March 18, 2018: 5th Sunday of Lent B
March 18, 2018: 5th Sunday of Lent B
Click to hear Audio Homily
How many TV’s did you have in the house when you were growing up? I remember when our family purchased our first color TV back in 1982. It was the only TV in the house, and It’s size was only 14 inch, so I got fussed at when I sat quite close to the screen. It didn’t have a remote control, but that wasn’t a big deal. We only had 3 channels in South Korea. One of our older parishioners recalls way back in the day when she and her husband had only one TV in the house. Tension would build up between the two when the husband hogged the TV for the evening. All he wanted to watch was Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and John Wayne Westerns. She complained to him, “They’re all the same plot… they chase on their horses going around the same mountain… can’t we watch something else?” Another parishioner recalls that when she was as a child, she had to watch an early version of the soap opera called, “The Edge of the Night,” whenever her grandmother came for a visit. Today’s young people cannot fathom such an archaic time when choices were limited and personal preference took a backseat to obedience. Now that we have so many choices and conveniences over many aspects of our lives, are we happier?
What if our happiness in life lies not in having a multitude of options, comfort, and desires fulfilled? Could our happiness truly come from making decisions daily to fulfill our purpose for which God created us? St. Francis of Assisi shared an insight that may seem too stark for most of us. He said, “The greatest gift one can receive from God in this world is wisdom, power, and will to conquer himself, by denying self-will.” This saintly advice is counter to what we hear from so many people in our lives, “Do whatever makes you happy. As long as no one gets hurt, do whatever you want." Yet St. Francis is not the first person to offer such stark advice. Our Lord said to his disciples, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”
What do we have to do to produce “much fruit” in this life? How do we deny ourselves in order to attain eternal life? Each day we face life events that offers opportunities to bear fruit or to be stagnant. We may be in a difficult situation such as experiencing turmoil in a marriage, dealing with an insurmountable assignment at work, or experiencing a morally compromising situation in our relationship and we struggle with how to get through the obstacle. Our natural tendency is to avoid or to flee difficult choices that involve suffering. It’s during such time that the evil one suggests a way out--to quit, to skip, or to give in. To put it another way, if we could, we would like to grab the remote control and change the channel to something more pleasant.
Jesus used strong language to describe the kind of self-denial he had in mind for his disciples. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Even though we may not want to face the struggles of our lives, we know we are called to work through them with God’s grace, there by helping us to become more mature disciples. Jesus explained to us that when we sacrifice ourselves in service for others, resurrection can happen in people’s lives. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice thereby transforming the entire world. His love and sacrifice inspire us to have the same spirit of generosity and humility in our own lives. When we hold our tongue in a heated argument with our spouse, when we seek forgiveness when we were wrong, or when we bless a person amid anger rather than curse, then we have denied ourselves and turned our focus toward the good of other. When we commit to love our spouse beyond our feelings, when we persevere at our work, or when we stand firm on moral grounds, we bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth. While our sacrifice is not to the extent of physical death, the fruit of our self-denial brings us to be Christlike.
In the remaining weeks of Lent, let us ask the Lord for the wisdom, the power, and the will to consciously practice self-denial. Are we ready to choose to reject whatever is contrary to God’s will for us and trust him for the strength to embrace his will for our lives. Are we ready to love others as Christ has loved us?
Click to hear Audio Homily
How many TV’s did you have in the house when you were growing up? I remember when our family purchased our first color TV back in 1982. It was the only TV in the house, and It’s size was only 14 inch, so I got fussed at when I sat quite close to the screen. It didn’t have a remote control, but that wasn’t a big deal. We only had 3 channels in South Korea. One of our older parishioners recalls way back in the day when she and her husband had only one TV in the house. Tension would build up between the two when the husband hogged the TV for the evening. All he wanted to watch was Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and John Wayne Westerns. She complained to him, “They’re all the same plot… they chase on their horses going around the same mountain… can’t we watch something else?” Another parishioner recalls that when she was as a child, she had to watch an early version of the soap opera called, “The Edge of the Night,” whenever her grandmother came for a visit. Today’s young people cannot fathom such an archaic time when choices were limited and personal preference took a backseat to obedience. Now that we have so many choices and conveniences over many aspects of our lives, are we happier?
What if our happiness in life lies not in having a multitude of options, comfort, and desires fulfilled? Could our happiness truly come from making decisions daily to fulfill our purpose for which God created us? St. Francis of Assisi shared an insight that may seem too stark for most of us. He said, “The greatest gift one can receive from God in this world is wisdom, power, and will to conquer himself, by denying self-will.” This saintly advice is counter to what we hear from so many people in our lives, “Do whatever makes you happy. As long as no one gets hurt, do whatever you want." Yet St. Francis is not the first person to offer such stark advice. Our Lord said to his disciples, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.”
Jesus used strong language to describe the kind of self-denial he had in mind for his disciples. "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." Even though we may not want to face the struggles of our lives, we know we are called to work through them with God’s grace, there by helping us to become more mature disciples. Jesus explained to us that when we sacrifice ourselves in service for others, resurrection can happen in people’s lives. Jesus offered the ultimate sacrifice thereby transforming the entire world. His love and sacrifice inspire us to have the same spirit of generosity and humility in our own lives. When we hold our tongue in a heated argument with our spouse, when we seek forgiveness when we were wrong, or when we bless a person amid anger rather than curse, then we have denied ourselves and turned our focus toward the good of other. When we commit to love our spouse beyond our feelings, when we persevere at our work, or when we stand firm on moral grounds, we bring about the Kingdom of God here on earth. While our sacrifice is not to the extent of physical death, the fruit of our self-denial brings us to be Christlike.
In the remaining weeks of Lent, let us ask the Lord for the wisdom, the power, and the will to consciously practice self-denial. Are we ready to choose to reject whatever is contrary to God’s will for us and trust him for the strength to embrace his will for our lives. Are we ready to love others as Christ has loved us?
