From seeing or knowing to loving

March 17, 2024—Fifth Sunday of Lent

Readings: Jer. 31:31-34; Psalm 51, R. Create a clean heart in me, O God.; Hebrews 5: 7-9; Gospel – John 12: 20-33The Gospel for this Sunday, the final Sunday of Lent, opens with the expression of the Greeks’ desire to see Jesus, our first point for reflection.

Jesus responds to this request sent via Philip and Andrew with, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.” (cf. John 12: 20-33) This is a description of the cost of discipleship, our second point for reflection.

Then the Gospel closes with our third point for reflection: “‘And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Myself.’ He said this indicating the kind of death He would die.”

Our desire to see Jesus—how authentic is it? This is the same question we ask regarding the desire of the Greeks to see Jesus. Was it authentic or out of curiosity?

In St. Ignatius’ prescribed graces for the Second Week of the Spiritual Exercises, he suggests that we pray to see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly.

To see Christ or to know Christ means entering a relationship with Him. This was not only what was in the mind of St. Ignatius, but also part of the Greek’s idea of knowing. To know is to enter a relationship.

Is our desire to see Jesus and to know Him authentic, a desire for a personal relationship? It will be good to assess this, but we need not worry if it is not “perfectly” authentic.

When we entered the Jesuit novitiate, our novice masters used to tell us that no one enters the seminary with 100 percent pure motivations. It is always imperfect.

The goal of formation is to gradually purify the motivations, bringing them closer and closer to making the personal relationship with Jesus the central motivating element in becoming a priest.

It is the same process for anyone’s spiritual growth and formation. Our growth in our spiritual life is a growth in our relationship with Jesus.

Going back to St. Ignatius, it is moving from seeing or knowing to loving. To see or to know Jesus in our life, our day-to-day life, is to discover his presence and providence, which are always loving.

The response to this is, out of gratitude, to love him in return. To love in return is always expressed in action, in deed, which is to follow Jesus more nearly.

Cost of discipleship

This leads us to the second point for our reflection, the cost of discipleship, the cost of being a follower of Jesus: “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.”

This is a prediction of the Cross and Resurrection, which follows the circle or cycle of life found in nature, the dying and coming to life.

This is very vivid in the four seasons: fall or autumn begins the process of dying in the trees and peaks during winter. Then the process of coming to life starts again, seeing signs of new life in springtime when a new cycle starts leading to summer.

What differentiates the Cross and Resurrection from a simple cycle of life of dying and coming to life again is loving obedience. We saw this last Sunday.

It was the loving obedience of Jesus that made His dying a source of the greatest fruit of our faith, the grace of eternal life through the Cross and Resurrection. The suffering on the Cross was transformed into the one perfect sacrifice through loving obedience, and gave us the Resurrection.

The Gospel closes with a rather emphatic claim: “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Myself.” It is a very powerful claim.

As we have reflected on in the past, the Cross and Resurrection is the final and definitive revelation of God through Jesus. Nothing else follows.

This is what we have prayed and prepared for these past weeks of Lent, to renew in our day-to-day life the living out of the pattern of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection, to live our day-to-day life in loving obedience.

I end with the prayer of St. Ignatius:Soul of Christ, make me holy.Body of Christ, save me.