Third Second Sunday Of Lent, March 23, 2025
The story of life for most people is a mixture of joy, happiness and hope; and it is also a story of disappointments, failures and brokenness. Do you and I tend to reflect more on the times of failure, disappointment, and loss. Many people are able to place their trust in a God who watches over them and cares for their well-being.
I suggest you think about the messages in this Sunday’s sacred scriptures. I am drawing from Exodus 3: 1-13; from Psalms 102; from I Cor. 10:1-12; and from Luke 13: 1-9.
The call and presence of God. Each of us are called by God, and quite often we do not recognize these calls. They may be at a time of failure, of success, or of an unexpected event. Think about the call of Moses at the burning bush, or of Paul on his road to Damascus, or of the people who came to Jesus with stories of tragedy.
God’s call, often not heard by you and I, and often misunderstood. It may be like the challenge to Abram of leading the people out of slavery in Egypt, or it might be Paul’s sense of the mission given him by Christ. or of person in today’s gospel, who finding no fruit on his fruit tree, was told to give it another chance. With a little help it might produce later. Implied in this is the message that God is merciful, the same message we hear in today’s responsorial Psalm (Ps. 102)
Many times, God tries to reach us in the routine chores of daily life, in a health crisis in your family, in the presence of a nurse/doctor/ knowledgeable neighbor when your family is in panic. The call might come in a time of celebration for good results in an examination or acquiring a new job, or awakening to a new relationship in our life. These may be times we are overwhelmed and don’t hear God’s hint to us.
These opportunities will not be missed if we have tried to develop a relationship with God. Abram heard the task presented to him, he recognized, even vaguely, the God who cared for his people but he needed the intimacy of knowing God’s name. What do you learn from this?
In each phase of God’s calling, there is the promise of good results but these are dependent on our knowledge, relationship and trust in God. The good results may be freedom; opportunity to live in a land of milk and honey, or the assurance that our God is a merciful and forgiving God
I offer reflective questions to help you think about God’s call or prompt in your life. A. Can you name a time or an event in your life when you thought God was calling you. How did you respond? B. In your prayer or conversations with God, how did you address him. Did you simply say ‘God help me.’ Can you speak to God in personal conversation? C. Looking back over the first three months of 2025, with people around you, success/celebrations happening, was there a time you felt that God was calling you? D. Have you ever asked for the ability to talk to God directly and personably?
[Presented by Father David O’Connor, email: doconnor.natchez@gmail.com]
Father David O'Connor 10 Morgantown Road Natchez, MS 39120-2788
Pope John Paul II, during his first U.S. visit in 1979, at Yankee Stadium, New York City. Source