IV Sunday of Lent – 2012 - B

God sent his Son to the world to save the world

God certainly is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2:4) and there is no doubt that he shows it to all and without exception (Deuteronomy 5:10). His mercy and forgiveness have no limits ... except one - a stubborn, ill-will of man. God cannot show forgiveness for someone who does not need it, who does not recognize that being a sinner, man needs God forgiveness God cannot do anything for a person who believes that God has nothing to forgive him. Christ certainly did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it (Jn 3:17). But he cannot do it by force and against the free will of man, because He respects too much the freedom once given to man. And here is the problem. It cannot be that I commit the sin, indulge myself in carelessness and I disregard God and his commandments, for anarchy and lawlessness, and yet persuade myself, "God will forgive me and save me because He loves me so much, because He is merciful", because God has imposed on Himself a "duty of forgiveness" - for every human being, because He is bound to fulfill "automatically" its redemptive function (Sir 5,3-7, John 12.47).

That is why Christ continually and so strongly emphasizes the need for standing in the light of truth, especially in the truth about myself. "Anyone who commits wickedness hates the light of truth and does not come to light, lest his deeds be condemned." That truth is a liberating and saving force (John 8:32), because He, Jesus Christ is this Truth which saves (John 14:6).Living in the Truth, it is fair from being judgemental, it means rather to see my strengths and positives, but also acknowledge my inadequacy and sinfulness, because only such an attitude teaches me humility and allows me to accept Christ as the Savior. This, in turn, is the only way to attain the Divine Mercy. It always comes back the saying of St. Augustine: "God created us without us, but save us without us He cannot." And who says I am without sin, is a liar (1 John 1:10) and there is no truth in him. If I don't accept my situation of sin, I cannot expect to be forgiven, because what God would forgive him, since I consider myself pure and innocent? Do I live in the light of truth? Or rather, I avoid the light of truth, because I have something to hide, and the light bothers me (Jn 3,19-21)?

Over the next two weeks we will follow together with St. John in his Gospel, Jesus' discussion with the Pharisees. But it is also-in a sense, Jesus' discussion with the modern world and with me about the truth which is revealed in Christ. Am I ready to accept this fact, with all its consequences? God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, and I cannot be able to accede to God in His Mercy otherwise than through the Son, who is Truth. Knowing the right, the truth about myself, is an indispensable condition of repentance and acceptance of God's Love.

And this truth is sometimes very unpleasant, very irritating, annoying, and even frustrating. I wondered many times over the problem "Against what is really fighting our modern civilization?" And I think that the best candidate for the most attacked value by contemporary people is the value of TRUTH. Ultimately, Christ was crucified, not because they talked about the love of God and the neighbor. He was crucified precisely because he preached the TRUTH, He was crucified for He was calling people to live in the TRUTH. And this is what man very often rejects and cannot stand. This is what we try to kill, to shout down, and to silence. Because we don't like it. This is precisely what is happening in the world today, when the Church of Christ speaks of unbridled immorality of pornography, the wickedness of abortion, the crime of euthanasia, the immorality of homosexual acts. Civilization is trying to shout it down, get rid of it, kill the voice of conscience, which reveals in the end is the voice of Truth itself. That is what Jesus says in today's Gospel: "the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light neither comes to the light, lest his deeds be condemned. "