by Fr. Jose “Joesum” Sumampong, Jr.
March 14, 2021
Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)
(Laetarae Sunday)
2 Chronicles 36:14-17, 19-23 / Psalm 137:1-6 /
Ephesians 2:4-10 / John 3:14-21
THE LOVE EXPRESSED THROUGH THE CROSS
Word: The gospel of today begins with an invitation to look up, that is to raise our eyes to a figure. Let’s take note: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert…“ (Jn 3:14a). St. John uses a biblical event. During the forty years in the desert, the Hebrews were attacked by terrible and “fiery” serpents with a deadly bite (cf. Numbers 21:6-9). Moses erected a ‘caduceus’ , a bronze serpent with healing power, raised on a stick. This mythological image is still used today by doctors as sign of their profession.
This is connected to the invitation to look up to the Cross. Let’s continue taking note: “… so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14b-15).
John could never forget that day, nor that scene—with which we are too much familiar. Of the twelve Apostles, John was the only one present, on that Friday afternoon, at the foot of the Cross. From that day, and for seventy years, he had meditated on this “icon” and now shares with us the fruit of his lengthy and deep meditation.
For John, the Cross and the Pasch are the same mystery, which he expresses by this word with a double meaning: Jesus has been lifted up from the earth, first as crucified then as exalted.
Yes, we are still waiting for God to show us his glory through some triumphalistic and dazzling sign. But, for John an eye-witness on Calvary, the Cross itself is the Glory of God.
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Order: In our turn, therefore, we must turn our eyes towards the One who is lifted up between heaven and earth—and pray. This freely accepted death will remain forever the climax of Love: the climax of the Son’s love for his Father, and the climax of the love of the Universal Brother for his sinful brethren. His wooden cross on which bleeds the body of a tortured man is not just a “climax of pain and of death” but also “a climax of divine revelation”.
The gospel is challenging us to physically look at this picture both with our eyes wide open and our eyes close to “see” the invisible. We are challenged to see the infinite love burning in the heart of this man Jesus. “No greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Yes, this infinite love consuming the man Jesus is itself sign of another infinite love of the Father: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son… (Jn 15:16).
This is why the artists often decide to paint the crucified Jesus in a kind of glorious aura. Far from being tensed up by the pain of the torture, his arms and his body remain supple, relaxed. His arms then are curved up like the arms of man at prayer—the same gesture of the prayer and offering made by the priest at the altar, and our united gesture made while singing the “Our Father”.
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Realities: 1. In his letters St. Francis of Sales tells about a custom of the country districts in which he lived. He had often noticed a farm servant going across a farmyard to draw water at the well. He also noticed that, before she lifted the brimming pail, the girl always put a piece of wood into it. One day he went out to the girl and asked her, “Why do you do that?”
She looked surprised and answered, as if it were a matter of course, “Why? To keep the water from spilling, to keep it steady.”
Writing to a friend later on, the bishop told this story and added, “So when your heart is distressed and agitated, put the Cross into its centre to keep it steady.” (Barclay, USE OF THE CROSS)
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2. A symbol is a mark or sign which contains a secret or hidden meaning for us. It does not talk out loud; but it tells us something silently. If someone paints the outline of an open hand on his house or garden fence, I know it means: Keep out!
If a referee blows his whistle during a soccer game, all the players stop playing. If I see two people shaking hands, I know they are not angry with one another. If I see a Chimbu or Enga take soot from the fire and paint his face with it, I get frightened, for this means he wants to fight. If I see a Sepik woman cover her body with mud, I know she is in sorrow, she is mourning. If I see a flag hanging in front of a building, I know something belonging to the Government is there. If I see the uniform of a soldier or a policeman or a nurse or a Sister or a hostess, it tells me what kind of work they do.
Similarly when I see a cross on something – perhaps an ambulance or a grave or the shirt collar of a priest or maybe on a chain hanging around a girl’s neck. . .it tells me something. It says: Here’s something that somehow belongs to God. Here’s someone who is a Christian, who is kind and helpful.
But it has a meaning only if we know the story behind it… How a cross now blesses everything…(Frank Mihalik, SVD, SYMBOLS, THE CROSS)ere is someone=
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3. We Filipinos are kundiman-oriented. The kundiman is a sad Filipino song about wounded love. Filipinos are naturally attracted to heroes sacrificing everything for love. We are patient and forgiving to a fault (“magpapaka-alipin ako nang dahil sa iyo”). This acceptance of suffering, manifests a deep, positive spiritual value of Filipinos’ kalooban.
Jesus, the Suffering Servant of the prophet Isaiah, is portrayed through our favorite Filipino images of Padre Hesus Nazareno, the Santo Entierro or the Sacred Heart. Through these images, Jesus appears as one of “the least of our brethren”: the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, the lonely stranger and the prisoner (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Jesus the Suffering Servant can thus reach out to us Filipinos as a healing and forgiving Savior who understands our weaknesses, our failures, our feelings of depressions, fear and loneliness. He has been through it all himself! To us Filipinos who can even celebrate the suffering and hardships of life in song, Jesus Christ calls: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you” (Mt 11:28).
We Filipino are bayani-oriented. Bayani is a hero. We Filipinos are natural hero-followers. For all our patient and tolerance, we will not accept ultimate failure and defeat. We tend instinctively to always personalize any good cause in terms of a leader, especially when its object is to defend the weak and the oppressed. To protect this innate sense of human dignity, Filipinos are prepared to lay down even their lives.
Jesus as Christ the King (Cristo Rey) responds well to the bayanihan-oriented Filipino. As born social critics, organizers and martyrs, we Filipinos see Jesus Christ as the Conqueror of the world by his mission as prophet, king and priest. (Catechism for Filipino Catholics, nos. 39-42).
o0oDirection: O Jesus, it is not the heavenly reward you have promised which impels me to love you; neither is it the threat of hell that keeps me from offending you. It is you, O Lord, it is the sight of you affixed to the Cross and suffering insults; it is the sight of your broken body, as well as your pains and your death. There is nothing you can give me to make me love you. For even if there were no heaven and no hell I would still love you as I do. (Prayer of Love for the Crucified Lord, People’s Prayer Book, no. 694)