As we journey through the season of Lent, the Fourth Sunday offers us profound insights into the nature of God’s love and the essence of our Christian calling. This year, Cycle B readings illuminate our path with themes of reconciliation, love, and the transformative power of light in our lives. They seemed to flow straight from the words and ideas that Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ gave us in his retreat this week called “Seeing with the Heart” which moves into our theme for Lent—Seeing Through the Eyes of Our Heart: A Journey to Easter. Fr. Kevin highlighted how the journey of Lent is about moving towards inner freedom where we can come to understand sin as a violation of our relationships with God, each other, creation, and ourselves. He reminded us that God loves us so much that He loves us into freedom.
This weekend the Gospel of John (3:14-21) presents the centerpiece of our reflections. Jesus’ discourse with Nicodemus underlines the depth of God’s love for the world. It is a reminder that God’s ultimate act of love was sending His only Son, not to condemn the world, but to offer it salvation and love. This Sunday’s passage invites us to embrace God’s love, to believe in the light that Christ brings into the world, and to step out of the darkness of sin and into the light of truth and grace. Fr. Kevin reminded us that Grace is a gift from God, a tangible expression of God’s love for us, here-and-now.
The First Reading from the Book of Chronicles (2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23) and the Second Reading from the Letter to the Ephesians (Eph 2:4-10) echo similar themes of mercy, healing, and renewal. They remind us that, despite our transgressions, God is always ready to offer us a path to reconciliation. Through His grace, we are called to be His workmanship, living lives that reflect His goodness and love. So how do we participate in this goodness and love? I believe we show this not just in words but in our actions, attitude, and encounters. The way we interact and treat people show and define us as people who follow Christ.
We are concluding a book in the Men’s Group called “How to Know a Person” by David Brooks. In it, Brooks highlights how important it is to hear the stories of others and come to know them and love them and thus be known by others and be loved by them in return. As a parish family, we are called to be a community of light, living out the message of these scriptures in our daily lives. We are encouraged to reflect on our own need for God’s love, to seek reconciliation, and to deepen our commitment to living as children of light. May we listen to each other’s stories and be curious about how they come to be and where they are today. We all have stories and memories that make us who we are today. The stories change in importance over the years but learning to tell our story is part of the Christian and Lenten journey.
This Lenten season we have enriched by the spiritual nourishment and stories we received during the retreat led by Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Fr. Kevin for guiding us deeper into our faith and for helping us to reflect on God’s boundless love and mercy. We are also profoundly grateful to all who joined us, both in person and online, making this retreat a truly communal spiritual experience. Your participation has been a source of great joy and fellowship. If you would like to watch the three retreat sessions and/or are interested in going back over the four levels of prayer, they are both on the website under ADULTS tab / Retreats with Fr. Brendan and Guests. Links here:
Seeing with the Heart Retreat with Fr. Kevin O’Brien, SJ
Preparing the Heart to Listen to God Prayer Evenings with Fr. Brendan
As we continue our Lenten journey, let us keep the messages of this Fourth Sunday close to our hearts. May we live as people of the light, embodying the love and mercy of Christ in all that we do. Together, let’s move forward in faith, renewed in spirit, and committed to spreading God’s light in our world. Let us listen to each other’s stories and learn to tell our story about how God’s love plays such an important role in our lives.
I would like to ask you to spread God’s light and love to those who in our St. Simon community who are preparing to be fully initiated into the Catholic Church. As you enter the Church you will see we have purple bookmarks for you to take home and blank note cards with names on the envelope. On the back of the bookmarks are the names of those in the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) and Rite of Christian Initiation for Children (RCIC) process. We will welcome them into the Church at the Easter Vigil on March 30th. We ask you to take a bookmark and a few blank note cards home with you — please take the time to write our new members a note of welcome and continue to pray for each of the catechumens as they take these final steps to full communion with the Catholic Church. Next Saturday, March 16th we will take them away on retreat and we are so excited that we have so many joining our Church this year. Please return the note cards in the collection baskets or to the Parish Office before Holy Thursday. Thank you.
This coming Wednesday, March 13th at 10am, the Women’s Spirituality group led by Christine Moore and Sr. Rebecca meets in person in the Chapel, all women are welcome and no prior participation is required. To learn more, email women@stsimon.org. On Thursday, March 14th at 7pm, the Grief Support group meets led by Gavin Corn in the Holy Family Room. Next month they will start a new book and anyone in need of grief support is welcome to join. For more information email communications@stsimon.org. The Hope & Wellness Ministry conclude this session’s book club on the book “Spiritual Practices of the Brain” led by Drs. Dolores and Larry Thompson via zoom. You are welcome to join even if you didn’t attend the first two sessions. Zoom link here. To learn more, email hopeandwellness@stsimon.org
On Sunday, March 17th, at 5pm we will celebrate the great Feast Day for the Irish, St. Patrick’s Day, with dinner and some Irish dancing in the Parish Center. Sunday evening Mass will be at 4pm instead of the regular 5pm so you can all come and we can celebrate Mass together first and then party! This event sells out so buy your tickets here.
God Bless,
Fr. Brendan