God Loves you!

IV Sunday of Lent John 3, 14-21 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God. We Catholics Christians aren’t Bible thumpers. By that I mean we don’t take a passage from the scripture and then build a theology or an opinion around that one passage or verse. As Catholic Christians we like to take the Scripture in its entirety to come to an understanding about what Jesus has to say, not to the people of Israel 2000 years ago, but to the people of Sarasota today! That being said, if you would have to take one passage out of the bible, and build a theology around it, I can’t think of a passage much better than John 3,16. Today’s gospel; the passage that our Protestant brothers and sisters like to quote so much, that you see at every major sporting event. John:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.” That in a nutshell is what it is all about. That is why God sent Jesus to the world, because he loves us. He loved us so much he sent his only son. His love for us was because he wanted to save us. And we only have to do one thing… believe! It is as simply as all that, believe in Jesus and know the salvation of a God who loves us! The Gospel passage for today tells the story of Nicodemus and his encounter with Jesus. Nicodemus was Jewish leader who went to Jesus because he wanted to know God. Today’s Gospel is Jesus’ response: God is love! God has always looked at us with love, if we want to see the face of God, it is love. I remember I was once visiting a family in rural Colorado, a school bus pulled into the driveway and two little kids got out. When the mother saw her kids, her face was filled with love, that is the face of God. I remember when my dad was dying, and I flew here to Sarasota. My mom was waiting for me in the airport. Her face was a face of love. That is the way that God looks at us, with love! It was out of love that he came to us in the flesh and blood of his son. He went out to search for us when were lost. He forgave us when we were in sin, because he loves us. In Jesus he wept with us and healed our wounds. He was with us in the storms of our life, and he was with us in the joys of our life as well. Today’s Gospel has a very simply message for us, if we believe in Jesus we will not perish. In Jesus God spoke the definitive word about our life: you are not lost, you are loved! You are loved forever! As I said I couldn’t pick a better gospel passage to summarize the whole of the scriptures in the same way I couldn’t pick a better passage to invite you to our parish mission here at St. Jude in Sarasota this week. The gospel passage is about love; our parish mission this week is about Jesus’ love: Return to Jesus’ love; Renew your love in Jesus! Rejoice in Jesus’ love! The words might seem empty, or we might not believe that Jesus really does love us. Or we might not understand how Jesus could forgive someone such as me. That is why for four days we will reflect upon the love of God here at our catholic community of St. Jude in Sarasota. On Monday we reflect on how we find God’s love for us in the scripture; on Tuesday we gaze upon the cross, the ultimate sign of God’s love; on Wednesday we will see how sin keeps us from God’s love but how reconciliation always brings us back. Finally on Thursday we will celebrate the Eucharist a sign of Jesus’ love for us; in his body and blood that we are invited to share when we come to celebrate the Eucharist. We will have two sessions each day, in the morning at 10:00 AM in English and in the evening at 7:00 PM in Spanish. If you can’t make it to all four days, come when you can. If you can’t make it any day, please pray for the success of our parish mission. Pray that it may be an opportunity to experience the love of God in their midst these days. May God Bless you! May God bless St. Jude and remember, God loves you!