a homily for the fourth Sunday of Lent follows. (NOTE: I’m writing this in obedience to a message from a dream. I’m not authorized to preach, nor would I presume to do so. I have no idea whether amateur homilies will be a regular feature of the new Vita Brevis.)
There’s a wealth of material to consider in today’s propers. The propers, as you may recall, are those portions of the Mass that vary based on the liturgical calendar. These vestments are a conspicuous example. Please note: they’re rose; not pink -- rose. Why rose? Perhaps it would be better to look at the other propers first and come back to the rationale for rose.
The entrance antiphon isn’t used at every Mass, but each Mass has one. Often the entrance antiphon offers a succinct summary of the theme of the propers of the day. Today’s entrance antiphon: “Rejoice Jerusalem, and all who love her rejoice with her.”
Now it doesn’t use that a-word that’s in exile until the Easter Vigil, so it isn’t a case where our joy is full. It’s substantial joy, but it isn’t quite complete yet. It likewise doesn’t say “rejoice for Lent is nearly over and coconut cream pie is right around the corner”. It tells us to rejoice for salvation is at hand. Not in hand, at hand. It can be grasped or, God forbid, it can be dropped.
In the first reading David is introduced into the Scriptural narrative. He’s a central figure in the Old Testament, remembered every day by Jews and Christians alike. When we meet him, he’s low-man on the totem pole in his house as he’s the youngest son and he’s out doing a dirty, dangerous and tedious chore. He’s tending sheep. Sheep are dirty and stupid. They get into trouble by wandering where they shouldn’t go, or by following reckless wanderers. The shepherd has to watch them constantly to keep them safe and to place himself between them and danger. From that drudgery, David is called out and anointed. Eventually he will become King. He isn’t King yet. There are many experiences between his anointing and his arrival at the throne. Not all of them were pleasant either. The anointing set him on the way, but he had to travel a long difficult way. By the way, “anointed” is, as you may recall, the meaning of Jesus’ title of Messiah or Christ. David here serves as a foreshadowing image of Christ by being anointed in anticipation of a shepherd assuming Kingship. Being anointed, though, was an occasion of joy.
In the psalm we hear again that the Lord is our Shepherd. He’s not out working for us tending our sheep like David did for his father. We’re the sheep. We’re the ones that require constant attention of someone stronger and more sensible than us. Rejoice, because we have that attention from the source of all wisdom. Salvation is at hand, even if we still have to walk through the valley of the shadow of death before it can be in hand.
The reading from St. Paul will be useful for further reading and study. I direct your attention to two points: First, he contrasts our past life with our present. Is that really a valid contrast? Has your life changed? Does the light of Christ shine through in your daily activities? Could it shine through more than it does?
St. Paul mentions an unpopular way to look at where we stand in relation to the light of Christ. He mentions shame. Think a moment. Are there things you’ve done lately that you’d rather not have others know about? Things you’ve said? Things you’ve thought? That’s shame. Our society tells us that shame is generally worse than the things people are ashamed of. On that, society is wrong. If you’ve got shame in your life, Christ can help you to change your life so that you’ll be rid of the cause of your shame. A physician does better to treat the disease than just the symptoms, and so it is in moral life. Shame is merely a symptom of sin. If we get rid of the sin, the shame goes away with it. If we stifle shame while persisting in sin, we simply get ourselves into a downward spiral of ever-increasing sin and ever-decreasing conscience. Getting rid of sin and its concomitant shame is a great cause for joy.
In the Gospel, Jesus again calls someone from a humble position. He gives a blind man sight by using mud. That’s significant. Jesus can do things however he chooses, but he chooses to use natural objects to achieve supernatural results. He does that in the Sacraments and he does that in the lives of his disciples. In Confession he cleanses us, in the Eucharist he transforms us. After we leave here, we become the means by which He works in the lives of others, just like the experience of the blind man at Siloam was used to transform the lives of many people and to bring them, you guessed it, joy.
Why rose? It looks a little brighter and happier than penitential violet, but not as dazzling as Easter white. Rose is named for the flower – a flower that is beautiful and fragrant, albeit surrounded by thorns. So it echoes the antiphon: we rejoice for our salvation is at hand, thorns and all. May God bring us to the day when salvation is firmly in hand and joy is made full.
