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Fourth Sunday in Lent - Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons


If you were asked the question, 'do you live by the light of truth?', I hope (as no doubt you do) that the answer would be a resounding 'yes!' But the evidence from our media is that plenty of others prefer darkness to light, and as this Sunday's gospel points out, prefer to hide from the light of truth in case their actions should be exposed.

Each and every day tales of atrocities done to life, human and animal, greedy and wanton violation of earth's resources at the expense of others fill the pages of our papers and the screens of our TVs. Sometimes one wonders just how bad it must get before anything changes.

I have to check my own response to these situations, especially when I am tempted to suggest that of course 'God cares'! But do I care enough too?

We believe John's words, that 'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son' not to condemn us, but to love and save us. When I am faced with such evil, I still believe that the love of God is always there. We have hope because God forgives us our sins and, as Paul says, brings us to life with Christ.

But that's easy to say when all is going well for me? What of those times when all is dark, how then can I talk of that enduring love? Not easy is it? It's at those moments when we become the human face of Christ our God revealing his merciful love to others by what we do or say. The grace of God is ours and if we open ourselves to the workings of the Spirit we become Christ's channel of love.

In the passage from 2 Chronicles, we see the story of covenant, fall, judgement and redemption. This passage is a dark side of the Israelite story, but also light for the God of heaven moves the heart of the Persian King Cyrus, to rebuild the Temple. Grace moves in mysterious ways.

So as Pope Francis proclaims a global jubilee year of Mercy, let us take heart, the light of Christ can never be vanquished, only we have to be part of that light. As the Pope reminds us 'God pardons and God pardons always!' Christ is the living face of the mercy of God, no one is excluded from God's mercy!

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Great Britain.

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