THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT

The LORD is Kind and Merciful

This being the Third Sunday of Lent means we are at the halfway point from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday. If this were a sporting event, sportscasters would be interviewing the coaches as they entered halftime, asking questions about how they plan to approach the game differently with the second half to go. How do you change your game plan with only half of Lent left before Holy Week? How will you improve your relationship with Jesus as he prepares to die for your sins and the sins of the whole of humanity? 

Lent offers us the perfect time to “get our house in order.” Our church offers us multiple opportunities for confession, a chance to wipe the slate clean and face our demons, where the Devil has pulled us away from our Lord. We hear in today’s responsorial psalm that the Lord is kind and merciful: always ready to give us a second chance or a third or almost as many times as it takes for us to recognize He is calling for us to pull away from our sinful ways.

While God has infinite patience and repeatedly beckons us to join Him in heaven, even offering us the purification of Purgatory, He has given us the free will to side with the Devil, and there is a limit to the mercy He can grant to those who refuse His friendship after their time on this earth expires. Our readings today all remind us that at some point in our future there will be a time when God can no longer offer that one last chance to those who reject Him. “I tell you,” Christ said in today’s gospel, speaking of the fallen workers at Siloam, “if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!’. So, before that final day comes, when we know not the hour or day and we breathe our last, we are called to repent. As the Catechism teaches, "We cannot be united with God unless we freely choose to love Him" (CCC 1033).

What relationship do you need to repair in your life? What addiction do you need to find a way to expunge? Is there some act of kindness you need to show instead of being just a bit too impatient while you sit in traffic or at the doctor’s office? Maybe you need to cut the overworked waiter some slack when the menus are slow to arrive. Pray for patience while the online service tech is just trying to help.

We all have issues that need some work. The Lenten season comes only once a year, so take advantage of our Lord’s merciful approach. We are to repent our sinful ways, both in the confessional and in how we go about our daily lives, so that like the fig tree in today’s gospel, we, too, will be given another year to bear fruit.

–Mike Pranger

Send Us Forth are reflections written by St. Matthew parishioners and friends.