1 SAMUEL 16: 1, 6-7, 10-13
PSALM 22
EPHESIANS 5: 8-14
JOHN 9: 1-41
In the year 403, after the troops of the Emperor Honorius had defeated his enemies, great games were held in Rome to celebrate this victory. These games included gladiatorial games where men fought and killed one another. This was even though Christianity was now the official religion in the Roman Empire and even Christians attended these games.
Saint Telemachus, a monk, determined to show that Christian love could not tolerate this, travelled to Rome, obtained entrance to the amphitheatre, and when the fight began leapt over the barrier to part the gladiators. The crowd of people shouted with rage and started throwing stones and other missiles at St Telemachus. He was soon pelted to death.
But the sight of him lying dead cooled their rage and opened their eyes to their cruelty. The emperor called his death a martyrdom and he went on to ban the gladiatorial games and the people agreed.
Lent is a time of growing in our faith in God. It is a time to ask ourselves, ‘Where is Jesus in my life today? What is Jesus saying to me?’ To answer that question, we need to ask ourselves, ‘what does the crucifixion of Jesus mean to us?”
The cross is the symbol of God’s love and what that Love calls for is compassion, mercy and sacrifice. The voice of Christ is always there calling us to his love.
St Telemachus could recognize the evil of the gladiatorial fights and went on to right a wrong. He heard the voice of Christ to right a wrong.
St Francis of Assisi came to encounter Jesus when he embraced a leper.
St Theresa of Calcutta came to see the face of Christ in the destitute and dying of the city.
St Mary of the Cross MacKillop began her mission to serve the poor and educate underprivileged children due to her faith in Christ calling her to help those in need.
I know in my own life how Christ has spoken to me through others even people of other faiths and no faith.
As the children in our parish make their commitment to preparing for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Communion and Confirmation, it is a reminder to us that the ‘Sacraments of the Church’ is the voice of God speaking to us.
What stops us from hearing the voice of Christ are own sinfulness and our prejudices and judgment of others and our pride. That was what blinded the Pharisees. They had already made their judgment of Jesus and simply because they did not like what he taught.
The difference between them and the blind man is that the blind man could recognise his own poverty and so his need of God. The question we need to ask ourselves is how much do we recognise our own need of God? How well are we willing to listen and follow Christ?
Jesus is there with us always, speaking to us, waiting for us to recognize him. When we open our hearts, our eyes to the love of the cross that is filled with compassion, mercy and a willingness for sacrifice that we will come to hear the voice Christ.
May our experience of the Cross of Jesus help us to more fully understand the meaning of the Resurrection and so hear the voice of God speaking to us.
Merredin Catholic Parish 