Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21, 2021

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There is joy in surrendering to God’s will (God is not you)

John 12:20–33

Some Greeks who had come to worship at the Passover Feast
came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,
and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
Philip went and told Andrew;
then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
Jesus answered them,
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat;
but if it dies, it produces much fruit.
Whoever loves his life loses it,
and whoever hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
Whoever serves me must follow me,
and where I am, there also will my servant be.
The Father will honor whoever serves me.

“I am troubled now. Yet what should I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
But it was for this purpose that I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven,
“I have glorified it and will glorify it again.”
The crowd there heard it and said it was thunder;
but others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered and said,
“This voice did not come for my sake but for yours.
Now is the time of judgment on this world;
now the ruler of this world will be driven out.
And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw everyone to myself.”
He said this indicating the kind of death he would die.

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Adapted from Thomas Merton in Book of Hours:

Almighty and merciful God, teach us to belong; suffering in uncertainty, teach us to wait and trust.
Be with those in sorrow and uncertainty at this time, especially… [Take time to think of a particular person you wish to pray for.]
Teach us to seek peace where it is truly found, and thence to BE peace for others.
In your will, O God, is our peace… Amen.

Companions for the Journey

From “First Impressions 2012”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

We are well into Lent and, if we have been praying and reflecting, we have probably been made aware of ways we have fallen short in our covenant with God. Our reading from Hebrews reminds us that Jesus was not an other-worldly creature disguised as a human. He did not live above the world of the body, detached from suffering and limitation. Instead, he took on our human state sharing with us our common lot—even unto death. Indeed, he prayed with “loud cries” to God; the way we do when life presses us down. His cries were accompanied by tears. His prayers, though heard by God, did not spare him from suffering. He may have prayed, not to escape suffering, but that God’s love would support him in it. And God’s love did.

As much as we would like it to be otherwise, when we accept the cross and Jesus’ way of living, we cannot escape pain. But Hebrews also suggests to us that by accepting the cross we will be transformed into the mind and heart of Jesus. Paul would say we are educated in Christ and have put on the mind of Christ; that is, we will think and act towards one another like Christ (Philippians 2:1–11).

Throughout John’s Gospel Jesus had been saying that his “hour” had not yet come. He wasn’t continually looking up at the sun to reckon the time. His “hour” refers to his hour of glory, when he would return to his Father by his passage through suffering, death and resurrection. Today he announces, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” What caused him to make that announcement at this time? The “Greeks,” from the Hellenistic world (representing the world beyond Judaism), had come seeking him. In the preceding verse the Pharisees spelled it out, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

But the outreach to the Gentile world would only happen after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The “grain of wheat” must first die in order to produce “much fruit.” All humanity will be saved by Jesus’ death and glorification. The world comes looking for light in its darkness and we, illumined by our faith, provide that light by the sacrifice of ourselves for the well-being of others. What Jesus said of himself, is also said of his followers, “The grain of wheat must die in order to produce much fruit.” Then the Gentiles, who asked, “to see Jesus,” will discover his light in us and they will “see” the Lord.

Jesus says that those who wish to serve him must follow his path. How do we gain access to our glorified Lord? Not primarily through the occasional phenomena of visions and miracles, but first by accepting the gospel and then, in response to what we have heard, by a life of service and dying to self. Jesus teaches that we lose our life when we cling to it and win our life when we are ready to give it up. He is inviting his disciples to follow his path of service into glory.

The “glory of God” here means discovering the presence of God who, at first, is hidden. We look in the wrong places with the wrong expectations. The gospel invites us to see God shining forth in Jesus’ crucifixion; God shown to us in loving service for all humankind. We don’t want to romanticize Christ’s suffering. He died in a cruel and agonizing way. The forces of darkness crushed life out of him. Yet on the cross the world’s darkness was defeated because of Christ’s love.

Contrary to all our usual instincts and logical conclusions, Christ invites us to follow him even when his ways seems foolish and defeated. To belong to Christ means a willingness to participate in his “hour” so as to come to know that resurrection, as improbable as it may seem at times, is the final glory in which we will share. We, baptized into Christ’s life and death, have resurrection-lens. We don’t shrink from following Jesus into the daily dyings because we already “see” the end of the story—his and our resurrection.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant will also be.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • What are the criteria I use when I make important decisions?
  • When I pray, do I ask God to grant my wishes, or to show me what He wishes for me?
  • When we say “Thy will be done,” what do we mean?
    How do we know God’s will? What are some ways of discerning God’s will for us?
  • What freedom can we derive from submission to God’s will that we cannot derive in any other way?
  • What is the difference to me between submission and blind obedience? What is my attitude toward either posture?
  • Does God want us to suffer? What does that say about the role of pleasure and enjoyment in our lives? Does God always ask us to choose the more difficult or unpleasant option when we have a decision to make? Is that what “hating your life” means?
  • What does it mean to me to lose one’s life, in the gospel sense?
  • “Whoever serves me must follow me.” What does that mean?
  • What are my priorities in life? (“Where your treasure is, there lies your heart.”)
  • Have I ever made a choice or behaved in a way that I knew was distinctly not what God might will for me?
  • If I have made mistakes, is that proof that I was not doing God’s will?
  • What is the personal price to me of surrender to God’s will? (Some examples: I am not in charge of anything that comes out of my mouth or any of my actions, or I must not have ambition, or goals, or riches, or I must always choose the least desirable option, for that is God’s will.)
  • What method or discipline do I have that helps me listen to my heart?
  • What do I need to be simplified and cleared away to help that listening process?
  • In what way will I “be lifted up”?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican style/Asking Questions:

We are invited to look at our gifts and choices and instead of telling God what WE want, we wait to find out what God hopes and desires for us, confident that God will reveal such hope to us. The end result is to desire only what God wants for us, and by doing so, to find God in all things. This section of the poem “Ash Wednesday,” by T. S. Eliot, captures this belief and this hope:

Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
Teach us to care and not to care
Teach us to sit still
Even among these rocks,
Our peace in His will
And even among these rocks
Sister, mother
And spirit of the river, spirit of the sea,
Suffer me not to be separated
And let my cry come unto Thee.

What does it mean "to care and not to care"? What do you think God might be calling you to right this very moment? Is it something you want, or maybe, is it something you have refused to consider? Is it a course correction in your behavior or attitudes? Allow God to speak to you, giving you reassurance that all will be well, and ask for the grace to know and draw closer to Jesus’ will for your life.

A Meditation in the Ignation style/Imagination:

Read Luke 1:26–32 (The Annunciation).

Let’s look at this little village in Galilee, in a poor, hardscrabble land, far away from the seats of power in Jerusalem.
An unimportant backwater, in a land that used to belong to Samaria.
Scene of revolutions and trouble. Not a peaceful place.
What does Mary’s house look like? Is it in a big garden and quiet, or is it part of a noisy and crowded group of huts and lean-to’s that might comprise a village in this time? Does Mary have her own room? What does her father do for a living? Is she rich or poor?

How old is Mary? What does she look like? What do I think she is doing at the opening of this tale? What does that reveal to me about her? How do I define virginity? Am I interested in the gynecology or the spirituality? Have I ever heard of virginity defined as a state of being unattached—open and available to the movement of the spirit? Is that what Mary was?

  • In what sense am I available to the movement of God's spirit in me?
    What holds me back?—
    Fears… prejudices… greed… a need to control the results… the need for success… jealousy… resentments… attachments to things or people that are getting in the way… perfectionism (“Jesus did not call us to be perfect, He called us to be faithful.” —Mother Teresa)… sheer laziness?—
    What holds me back?

How does the angel announce himself? What does he look like? What is the expression on his face? Does she know who or what he is? Is it impossible for her to consider that God might have sent him? Or is it her imagination playing tricks on her?

  • Who reveals to me the mysterious presence of God in my life?

What does the angel mean by “Hail, favored one”?

  • Have I ever felt favored by God?
    When?

What does the angel say is going to happen? How bizarre does that seem to her? Was it a stretch for her to think that all this would happen to her, stuck in this little backwater of a village, someone of no importance at all? What is she supposed to do?

  • Is God asking me to do something right now that seems impossible?
    Has it happened in the past?
    What was my answer?
    What will it be now?

What does the angel tell her about her future?
Does the angel lay out a blueprint for Mary—telling here in great detail what the scenario would be? What virtue does she need to answer the request? courage? obedience?
We are told of Mary’s meek obedience. No one mentions courage.

What will people think? In addition, in her tiny village, where everyone knows everyone else and many people are related to one another, everyone knows that she and the man who is already her legal husband have not yet begun to live together. But all of them can count to nine. What will they say about her, what kinds of nasty looks will they cast her way when her precious child is born too soon? What will Joseph think? How easy or hard is this decision for Mary?

  • When has doing God’s will been easy for me?
    When has it been hard?
    Do I know what God’s will might be for me right at this moment? If not, how do I discern God’s will for me? What is the role of prayer in my discernment process?
A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Discernment:

One of the hallmarks of Ignatian Spirituality is a discipline called “Active Indifference”.

A Meditation on Active Indifference:

Open to the gospel for this week.

Be aware that you are in the presence of the Living God, the One who beholds you with compassion and delight and who is relentless in seeking to bless you with all that is good.

Ask for the Grace/Desire being sought: “I want to know and long more deeply for the God who cherishes me and seeks to fill me with deep life.”

Prayer:

Lord, mighty God, You offer me so much. You give me so many days and years, so many strengths and abilities, so many rich things and splendid technological devices, and You surround me with so many whom I love. Teach me this one thing above all, Lord: How I am to choose. Then I hope to return to You as many wonders as You have poured out on me.
Through Christ Jesus, My Lord and good brother. Amen.

Silent Meditation:

My life world offers me a welter of wonderful things—careers, places to live, consumer goods, travel, various educations. After I have set my face against anything sinful, how will I decide which among them to go for?

I could choose in several ways. First, I could simply follow fad and fashion. Hankering after the latest clothes and activities and trips, I could do what everyone else is doing right now.

Or second, I could simply follow my own native taste. If I grew up loving open country, I could choose to live in a suburb simply because I prefer it and for no other reason. If my natural preferences lead me to pursue some profession, I could simply follow that lead, figuring that God would not make me hanker for something that would do me harm.

Or third, I could set some definite goal for myself, to bring me to transcend myself, reach fulfillment, and do some real good for others. For example, I could ambition being a federal judge or having total financial security or making some important discovery in genetics. Then I could aim everything toward that goal.

A fourth way would be more difficult. I could begin with the premise that I will never do anything to break my relationship with God my Lord, but will choose only what my conscience freely allows. Then I will wait to find out what God hopes for in me. To achieve this mind-set, I have to believe that I can know what God hopes in me, and I have to hope that I can find that out. I will also have to hold tremendously careful balance among all the welter of wonderful things that my life world offers me. I will not let myself get so stuck on any of them that it will incline me to this or that decision. That would mean that I would not follow the first or second way of choosing by doing what everyone is now doing, or by merely following my own native preferences and not even the third by setting my own life goal for myself without asking God what my Creator wants in me. To put that another way: I would not try to tell God what will make me happy (that judgeship or a heap of money or a brilliant scientific career). I will wait to find out what God has been hoping in me and live confident that it will make me happy.

Of course, I cannot sit back and expect God to strike me the way God struck Paul of Tarsus. I have to pray, and consider, and take counsel with trusted friends. I have to attend to what the whole Church now engages in and hopes for, and what the official teachers (bishops and theologians in their own ways) are teaching. I have to try this or that and see how it goes. But I will always be hoping to find God desiring in me, God shaping my life world, God bringing the Reign to reality. I hope to find what God wants first, and then I will decide what I let myself want and what I will choose.

Holding this kind of indifference among God’s almost infinite number of gifts makes a person a great force for good. What a power she is who does not much care where she lives as long as God’s hopes are being realized! What a power he is who does not much care whether he lives wealthy or not, only as long as God’s justice is being done! Such a person truly finds God in all things, God creating, God raising up justice and peace in all things, God working busily so that no one will be lost, but everyone brought to the Reign.

Conclude the Period of Prayer:

Have a simple conversation with God about what happened during the prayer, thanking God, asking that the grace/desire you prayed for continues to deepen throughout the day and week. End with the Lord’s Prayer. (Your Kingdom come…)

Literary Reflection:

Read the following, looking for the connection between personal choices we make and doing God’s will:

“The Journey”

One day you finally knew
what you had to do and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
around your ankles.
”Mend my life!”
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

—Mary Oliver

Commentary (excerpted and adapted from ten poems to change your life by Roger Housden):

Everything hangs on that first step. It is not enough to know; you have to begin… In a lucid moment like this the mind is quiet with a tender certainty. It is time to start walking, to stand by the truth you may have known all along but were not ready until this moment to call by a true name… You do not even know what you are headed toward. Yet the first step can only ever be taken in darkness. You cannot know where it will take you, …the entire undertaking relies on the unreasonableness of faith. Faith is unreasonable because it rests on no tangible evidence. It is beyond even belief. The person of faith does not expect everything to turn out the way they want it to…

However you understand it in the context of your own life, Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” speaks to the birth of a new self… If there is one word that can describe the voice [of this self], it is the word authentic. This new self does not walk away from the world, but into it. It wants to plunge into life with dedication and commitment… In daring to do that, you do not leave the human community behind; on the contrary, you affirm your belonging within it, and your identification with the joys and struggles of all.

You cannot know where that voice will take you. But being willing “to save the only life you could save,” you are affirming one of the deepest and most sobering truths of all: no one else can walk your journey for you. You alone can respond to your call.

Conclusion:
from “Little Gidding” (Four Quartets) by T.S. Eliot:

With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time

Closing Prayer

From Thomas Merton:

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
[Pause for reflection.]
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
[Pause for reflection.]
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.