4th SUNDAY OF LENT

Good morning dear faithful in the Lord. 

Today is the 4th Sunday of Lent. Our readings invite us to choose light in the world of total darkness.

1st Reading 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

2nd Reading Efesians 5:8-14

Gospel John 9:1-41

It's evident that today the world is in total darkness due to the fearful corona virus. Everything is at stand still in most countries. I won't hesitate to say that in this pressure, most atheists and those working for the evil one, are on high blaming Christians, Jews and Muslims, that they should call their God for help. All over in the social media today we are mocked. 

Dear friends, we should emulate the couples in such dark moment. A good wife/ husband would stand firm wth his/ wife/ husband when they are in crisis. This is what we encounter in the Gospel today. The man born blind is facing opposition from the enemies of the Gospel. He chose to stand with Christ. In fact, they push him to deny Christ. This fear extends to his parents who instead of thanking and praising the one who healed their son, they chose to be lukewarm. Christianity doesn't encourage lukewarmness, it's either we are for God in Christ Jesus or for the evil one.

Dear friends, God wants to use our imperfections and illnesses for His greater glory.  St. John is fond of this wordings in his theology of the signs of our Lordas depicted in his gospel. Why many signs performed by Christ? John answers, so that our Lord Jesus Christ maybe glorified. 

Our suffering is meant to purify us in love and grow in virtue.  Most of all, it is an invitation to share in His redemptive suffering.  

In God’s divine providence, everything works for our good, even in this Covid-19 virus pandemic.  The Lord will use this virus to purify the hearts of man and help him to come to terms with the reality of death and man’s helplessness.   Only then, will we come to realize our finiteness and mortality.  We are not gods!

But greater than physical sight was the grace to see Jesus and recognize Him as His savior, His Lord and His life.  After this encounter, he bowed down, fell at the feet of our Lord in worship. “The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.

Faith begins when a man takes the decision to obey.Only because of faith and obedience was the man healed.  The Church has chosen to obey the government through the preventive measures of this virus, that's why we encourage that we all adhere to this, together we can stop corona virus.

True faith makes us stand up for what we believe and who we believe.  If we are ashamed of our Lord and the gospel, then we are no real disciples of His. Inspite of the lockdown in the world and our country due to the corona virus, we ought to remain soldiers of Christ. A faithful and committed soldier doesn't run from war, instead he fights to the end. We must stand with Christ in the midst of fear, isolation, deaths among many disturbing issues due to covid-19. 

May God restore light to our nation and the whole world. Let's meet those in need and bring them light despite the menace we all experience. For the law of God dictates that human life comes first, this is seen when we love God and reciprocate this love to the neighbors.

Wishing you fruitful Sunday. Stay safe, self discipline on preventive measures is safety to the community.

Yours in Christ:

Rev. Deacon Samuel Muhanji Nyonje 

samnyonje.blogspot.com