Monday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Do you really and truly believe what you read in Scripture? Do you believe it when God says that God will rescue you, that God will change your mourning into dancing, and that God will eliminate all weeping and crying? This takes a lot of faith! We are not able to see or touch this God that we profess to believe in. We are not able to talk to God like we talk to human beings. How is it we can claim such faith? One thing is certain—to make such a claim requires a life lived in such a way that demonstrates always going to God first and not just as our last resort.
Jesus expresses frustration in today’s Gospel when approached by a royal official pleading for his son’s healing. But this man’s son was healed at the very moment Jesus said, “…your son will live.” (Jn 4:50) Jesus healed the man’s son, but I wonder if this man really believed in Jesus or if he was so very desperate that he was looking at Jesus as his last resort? It was only after the official returned home and saw his son healed that he and his household ‘came to believe’. The Gospel also tells us that the Galileans believed in him because they had seen him work wonders earlier. But how is the condition of our own faith—really? Our faith may be based upon what we learn during our education as Catholic Christians. The basic shortcoming of ‘education’ is that it does not rely upon personal encounter. It does not rest upon a personal experience of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We can sometimes come away feeling if we follow the rules we can make it to heaven. Really?
We live in world replete with unexpected challenges and walk, at times, through excruciating pain not knowing how or when it will end. We wonder what the outcome of our personal circumstances will be and if we are actually taking this journey all alone. Oftentimes, it is only when we are out of other options that we turn to Jesus. But when, at last, we meet Jesus it suddenly becomes clear that we are not doing this alone and we are accompanied at every turn. Indeed, as today’s Psalm 30 declares, “I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me”, we come to understand who it really is that holds our lives and all creation in hand. We can place our faith in the person of Jesus—we can believe in the Word. This day, let us spend some time praying with the Word. Let us ask for the capacity to believe, in a deeper way, in this person of Jesus, who will always come to meet us exactly where we are. Let Jesus always be our very first resort!
--Gail Lyman