3^rd Sunday of Lent (C)

1. It is sadly not uncommon for people to blame serious misfortune, particularly tragic death, on God or to interpret serious misfortune as a sign of God’s angry disfavour. “What did we do to deserve that”, cries the pained heart. It is never easy to soothe that cry in the raw, but let me say without reservation that God does not go about picking out people on whom to visit catastrophe. I can equally say without reservation that the fact of catastrophe in anyone’s life does not signal God’s displeasure in their regard. We can be consoled that Jesus gives the lie to the idea of such a childish and capricious God when he points out in today’s passage from the Gospel that certain groups of people who had tragically lost their lives were no better or worse than anyone else. So if, God forbid, something awful should happen, you may be devastated or sad or angry, but you can be sure that God did not pick you out for it. You can also be sure that it does not mean that God loves you any less.

2. What does vex the Lord, however, is our sin, especially our stubborn and unrepentant sin. Unless you repent you will all perish as they did, says Jesus to us today. God does not need to mark us out for disaster. Sin is a disaster and sin leads to the death of the soul. It is especially appropriate at this time of Lent that we should reflect on the mystery of iniquity that we call sin. The experience of sin can be described in this way: Sin damages our friendship with God. We shrink from him, we hide from him, we are ashamed in his presence. Sin disturbs our relationship with each other, poisoning them with dishonesty, ill-feeling and mistrust. Sin kills our peace of mind, disturbs our conscience and divides us from our true self.   Is that not a catastrophe?  When that sin is serious or mortal, and when it is un-repented and on-going, then it is spiritually very damaging indeed. I think we have to allow for the tragic possibility that such sin can imply freely made choices which take us away from God in this life and in the life of the world to come. Unless you repent you will all perish as they did

3. I love the part in the Bible, our first reading today, where God tells Moses his name. Moses finds himself in the presence of the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Moses trembled with fear.  But God did not destroy him. Instead, God told him God’s own name: Yahweh, I am who I am. The great God came close to Moses and promised him and his people salvation, without Moses even asking. How much more is God ready to give us salvation and forgiveness who are the brothers and sisters of his Son, and who are permitted to call him even more intimately Father.

4. Like the man who cared for the vineyard and who would not cut down the plant which did not bear fruit, the Lord continues to be patient with us so that we may bear fruit. He gives us time. He gives us another year. He gives us another Lent so that we can face up to our sins, repent of them, ask forgiveness and be reconciled to the Lord. This is what the Sacrament of Penance is for. I invite you to be sure to go to Confession before Easter. Lent is a special time that the Lord gives us each year so that we can escape the damaging consequences of sin and selfishness and so that he may show us his forgiveness and love.

St. Mirin’s Cathedral

11^th March 2007