and recommitted to our faith community. The first reading offers us an historical glimpse of the evolution of our faith. The people with Joshua are now aware of the new situation they find themselves in. They have reached a new stage in their development where they are no longer wandering migrants but are now stable and responsible for a land that has been given to them. It was God who chose them and brought them here, but at this point they need to declare their own commitment to God and the faith of their fathers. This becomes the basis of their covenant, a social contract where two parties freely commit responsibility and faithfulness to each other. Joshua tells them that this covenant, should they freely choose to make it, will be difficult and challenging to keep. The historical development of this community will be a testament to this difficulty and we will witness the ups and downs of this covenant relationship.

We understand Jesus to be the new covenant that God is now forming not just to a certain community but to the whole of humanity. Throughout his ministry Jesus invites many to participate and to be disciples of his teachings. Furthermore Jesus is offering the people a deeper relationship with God the Father and the amazing miracles and healings demonstrate the power of this relationship. But now, as in Joshua, Jesus explains the challenging nature of this commitment. Like any good contract negotiation it is important for both parties to be completely aware of the details of this commitment that they are engaging in. Throughout the last couple of weeks we have heard from the 6th chapter of John’s Gospel where Jesus is explaining this commitment to the “Bread of Life,” it is a glorious commitment to share in eternal life, but it also demands faith and belief in what is unknown and almost unacceptable.

In a sense what we are witnessing, through Jesus, is the relationship of faith evolving. The commitment that Jesus is offering his disciples is recommitment to the faith of their fathers. And yet the faith that Jesus if offering here sounds somewhat strange to them. Last week we heard his audience ask, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But faith is evolving here and changing. Of course change is difficult. We are fortunate to have the vantage point of where we are in history. We can now understand that faith in God is now beyond any tribal borders and is indeed universal. This was clarified through the work of St. Paul and the early Christian community.

But we can only imagine the bewilderment of the people who heard this invitation. We should marvel at the stance of Peter and the remaining disciples. To recommit to a relationship when that relationship is definitely changing is to take a leap of faith into the unknown. Our faith continues to evolve in our present day. Our current situation is in the midst of great change and we must again renew our own faith tradition in light of what is happening to our society. What is God calling us to do? We must accept that this tradition will be consistent with that faith that Moses and Joshua had in God and with the faith that Jesus offered the disciples. But because our own situation has changed this faith will look different for us. One “sign of the times” that many of us are exploring is the question of our relationship towards creation. We are becoming well aware of the deep interconnection between what we do and how our environment reacts. Is it possible that our faith is growing towards a relationship not just with the global human community (which is still in need of development) but also with the larger ecological world? How shall we respond to this?

Paul’s use of the image of husband and wife is an excellent analogy for me to understand my own response to this evolving faith. The first covenant of our marriage was wonderful and in many ways simple, but the marriage developed and changed. Many aspects of our own relationship had to change when my daughter was born. That change was even greater after my son was born. I had wanted to go back to the covenant and expectations that we had originally made. It was my wife however who kept me in check with the fact that things have drastically changed and that if we were to continue in relationship we would have to accept a new dynamic in how we were to relate. This took me awhile but I began to see more clearly the truth of this matter. Our relationship had changed and if we were to choose to stay together then we had to renew our commitment based on the new dynamics that were part of our life. I remember taking a leap of faith and letting go with so much of my own expectation and desire. I also remember how years later I was able to again fully appreciate this renewal. Paul tells us that our relationship with God is quite similar. We do not live in a static unchanging environment. As God gets ready to change the dynamics of our relationship we will again be called to renew this relationship.

• Exodus 16: 2-4; 12-15
• Ephesians 4:17, 20-24
• John 6: 24-35

Thoughts for your consideration: by John Gonzalez

“Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” This is how Jesus responded to the people who searched him out after the feeding of the multitude which we read about last Sunday. This response unlocks for me the message behind the readings for this Sunday. Similar to the structure of last week’s readings this week we are again reading learning about an historical incident linked with a spiritual message in the Gospel, a similar incident in the Hebrew Scriptures, and a virtue-based message by St. Paul that is related to these incidents. Once again Bread becomes the symbolic instrument for the spiritual message.

A similar (but perhaps less tactful) response that Jesus could have made to these people is that they are “thinking with theirstomachs and not with their hearts.” In the case of the feeding of the multitude or in the manna that comes from heaven it seems that the people who are affected are seeing this as a form of divine welfare policy. God and Jesus are both suggesting to the people that this is not the case. In both incidents there is certainly the implied message that God will provide, but the heart of the message is not that. Instead what it is desired is that the people see this test or sign as an opportunity for them to relate with each other in a way that is similar to how God is treating them. This is an invitation not just to eat, but to share and to “perform the works of God.”

St. Paul also reminds us that this is an opportunity for us to put away our “former way of life… and to be renewed in the spirit.” In this letter Paul reminds the Ephesian community that in the former way of life the Gentiles were “lost of all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” Following these verses we hear St. Paul offering some rules for the new life in Christ. These rules are based on a close relationship of solidarity to one another. We are expected to be truthful, slow to anger, compassionate and sharing. “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us.”

These miracles can only be truly understood as part of the overall message that we are called to be in powerful relationship. On occasions God demonstrates this relationship between each one of us, our Divine Creator, and the cosmic forces of creation. These moments that we consider supernatural are moments where all creation testifies to the intense relationship that God calls us to be in. The manna from heaven, the feeding of the multitude, the resurrection of Christ, all these are moments that demonstrate a divine purpose where all of us are called to be in relationship with God and with each other. This relationship is a relationship based on love, integrity, and mutual sustainability.

Last year the Passionist Charles Houban was declared to be a Saint by the Church. St. Charles is a great example for us of this dedication to a complete life of solidarity to each other. Pierluigi di Eugenio said of him:

“He spent his life blessing, healing and forgiving.  He was always willing and amiable.  He was a poor man among the poor.  He offered his life as a gift to those who were suffering.  He gave himself completely to God and to others.  The needy of spirit and of body did not let him rest for even a moment.  Deeply devoted to his family and to his country, he worked for many years far from both; yet he rediscovered his own brothers and sisters in those in distress and his own country in the nation of Ireland.”

Nationally and globally we Christians who, like St. Charles, continue to carry out this living tradition in our hearts must review the world situation and policies through this prism of responsible relationship. Healthcare, abortion, global poverty and the threat of nuclear weapons are issues that call us to reflect on how we can apply these values in each situation. God did not create us to be a passive creature that is dependent on the divine dole. Rather we are called to be responsible member of creation and to promote a world where we respect and provide for the needs of one another.

• 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23
• Ephesians 2:4-10
• John 3:14-21

Thoughts for your consideration: by Fr. Stephen Dunn, CP

Last Sunday’s Gospel re-lived Jesus’ surprising and prophetic act of “cleansing” the Temple which had been magnificently re-built by King Herod. Today’s reading from Chronicles takes us further back in the history of the Temple. Back when its destruction triggered the Israelite Babylonian captivity. It had been laid waste because “all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people” had become unfaithful, despite the preaching of the prophets. The author remembers one of Jeremiah’s prophetic warnings. The exile will last: “Until the land has retrieved its lost Sabbaths, during all the time it lies waste it shall have rest while seventy years are fulfilled.”

That caught my eye. The Sabbath is the day each week when the devout are focused on the worship of God. When that focus has integrity, it means refraining from work — not just human labor, but also the work of cattle and even of the soil in the fields. Even the land is not to be forced to work for human gain. So there is a great irony in Jeremiah’s prophecy: “all the time it lays waste it shall have rest”. For seventy years, the people endured slavery for their sins, but the land, though laid waste, “shall have rest”… the rest entitled to it by the Sabbath.

Since Divine creativity pervades the Universe, it is fitting to understand our Earth as, in its own way, God’s Temple. In this century, we have (or surely ought to have) great apprehension about the growing threat to this Temple, due to the severity of climate change. I remember, some years ago, a musical lament called “Song for the Earth”. It grieved over what is happening to the trees, to the air, to the animals, and very plaintively, to the Oceans. The reference to the Oceans explained the mood: “When she dies, everything dies”. Current information affirms that the dying is well underway. For us, the land of “lost Sabbaths”, the land “laid waste” is the entire planet! The author of Chronicles, however, ends his account more positively. The destruction need not be final.

As we mark the middle of Lent today, our Liturgy too, is meant to be positive, to give us courage. Today is traditionally known as “Laetare Sunday”—“Rejoice Sunday”. Can there be rejoicing for the Temple of the Earth?

Many years ago, concern for the Earth at the United Nations inspired an observance called the Eco-Sabbath. It established an interfaith project to prayerfully begin allowing the land to regain its “lost Sabbaths”, as Jeremiah had expressed it.

 John the Evangelist takes up the theme of Jeremiah’s complaint about unfaithfulness. His comment is “people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” But, in his conversation with Nicodemus, when Jesus describes how that can be changed, he does not suggest a punishment, such as exile. He says, simply, when people see “the Son of Man lifted up” they will be cured of their evil, just as people were cured in the desert by gazing on an uplifted serpent. What will they see when they see Jesus lifted up on the Cross? Suffering, surely, but as St. Paul declares in the reading from Ephesians, “mercy [and] great love… By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God”. It seems so little to do in order to “raise up” the shattered Temple. We are to fix our gaze on “the gift of God”.

A recent book has discussed the implications of that kind of gaze. It urges us to look deeply at the gift in all dimensions of life, and especially of the Christ event. A shallow appreciation of gift won’t do. But a radical openness to the reality of gift can melt the life destroying tendencies that generate human destructiveness. In today’s Gospel, the Temple of Christ’s body is our major focus of gift-awareness. However we have every reason to extend this gaze of gratitude to the Temple of the Earth. The book makes that connection in its title: Gaia and Climate Change: A Theology of Gift Events.

Learning to gaze appreciatively at the gift of Earth may lead us perhaps to contemplative practices we would have avoided previously, feeling they were not overtly religious. To gaze at the Earth as a living organism (Gaia Theory) is to become astounded by the complexity of eco-systems, but especially to rejoice in their ability to weave the web of life. Together they provide the gift of life we know and enjoy as the biosphere. Cyrus was a pagan king. Nevertheless he was the catalyst to a renewal of faith among the Israelites. We have neglected the Temple of the Earth for too long. Although to some this wonder may seem merely secular, it can lead us back to religious reverence.

Abusing the Temple leads only to destruction and exile. Respect and gratitude for the Temple brings joy. Our Liturgy began: “Rejoice, Jerusalem! Be glad for her, you who love her.” This is Laetare Sunday, let us rejoice that our Biosphere is indeed God’s holy Temple.

Questions for Reflection in your Faith Sharing Group:

• How is the environmental crisis affecting you and your community? 
• How is it affecting farming or coastal communities? 
• Is the image of environmental degradation affecting your spirituality and prayer life? 
• How do your public officials respond to the issues of the environment? 
• How are you demonstrating your commitment to promoting the integrity of creation?