Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent

It can be difficult to truly hear someone out when we feel threatened.  When we are in charge or have a position of authority sometimes we are challenged by people who have better answers or are better qualified to lead than ourselves.  The temptation to stay in control at all costs, or to assert ourselves and ascend to a higher and stronger position can become intense.  The strongest position is always the truth because the truth doesn’t require  human authority to reinforce it.

In today’s Gospel, we can see how being in a position of authority is not the same as having authority.  We can also see how afraid people who have authority are of losing it.  Jesus is the only one whose person itself is Truth.  This gives Him absolute authority.  It is nothing He has to prove, His Words come from a place of incontestable reliability.  Jesus is not trying to make a political power grab.  When He speaks, living water begins to gush and flow within the hearts of his listeners.  The charism that belongs to Jesus is supernatural authority that stands on the very nature of the Words He speaks and the effects they have on the minds and hearts of those who truly listen. read more

Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgement.” It seems paradoxical that we were created with the ability to form judgements but Jesus is constantly telling us our perceptions are wrong.  Right judgment requires correcting not only our tendency to judge the faults of others, but also correcting our vision of God, ourselves, and our expectations.

We have much more confidence in our own judgment in general than is good for us.  We can recognize from our human experience that it is wiser to suppose that perhaps we do not know than to be convinced we are right.  Socrates said, “The only thing I do know is that I do not know.”  Things that seem good don’t always turn out to be so, and God brings greater goods out of apparent evils.  Faith moves us to hit pause on our snap judgements so that we can listen to a higher perspective. read more

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent

“There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ”  Although Jesus is God the Son, He doesn’t spend much time trying to get us to worship Him.  In the Old Testament, God’s obvious preoccupation is getting the people to obey His commandments, to have no other gods, etc.  God makes it very clear that He does not need anyone to do anything for Him: He doesn’t need our praise, sacrifice, or worship; He doesn’t need us to build Him a house, a temple, or a place to dwell.  If we were to try to imitate God based on what we know of Him from the Old Testament, we wouldn’t make many friends.  The world doesn’t revolve around us like it does for God.  The Old Testament shows us that whether we like it or not, God must be the center and focus of everything.  We could even become jealous of God if we lose sight of Him as the loving and merciful Creator. read more