Gospel Reflection 2020/2021

The Fourth Sunday of Lent is also called Laetare Sunday. Laetare means ‘rejoice’. The priest wears ‘rose’ vestment which symbolises ‘joy’. Even the entrance antiphon reflects on Isaiah 66: 10-11, “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning; exalt and be satisfied at her consoling breast.”

In the midst of our sombre Lenten observances, fasts and penances, dear Mother Church calls us to rejoice with great hope and jubilant joy because we are already halfway through the forty days of Lent – Easter is at hand! We, who are as if in the tunnel of darkness, are called to raise our heads high to see the flicker of Christ’ light at the of the tunnel. Our salvation is near. Our salvation is here.

If we reflect further, we will be able to see the striking similarity of our one-year MCO and our forty days of Lent. God-incidentally, as we are celebrating Laetare Sunday, we are also facing similar transitions in our life: COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down, businesses are struggling to recover losses, life gradually returns to the new normal, churches are reopening for public worship… – and we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

To put our life and these forty days of Lent into the right perspective again, and to prepare ourselves to make sense of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus our Lord, St John points us once again to the Cross of Christ – the symbol of God’s infinite, immeasurable and unchanging love for us humankind – the constant reminder that ‘God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life’ [Jn 3: 16].

Since God loves us so much and gives us His Son; and Jesus loves us so much and gives us Himself – we have the reason to believe:

1) God is for us, not against us.

While many of us choose to believe that God punishes the world with pain, suffering, death and COVID-19… and see that God is more of a foe than a friend, Jesus reminds us that, “God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but so that through Him the world can be saved.”

It is true that sometimes God allows us to suffer, but it is always to bring about the greater good – for He is God and He can draw straight with crooked lines. Fr Raniero Cantalamessa beautifully and rightfully shares that, “The cross, does not ‘stand’ against the world but for the world: to give meaning to all the suffering that has been, that is, and that will be in human history.”

In our moment of darkness, we need to have faith to gaze upon the Crucified Christ to believe that ‘there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is not an oncoming train’. God does not and will not sabo(tage) us.

2) As the world changes, the Cross of Christ remains.

Living in a transient world and a ‘liquid society’, we are constantly challenged by the waves of changes and uncertainties. Even we Catholics ourselves are tempted to think that the Church must ‘modernize’ herself to keep up with changes – to trade our solemn liturgy for more fun and excitement, to compromise the Gospel values to be accepted by the changing world, to change our Sacred Scriptures to be more politically correct, to permanently replace our Public Masses with online Masses… and the list is unending.

No, we must remember Jesus does not change Himself to be accepted by the world, but He who is unchanging has come to change the world. In this transient world and ‘liquid society’, there is only one unchanging Truth – the Cross of Christ that continues to stand firm as the world turns. The Cross of Christ is and will always be the reminder of God’s infinite, immensurable and unchanging love for the whole world.

When it seems madness would consume our world, we must seek refuge at the feet of the Crucified Christ – we can always count on His love. And it is good to remember that we are never alone at the feet of the Cross, together with us are Mother Mary and Apostle John (the Apostolic Church). In communion with Jesus Christ, Mother Mary and the Church, we can face any change, challenge and uncertainty with great hope.

Let our fervent prayer be:

"O Crucified Jesus, come and be the anchor of my life."