Wednesday of the Fourth Week
Reflection

It was four weeks ago today that this year’s Lenten journey began.  We have a little more than two weeks to go, and I hope that our journey is allowing us to focus on the love of Christ as well as re-align our spiritual life to more faithfully answer the call that God gives us.

In today’s reading from Isaiah, we hear, “In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you.”  We hear of the land being restored, prisoner’s being freed, those in darkness being revealed, and on the way, "they shall find pasture."  It was this word “pasture," that I connect with.  When I was growing up, I loved strolling through my grandfather’s pastures.  On those nearly 100 acres of pasture, I worked with him to mend broken fences, I played on the frozen ice in the winter, was stuck in the mud in the spring, enjoyed the smell of the grass in the summer, and picked apples in the fall.  Now, in Vermont, I get to see my heifers roam freely in a much smaller pasture, but this pasture provides them with the most delicious grass that they have eaten all year.  For animals, the pasture is their source of nourishment, providing a peaceful existence where they can roam freely and naturally.  It is their slice of heaven.

This is the time to answer God’s call, to thank the God who loves us more than we can comprehend, to give to others, to love as He loves us.  John’s Gospel emphasizes the relationship between Jesus and His Father and what it will be like on that final day, “all who are in tombs will hear His voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life.”  What is the “tomb" that has been keeping us from fully experiencing God’s grace?  Now is the time to leave that tomb, to restore our spiritual life, and fully immerse ourselves into the relationship that God yearns us to be in with Him.

Prayer

Lord, may each day of this journey draw us closer to You.  May we seek not our own will but Your will, as Your Son Jesus showed us, rejecting those things that draw us away from You and embracing each step of the journey until we have eternal life.

Jeffrey Lester, Member of the Worshipping Community

Scripture

First Reading: Isaiah 49:8-15
Psalm 145:8-9, 13c-14, 17-18
Gospel: John 5:17-30

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website