Homily:
3rd Sunday in Lent – Cycle A
It’s news to no one here that
the “novel coronavirus” has upended our lives and is causing great deals of
distress. Distress about individual
health, anxiety about the uncertainty of how this virus will spread and if
we’ll be able to contain it. Distress
about how to deal with the “novel” situations of having kids home from school
for an extended period of time, of providing care for them, of providing food
for them, and of facing any financial insecurity because we either must take
time off of work or spend unbudgeted money on caregivers. Distress, finally, (and possibly especially)
about whether or not our healthcare system is equipped to respond to widespread
exposure. The number of you who are NOT
here today is a sign that this distress is affecting all of us.
This distress is not unlike
the distress that the Israelites were experiencing as they began their journey
in the desert after being liberated from Egypt.
After having emerged triumphantly from the Red Sea, they set out towards
the land that God had promised to give them (the Promised Land, in which they
would live free from slavery). A couple
of days into that journey, however, (led, as they were by the cloud in the day
and fire by night), having seen no water and with no signs of any ahead, they
all begin to experience distress.
Insecurity always gives birth to anxiety and being without something as
necessary as water for more than a day is certain to heighten one’s sense of
insecurity. It’s no surprise, then, that
these folks begin to cry out to Moses, God’s point man leading them on this
journey.
This journey was not only
practical, however, but rather catechetical also. The practical was to get them out of Egypt
and into a land in which they could live as a free society. In the absence of trains, buses, or planes, a
journey on foot was necessary. The
catechetical, however, was to teach them complete reliance on God and his
providential care for them. In other
words, the catechetical journey was to increase and solidify their trust in God
alone. Thus, the way that they followed
from the Red Sea was a way on which there was no water. God, through Moses, then provided them water
in a miraculous way, just as he had already provided them with food in the form
of manna and quail. Through this, God
shows himself worthy of their faith.
They were in distress, the called out to God, and God responded.
The Samaritan woman whom Jesus
encounters at the well is also someone who learns to put her faith in God, but
in a different manner. She was not
necessarily looking for help, but the details of this story indicate that she
was certainly in distress. She came to
the well at midday: the time when, because of the midday heat, no one else went
to the well. In other words, she was
avoiding others. She encounters Jesus there
and he reveals his knowledge of her and her life. She has had five husbands and is living with
someone to whom she isn’t married. Women
couldn’t live on their own at that time and if a woman was married and
divorced, she couldn’t return to her father’s house and so would either have to
marry again or would end up destitute.
We can’t know for sure, but it seems like this woman may have struggled
to be in a stable marriage, but continued to seek it out so that she wouldn’t
become destitute. She certainly would
have been looked down upon in that society and so she worked to avoid contact
with others.
This day, however, she
encounters Jesus, who peers into her soul and speaks to her in a way that opens
her eyes and lets her see that relief from this distress is possible. In other words, he helps her to see that
there is hope for her on this journey, that the promises of the God of the
Israelites could be fulfilled, and that even the Samaritans—even she,
herself—could receive their benefits.
Her life was out of order, but her encounter with Jesus gave her
supernatural hope that God was leading even her to freedom from this distress. Her response was to go off and tell of what
she learned to all of the people in the village. Let that sink in for a moment: before her
encounter with Jesus, she wanted to avoid all contact with the people of her
village. Now, she goes to them to share
what she learned. This is a person who
has found hope and who has placed her trust in God and in his promises.
Our newly Elect, who will now
intensely prepare for baptism at the Easter Vigil, are on this same
journey. Over these next three weekends,
they will be called to encounter Jesus through what is called the rite of
scrutiny, in which they will be challenged to see their lives, disordered as
they have been by sin, and encounter the hope that, through Jesus, they can be
set free from this disorder and receive all of the blessings that God has
promised to those who are united to him.
Having encountered this hope, they will be exhorted to put their faith
in God and to follow the path to holiness that has been laid out by Jesus.
This, of course, is not only
their Lenten journey, but each of ours as well.
Every year, each of us is challenged to recognize the distress under
which the world places us (this year, it is particularly apparent) and to allow
ourselves to encounter our Lord, who names our distress and provides an answer
to it. This, for sure, is not always
relief. Rather, it is often a challenge to
trust and to order our lives to more closely follow him. In other words, it is the challenge to
respond in faith to the distress of our lives.
One of the ways that we do that is through our intentional engagement of
our increased giving program.
Last weekend, we heard from
parishioners who have all had this experience of distress and have responded to
it with faith and so have grown in trust of God. Part of their experience was finding support
and resources through the many ministries and programs that we at Saint Mary’s
provide: ministries and programs made possible by your generous financial
support. Today, I am asking you to
continue to put your faith in the fact that God is responding to the needs and
distresses of peoples’ lives through the ministries and programs of Saint
Mary’s by continuing and even increasing your financial support for our parish.
You know, all of us are on a
journey through the desert and at different times and for different reasons we
may each find ourselves in distress.
Your ongoing financial support of the ministries and programs at Saint
Mary’s means that we’ll be able to respond and to help assure you in your trust
in God who, like he did with Moses for the Israelites, works through us to relieve
our distresses.
I hope that you brought your
commitment cards with you today. As I
mentioned before Mass began, we WON’T be passing around the collection basket
as a precaution against spreading germs.
If you’ve already dropped your commitment card in the box by the
entrance, great. Thank you for doing
that. Please hold in your heart your
commitment as your offering to be united to the sacrifice of Jesus here at the
altar. If you still have your commitment
card with you, I encourage you to keep it close to you during the Eucharistic
Prayer as a reminder to unite your commitment to the sacrifice of Christ on the
altar. You may drop the card in the box
near the entrance on your way out today.
If you did not bring your card, but would like to complete one today,
please feel free to use one of the blank cards in your pew and do the same. In other words, however you brought your
commitment with you today, please make an intentional effort to unite it to the
sacrifice of Christ that we will offer here at the altar.
As I said earlier, this “novel
coronavirus” has upended our lives and caused a great deal of distress. Very quickly, however, I saw signs that God is
working among us to relieve it. On
Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail from our “Saint Mary’s Cares” ministry
coordinator asking if it was okay for them to contact other parishes to
formulate a plan to assist anyone, like our homebound parishioners, get groceries,
prepare meals, etc. so that no one feels alone or abandoned during this
time. I’m grateful for their dedication
and for the support of all of you that helps make their ministry possible. Thank you, again, for your courageous
commitments. May they lead us to trust
God even more as he leads us to our reward in heaven: the reward foreshadowed
by the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
Given at Saint Mary’s Cathedral: Lafayette, IN – March 14th
& 15th, 2020
