Scratchpad Reflection for: March 9, 2016 – Wednesday in the 4th Week of Lent
Saint for the day: Dominic Savio (1842-1857)
Scripture Readings for today’s Liturgy:
Isaiah 49:8-15
Psalm 145
John 5:17-30
“But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me; my lord has forgotten me.’ Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even should she forget, I will never forget you.” (Today’s 1st Scripture Reading from Isaiah 49:14-15)
St. Augustine of Hippo wrote it this way: “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us to love.” Isn’t that a wonderful way to think of our relationship with God? In 1st John 3:1 we read: “Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us by letting us be called God’s children; and that is what we are!”
That in itself is a mighty statement but he continues: “what we are to become has not yet been revealed but when it is, we shall see Him as He really is.”
If we can come to a clear understanding of the above Scripture quotes we might have a better understanding of today’s Gospel Scripture. It’s a long passage and typically “Johannine” with it’s “I am in the Father and the Father is in me;” and “If you see me, you see the Father,”
Bottom line: we are being drawn into the life of God. How this shall happen is not always clear to us since we have such a hard time dealing with the totally spiritual dimension of God. At the end of this Gospel Scripture we hear, “Do not be amazed at this, but the hour is coming in which all who are in the Father … and hear His voice will come … to the resurrection of life.”
I chopped that passage up just a little in order to make sure we understand that we don’t necessarily experience the fullness of God’s love until we pass through this life. “What we are to be has not yet been revealed. But when it is, we shall see Him as He really is!” Amen!