HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT

Theme: BE READY TO ACCEPT GOD'S GIFT OF SALVATION

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Readings: Second Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23, Ephesians 2:4-10, John 3:14-21

The Fourth Sunday in Lent is known as the Laetare Sunday. Laetare is a Latin word that means rejoice. Following the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass, the Church invites us to rejoice. But why does the Church urge us in the middle of the penitential season of Lent to rejoice? Basically, we are to rejoice in the hope of the salvation that comes to us through Jesus Christ.

During this season of Lent, our first readings have been recounting the history of Israel to us. On the first Sunday, we heard about God’s covenant with Noah. On the second Sunday, we read about Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. On the third Sunday, we read about Moses and the Ten Commandments. On this fourth Sunday, we are reading about the events that led to the exile of the Israelites and their eventual deportation to Babylon.

In today’s first reading from the Second Book of Chronicles, we hear that the Israelites added infidelity to infidelity. The people were disobeying God’s commandments and defiling His Temple. In the midst of their rebellion, God sent many prophets to call them to repentance. But they did not listen! Rather, they mocked God’s messengers, revealing the hardness of their hearts. On account of their sins, the Temple was destroyed, Jerusalem sacked, and the people taken into exile in Babylon. After seventy years in captivity, with the help of Cyrus, the new king of Persia, the people returned home and were able to rebuild what they lost. Cyrus therefore became the instrument God used to bring salvation to His people. This salvation brought to them by God, despite their rebellion, was a foreshadowing of the salvation to come in Christ.

Continuing these same themes of God’s love, salvation and human sinfulness, the gospel reading reminds us that when we broke our relationship with God through sin, we stood condemned, remaining in the darkness that sin brings. But because of God’s immense love for us, he did not want to leave us in that dark. As a result, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to offer us salvation. Jesus brought light into the darkness of sin and, therefore, overcame it. Without Jesus, we stand condemned and deserve eternal separation from God. But in Jesus we can have eternal life.

This salvation that came to us through Christ is an act of great love for while we were “dead in our sins and could do nothing to save ourselves, God took action and sent Jesus to die on the cross, rise from the dead, and, therefore, offer us salvation (Eph. 2:4-6). This salvation is a free gift given to us by God. We do not by any means deserve it. However, we are called to accept it in faith. God offers us this free gift but He never forces it upon us. We must choose to embrace the gift of salvation and live accordingly. We have been created to live in communion with God. God’s grace makes it possible for us to be forgiven and reunited with Him, but we also must work to maintain that relationship.

Therefore, let us trust in God and pursue the light that he offers, turning from the darkness of sin, so that we “might not perish but might have eternal life.” Our life here on earth is always a constant choice between light and darkness. Let us with joy, accept the salvation that Christ has brought for us and always choose the light in place of darkness.