COMMENT ON THE LITURGY OF THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
Collect
We beseech thee, Almighty God, mercifully to look upon thy people; that by thy great goodness they may be governed and preserved evermore, both in body and soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Readings
Eb 9:11-15; Gv 8:46-59
Comment
The Lenten itinerary invites us to reflect, on theSunday called in the ancient western liturgies "Abraham's", the one of whom the faithful of the three great monotheisms (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) consider themselves children.
God appears to Abraham when he is advanced in years, inviting him to leave the region of Ur and making him a triple promise: a land, an offspring, and the blessing in him of all the families of the earth (Gn 12:1-3). He thus becomes the father of all believers and the patriarch of whom the Jews recognize themselves as "offspring".
We must, however, be careful not to lay the foundations of our religiosity on the sand of the "sense of belonging", erroneously understood as a guarantee of salvation; it is not enough to say "we are children of Abraham" (Jn 8:33.53), just as it is not enough to say "we are Christians". It is not simply a question of believing to Jesus and professing him to be the Son of God, but of believing in Jesus.
Believing in someone is much more than believing to someone. Believing in Jesus means giving ourselves completely to him, just like Abraham, who rejoiced in the hope of seeing the day of Christ (Jn 8:56), was able to entrust himself unconditionally to God. Believing in Jesus means recognizing him as the "mediator of the new covenant. "(Heb 9:15), who bought us eternal redemption with his blood. It is the blood of Christ, repeatedly referred to in the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 9:12-14) that vivifies the Church and "cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!" (Heb 9:14).
Abraham was first of all a man of listening, able to listen to what God had to say to him and to set out to obey his will. Not so those who oppose Jesus, who admonishes: “Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God"(Jn 8:47).
We are called to listen to the word of God, trustingly entrusting ourselves to him; to seek the time to be silent inside and outside of us; to put a stop to "dead works" and activism that loses sight of the ultimate horizon of things; to let go of the false certainties of religiosity based on faith in our actions and devotions, more than in the extraordinary and incredible work that God can accomplish in us.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
