Third Sunday of Lent

 I’m shortening my homily in light of a youngster's book report which read: "Socrates was a philosopher. He talked a lot. They killed him." Let that be a warning to preachers.

 It's officially springtime! A time of change, of new life. How many have a device in your car or cell phone that gives voice directions? We have a “voice” to guide us as we navigate our lives through Lent and the challenges of life: our conscience, informed by the bible, the authentic teachings of Catholic Christianity, and the wise counsel of holy women and men.

Today’s word of God first retells a defining moment in the life of the ancient Hebrews: their exodus or liberation from their oppressors.

 Moses experiences the awesome presence of God in the image of “fire flaming out of a bush.” God reveals himself as the creator of the universe: “the one who causes to be everything that is,” as one biblical author translated this. Then God empowers the reluctant Moses to free the Hebrews.

 God also calls you and me, by virtue of baptism, to live a godlike life worthy of our calling as adopted sons and daughters of God our Father, to try always to do the right thing.

 Paul, in his letter to the Christian community in Corinth, compares the exodus experience to our baptismal experience; just as God was a rock in the wilderness, out of which flowed life-giving waters, so too Christ is our rock, from whom comes our salvation, eternal life.

 But Paul warns us: we can fall from grace if we’re not vigilant; it takes hard work to be a faithful disciple.

 In the Gospel, Jesus deals with the question of evil: why do bad things happen to good people? There is of course no satisfactory answer. Why senseless killings in Ukraine, why so many people suffering around our world? Evil is ultimately a mystery.

Jesus then speaks about a barren tree. The point is this: yes, God is patient, but God will hold us accountable for our actions. And so, Jesus urges us to repent now, to turn to a God-centered/other-centered life.  Always be vigilant. For the end could come unexpectedly.

Lent is a time to ask ourselves, what are we living for today?

Often, people live in the future, not the present. Some imagine, My life will begin when I get a new job, my degree, a new home, etc. Life begins in the future?

Naomi Levy, in her book Hope Will Find You, wrote that while caring for her critically ill daughter, she wondered when she could realize the dreams and goals she had. She wrote: “I could see the ways I had been promising myself there was a future waiting for me. And just then something snapped inside my soul: This is my future: the present, the here and now. I’d been walking around thinking, this isn’t my life; my life is coming....”

People she knew had been chanting that same line about "someday" and she realized “We were fooling ourselves into thinking our lives hadn’t begun. But all of us have to learn to live inside the imperfect lives we have here and now.”

Today, Jesus urges us to repent, to live our everyday lives to the fullest, to live each day as though it’s our last. Lent is a time for finding our way out of our winters of negativity, our deserts of self-absorption, our wildernesses of disappointments.

These days before Easter are a time for deciding what is truly important, and acting on these priorities now. For the only thing we can count on is today.

Our Christian faith confirms that life has meaning. An all-good compassionate and merciful God seeks us out in our everyday experiences. God became incarnate in Jesus who through his life, death and resurrection reconciled us with God and by the power of the Spirit lives within us. The triune God abides in us and we in the triune God, especially in the sacramental life of our Catholic community.

Today's readings -- with the images of creative fire, of living water, and of atonement and action -- lead me to embrace the following desire as we go forth:

I shall pass through this world but once:

any good therefore that I can do

or any kindness that I can show to any human being,

let me do it now, let me not defer or neglect it

for I shall not pass this way again.

Yes, let us avoid a life of regrets. Let us do good NOW.