March 14, 2021: 4th Sunday in Lent B
March 14, 2021: 4th Sunday in Lent B
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Sometimes, nighttime is when vast, hidden things are made visible. A first-time visitor to Seoul, South Korea is often surprised by one prominent feature of the night-time scenery of the city. One foreign visitor remarked, “Why are there so many graves in the city?” He was referring to the red, neon crosses dotting the skyline atop buildings. These of course, aren’t graveyard markers. They are crosses atop church buildings. It’s only at night that visitors to South Korea become aware how wide-spread Christianity is in this small country of 51 million people.
St. John of the Cross, a Spanish Carmelite saint, wrote a poem in which he likened our faith to the night. “So dark the night! At rest and hushed my house, I went with no one knowing upon a lover’s quest… my eager heart with love aflame and glowing. In darkness, hid from sight I went by secret ladder safe and sure.” Faith is a gift from God; faith is being persuaded that God will do all that He has promised to do in His timing and in His way. Our temptation is to limit who God should be for us. We would rather have a God who conforms to our image than for us to conform to his; we want God to be predictable and always at our beck and call. Imagine parents willing to placate their 3-year old child’s whims; however, parents know that their child will not grow without setting limits. The child will not like being told ‘no’; yet, it is the only way for her to grow and mature beyond her childish ways.
Likewise, we undergo life experiences in which we find ourselves in ‘Dark Night.’ It is a transition in which God moves us from feeling good about him to a deeper intimacy that we’ve never experienced before. This experience is very disorienting because we can no longer sense God’s presence and love for us. An analogy is when a 4 year-old is sent to Pre-K for the first time. On the first day of school, many Pre-K children cry and scream as they exit their parents’ cars because being separated from their parents is terrifying. Yet the children eventually come to learn that they are loved and their parents have not abandoned them. Nicodemus is an example of someone who comes closer to God through a ‘dark night’ experience.
Nicodemus, a respected Jewish leader and rabbi, secretly admired Jesus and was drawn to Jesus. He desired to know more about Jesus, however, his colleagues in religious leadership despised Jesus and was planning to eliminate him. Nighttime served as a cloak for Nicodemus to visit him. While Nicodemus was one of the most learned religious leader in Israel with vast knowledge of scriptures, he could not wrap his mind around what Jesus told him: that one must be born from above through water and Spirit in order to see the Kingdom of God; that Jesus is the Son of Man and God’s Son; that he has come down from heaven and will return to Heaven; that just as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the desert, the Son of Man also must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Nicodemus did not yet understand the juxtaposition of the image of the bronze serpent and Jesus being “lifted up.” Jesus prophesied to Nicodemus that the Son of Man will be lifted upon the tree of the Cross, and those who believe in him will have eternal life. Nicodemus did not understand that night what Jesus shared with him. Only after Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection, will the full meaning unfold.
We are like Nicodemus. We have some knowledge about Jesus, about God, about scriptures, and about the Church. Yet, we struggle to apply this knowledge to our busy, daily lives. We may honor God on Sunday, however, we put God on a shelf as we go about the rest of the week, focused on surviving day-to-day challenges.There are pleasant days when our life seems hopeful and purposeful. Then all of a sudden circumstances change, and we feel desolate, such as a friend seems not to care, my spouse misunderstands me, a humiliation happens at work, or illness overtakes me. At times all we can muster within us are complaints and negativity. We don’t want to feel this way, but we can’t help but feel restless, angry, or fearful. Spiritual writers call this experience spiritual desolation or spiritual “dark night.” St. John of the Cross characterizes “Dark Night” as spiritual growth, suffering, or purification. It is during a spiritual “Dark Night” that we hear the calling from Our Lord to go in search of him.
A spiritual writer wrote, “How will a person brought to birth and nurtured in a world of small horizons rise up to you Lord, if you do not raise him by your hand which made him?” St. John wrote about this spiritual darkness, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God… the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.” Spiritual night comes upon us and takes us out of our own control, and we feel helpless. Yet there is healing waiting around the corner; ‘night’ is actually a healing grace.
Arthur Boyle was a good father of 13 children, a loving husband, and a successful businessman. At the age of 44, his doctor told him that he had terminal kidney cancer. He was crushed by the news. While he was Catholic, he did not know how to pray. For a few months, he prayed that he would be healed. When his cancerous kidney was removed, he went back to his previous way of life. Nothing changed in his relationship with God. However, 8 months after his kidney was removed, doctors found several tumors in his lung and gave him a 5% chance of survival. While he plunged into depression and spiritual darkness, Arthur prayed like never before. He lifted up in his prayer his wife and 13 children. His brother-in-law invited Arthur to go on a pilgrimage to Medjugorje; in desperation, Arthur said yes to the trip hoping for a miracle. In Medjugorje, he received his greatest spiritual healing during confession; all the depression and chaos seemed to depart from him after the absolution by the priest. The priest told Arthur that when he returns home, he must proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Then he and his friends climbed Mount Krizevac or “Cross Mountain” where the Medjugorje parishioners built a 16-ton concrete cross on top of a mountain. At the cross on the top of the mountain, Arthur prayed with all his heart to Jesus to forgive him and to help him get well. He felt physically different after the prayer. Upon his arrival home, the doctors confirmed what Arthur suspected at the Cross on top of the mountain, that he was physically healed.
Whether the ‘Dark Night’ is a physical or a spiritual experience, the invitation from God is for us to come to want what God wants for us and to come to love what God loves. Spiritual desolation or night that we experience in our lives is an invitation from God to embark on a journey toward him by renouncing our own path. Perhaps we have crowded our lives with something or someone less than God, and God desires for us to make room for him. When we find ourselves grumbling, complaining, or impatient, perhaps it’s time to take stock of ourselves. Do we find ourselves needing to multiply our projects or discussions at the cost of stillness or silence? Does our pride tempt us to seek approval or affirmation from others? Do we insist on leaving our options open and are reluctant to make commitments because we are avoiding sacrifice? These are symptoms of self-centeredness, and we need the eyes of our hearts focused on Jesus on the Cross who bears our numerous sins. Are we willing to say ‘yes’ to Jesus whenever and to wherever he calls us? He promised, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” (John 15:11)
