4th Sunday of Lent

Our readings for the 4th Sunday of  Lent are:

1. 2nd Chronicles 36: 14-16, 19-23
2. Psalms 137: 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
3. Ephesians 2: 4-10
4. John 3: 14-21

1. Sabbath journey
• Last week we heard proclaimed Exodus 20:1-17 in which God gave His people the Law.
• If God made all of creation in six days, and rested on the seventh, what does it say about the other six days that god desires that we enter into His Sabbath rest?
• This land, that we are borrowing from our descendents, what are our responsibilities towards it?
• Does the land, the earth, somehow participate in the Sabbath?
2. Faith of our fathers
• Do you have family members, deceased or otherwise, who have been shining examples to you in your faith, have inspiried you?
• How does that family relate to the faith of your wider parish, the Catholic Church, now and through all time?
• Our history is very much a mixed bag.  What does it really mean to say "I am Catholic"?  What responsibility do we carry for past sins of this, our extended family?
• How can those be atoned for?
3. Works prepared for you
• Do you think that God has work/works prepared for you in particular?
• What do you think happens to those works if you don't "show up for duty" by not hearing God's voice in your life at some decision point?
• How would you define true happiness in life?
• What are you doing to get there?
4. Emerging from the darkness
• I'm told that one of the precepts from the AA "big book" is that "we're as sick our secrets."
• How and to whom can we bring those secrets in the light?
• Do such confessions have to occur to a priest?

Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. When have I been God's messenger?
2. Am I an example of strong faith to anyone?
3. What is God's purpose for my life?
4. Who can I confide in?

Shalom!