20250331 LEAVING THE PAST IN HOPE OF THE FUTURE
31 March 2025, Monday, 4th Week of Lent
First reading | Isaiah 65:17-21 |
Be glad and rejoice for ever at what I am creating
Thus says the Lord: Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness.’ I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 29(30):2,4-6,11-13 |
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me
and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead,
restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the Lord, you who love him,
give thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a moment; his favour all through life.
At night there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and had pity.
The Lord came to my help.
For me you have changed my mourning into dancing:
O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you, Lord, you have rescued me.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps129:5,7 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord there is mercy
and fullness of redemption.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | cf.Amos5:14 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God of hosts may really be with you.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | John 4:43-54 |
Go home: your son will live
Jesus left Samaria for Galilee. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.
He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son as he was at the point of death. Jesus said, ‘So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!’ ‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come down before my child dies.’ ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’ they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household believed.
This was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.
LEAVING THE PAST IN HOPE OF THE FUTURE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 65:17-21; PS 30:2,4-6,11-13; JN 4:43-54]
We have just passed the halfway mark of Lent. The feast of the resurrection is less than three weeks away. It is therefore appropriate that the liturgy begins to focus on Christ who is the Resurrection and the life. In the last three weeks, the emphasis was on repentance, renunciation of sins and spiritual exercises. Presuming that we have taken the call to repentance seriously, we must now focus not on the past but on the future. The spiritual exercises are not ends in themselves. God does not want us to suffer. As He told us before, we do not fast till the bridegroom is taken away from us. (cf Mt 9:15)
So the purpose of the spiritual exercises is to make it possible for us to enter into a new life. The first reading speaks of this hope when the Lord said, “Now I create new heavens and a new earth. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people ‘Gladness’. I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people.” It is not about penance and mortification. Those are the means, not the end. Indeed, this is what the Lord always wanted for us, that we will always be a rejoicing people.
We are asked to leave our past behind. There is no point in always going back to the past. “The past will not be remembered, and will come no more to men’s minds.” How can we leave the past behind if not because of the future? Those who have no hope for the future will keep going back to the nostalgic past or the hurtful past. They will always either be lamenting the good old days or recalling the painful events of the past. In truth, the good old days were not all that good, and the painful events were not as bad as they remember them today. So long as we cling to the past, the future cannot be brought into the present.
Anticipating the future with hope will, however, help us to erase the past. In life, only when we think of what is possible in the future, can we then let go of the past. Like in a marriage, when we think of the future of our children and the hope of a happy family, we will be able to let go of the mistakes of our spouse. Indeed, those who live with hope of a better tomorrow will always be ready to let go of the past, no matter how painful, hurtful or disappointing it might have been. Those who give up on the future are those who live without hope.
If we are feeling thus, then we must turn to the source of our hope. The gospel tells us that Jesus is our Hope. We can be sure that the man was desperate for the life of his son. He stayed in Capernaum, 26 km away from Cana. He must have travelled all the way there to look for Jesus to heal his son. Parents would do anything to save their children. He came to Jesus believing that only He could cure his son who was at the point of death. The man said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” We too must turn to Jesus, the life giver, if we desire to live with hope for the future. Only Jesus can provide us with real hope for a better life.
But this requires faith in Him. Jesus was upset that His countrymen would not believe unless they “see signs and portents.” There are some people who are like that, always seeking for one sign after another, miracle after miracle. Those who are crazy over signs and miracles show that they lack faith. It is like those people who need to be reassured of our love all the time by our gifts. When we do not give them anything, they begin to feel insecure of our love. They are always asking for affirmation and confirmation of our love.
Today, we need to trust Jesus unconditionally. This was what the court official did. Jesus did not want to go with him to Capernaum, not because it was too far away, but because He wanted pure faith from the man. So He told the man to “Go home, your son will live.” That was all the assurance he needed. So in faith the man went home, believing in Jesus’ promise to heal His son. We read that “while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive.” And he was told that “the fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour.” And “this was exactly the time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’.” We must not repeat the same mistake of the Jews in always seeking for reassurance. The evangelist noted, “on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.” Their reception of Jesus depended on His performance of the miracles.
Will we also have the courage to believe in Jesus even when things seem impossible? When we pray, do we truly believe that Jesus can heal or solve our problems? Do we believe against the odds that with Jesus, nothing is impossible and that He knows best? To have faith in Jesus is to surrender our lives to Him. To have faith in Jesus is to trust that whatever happens to us, He knows best. Faith in Jesus is to trust in His power to save, perhaps not always in the way we want. What if the court official had refused to go back and insisted that Jesus returned with him to heal the child? By the time Jesus arrived, the child might have already died. So too, we need to have confidence in the Lord.
So the question we need to ask ourselves today is whether we truly believe that Jesus is the Lord of life. The psalmist said, “I will praise you, Lord; you have rescued me and have not let my enemies rejoice over me. O Lord, you have raised my soul from the dead, restored me to life from those who sink into the grave.” If Jesus is the Lord of life, then we can entrust ourselves to Him. The healing of the court official’s son and the changing of water into wine earlier on in Cana were signs of His identity as the Lord. Just as He was the seventh jar of wine, so the boy was healed at the seventh hour. In other words, Christ is the perfection of joy and the fullness of life as well.
Today, we must imitate Mary in Cana and the Court Official who responded to the Lord in faith. Mary too did not know how Jesus would help the wedding couple when the wine ran out. She left it entirely for the Lord to figure it out for she knows that Jesus was a man of compassion and would not leave them in the lurch. “The Lord listened and had pity. The Lord came to my help. For me you have changed my mourning into dancing: O Lord my God, I will thank you for ever.” Like the court official, we just trust that Jesus knows best in every situation.
Indeed, with faith in the Lord, we will never fear death as well, and even when we live, we live to the fullest. The promise of the prophet in the first reading appears to be unrealistic. “No more will the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” Is such a long life possible? Of course, only if man does not destroy the order of creation and upset the biological, social and human ecology of life.
Most of the problems of humanity are the consequences of our not respecting creation. It is the abuse of creation and the human body, like deforestation, pollution, uncontrolled killing of animals and fishes, over eating, over working without rest and a lack of a balance lifestyle that brings destruction to creation, causing man to be sick and die early from diseases like cancer, heart diseases, sexual diseases, hypertension, etc. When we do not live a balanced life, we bring stress and division with our fellowmen wherever we go because we fail to recognize the importance of right relationship, moderation and respect for others.
But if we believe in Jesus, then we should live a simple life like Him, and use that life not to hoard things or allow our selfish pleasures to destroy our body, mind and spirit. Rather, we will use the resources well for our good and well-being and the good of others. This is what it means to believe in Jesus. We must live a life of love and service, doing what we can, making time for God, for family and loved ones, and for the service of humanity. If we walk the way of Jesus, then we will have fullness of life. Joy and gladness are for those with pure hearts. If we live without guilt and anger or greed, we will be at peace. Ambition, unlawful and unrestrained pleasures, greed and egotism rob us of our happiness in life. If we live a life of detachment, nothing can cause us to be unsettled or deprived. Simply living our lives responsibly with integrity will give us the peace and joy of life.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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