To watch Fr. Joe’s homily from the 2nd Sunday of Lent: CLICK HERE!
Today we hear stories of people changing, people coming to a deeper understanding of God, people taking the next step as a person and person of faith.
In our story about Abraham, one might wonder how could Abraham so willingly sacrifice Isaac? But the real story has to do with Abraham’s understanding of God.
The Lord appreciated Abraham’s desire to be obedient, but the Lord went on to teach him that instead of sacrifice, that other gods expected, the Lord desires loving relationships.
And even in our Gospel Reading today, we see the disciples begin to understand a bit more who Jesus was and what he was about, namely God’s ultimate messenger, that Jesus was the culmination of everything in their tradition… the God who created out of love, desires only love.
Abraham and the Disciples could not take it all in at once, they needed time to come to understand and to live this new understanding, this new reality… but once they did they became disciples capable of communicating the message of God’s great love more and more.
Several years ago, I was playing a practice round of golf for a tournament I was playing in Myrtle Beach. I arrived at the golf course and played with 2 other people; we were all 60 years old or more. As it always happens, besides introductions, questions arise like: Where are you from? Are you working or are you retired? And, if you answer working the follow up question is: What do you do for a living?
Well, and so it came to pass that I was asked the question “what do you do for a living” and I answered, “I’m a Roman Catholic Priest”.
Usually, that silences the group and the language improves substantially and someone says, “Father the tee is yours…”
Anyways, when we finished the round, I was putting my clubs in my car and one of the men came up to my car to share something with me. Something that changed his understanding of God and his life.
He said, with tears in his eyes, “Father Joe… I always believed that God loves us and I believe that God loves me, but it was only in recent years that I came to better understand, to believe that if I were the only person ever to live, that Jesus Christ loves me, beyond my comprehension.”
What’s our understanding of God? How has and how will my understanding of God that is exemplified in Jesus expanding as we live our lives daily as person, family and Parish.
As one person has shared, the God who created us continues to Invite us to live as if love were the only thing that matters.