LITURGICAL PLANNING

Fourth Sunday of Lent

Year B / Sunday, March 14, 2021

This Sunday’s Readings:

2 Chronicles 36:14–16, 19–23

Psalm 137:1–2, 3, 4–5, 6

Ephesians 2:4–10

John 3:14–21

FROM THE BEGINNING OF THIS LENTEN CYCLE OF READINGS, we have heard a consistent message: faith in Jesus will convict us. Set against the Gospels we have heard this Lent, faith can no longer be approached as an individual endeavor, practiced without sacrifice, reduced to following the law, or domesticated into a slogan—John 3:16. That often-cited comforting verse must be read in the stark light of verse 19: “And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil.”

God’s gratuitous gift of the Son cannot be passively received without the return gift of a life convicted to the Light and everything that the Light came to dispel. Thus, one cannot profess faith in Christ without taking a stand for justice, without siding with the powerless, without putting one’s reputation and life on the line for those who live under the constant threat of death. For faith is not a neutral act. To receive the gift of Light in Christ without acting as people of light is to pollute the Lord’s temple. It is, as the psalmist sings, to forget the Lord. Therefore, let our tongues be silenced, our harps put away, and our lands laid waste until we remember the demands of faith in Christ.

—Diana Macalintal

Suggested Music

Expanded listings for Sundays and Solemnities can be found at issuu.com/giamusic.

MYSTAGOGY MOMENT: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”

When many of us hear this phrase, we think of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. But here we are in Lent hearing these words. Remember that baby who came into the word? The infant lying in a manger? He is going to be crucified on a cross to save us, but not before he experiences every aspect of human life, the good and the bad, just like what we experience in our earthly lives. He became one of us. From birth to death. From the cradle to the cross.

– Victoria Zibell