My Sisters and Brothers:
The
truth is that many of us carry burdens in our lives. For some, these
burdens might be only situational, minor and insignificant, while for
others they might be chronic, great and troublesome. Some of us may
find ourselves vacillating between simply tolerating our light burdens
on the one hand, and anxiously trying to overcome those that are more
difficult on the other. In any event, and to whatever extent we have
them, the burdens of our lives are very real to us!
We may believe
that these burdens have fallen upon us because we have sinned, or
because we have lived less than perfect lives, or perhaps because we’ve
just had plain old bad luck and/or misfortunes. For some people, and in
the worst case scenarios, the burdens of life might lead to senses of
shame, hopelessness, despair and/or feelings of great personal guilt.
When these types of negative self-perceptions take hold, those who have
them may conclude that they are also disqualified from loving
relationships with God and/or with other people. I believe that in
contrast to such thoughts, but keeping in mind the possibility of these
very real negative emotions, the Gospel today offers us a very different
and positively encouraging message (see John 3:14-21).
The Gospel clearly teaches us to have great hope and confidence in a God who takes
all of our burdens upon himself, and who loves us more than we can ever
possibly imagine! Today, we hear that oft quoted passage from John 3:16 which says: “for
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who
believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” These beautiful words are immediately followed with “for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (see John 3:17).
These celebrated verses of the Gospel highlight a basic teaching of our
Christian faith which says that even though we are sinners and
although we are not yet perfected, our God does not condemn us and he
loves us without condition, and without end.
Therefore, as we reflect
on this message let us recall that our loving God promises to take upon
himself all of our burdens, all of our problems, and all of our sins.
God knows our hearts; he knows our weaknesses, our struggles and our
pains, and with his grace and through the great gift of Jesus, he
desires to fill us with his eternal and absolute love. If we truly
believe this message, and we accept the great love of God, then we can
begin to overcome the problems, doubts and pains caused by both the
small and the great burdens we carry in our lives.
My friends, as we
continue on our Lenten journey, may we know that our God loves us more
than we can ever truly understand, and may this fantastic and merciful
love give us hope, and may it shape every aspect of our lives! May the
burdens be lifted . . .
Praise God! Friar Timothy
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