3rd Sunday of Lent

Today's gospel is a challenging one. Given that all must die we are still troubled by the premature deaths of innocent people, especially children. Some believers have even turned away from God because of their being scandalized by grief and pain at the death of a loved one. Jesus challenges us further when he says: "... but unless you repent, you will all perish as they (the Galileans slaughtered by Pilate) did." (Lk 13: 3) What did they need to repent from? What does it mean to "perish as they did"? Does it mean that the Galileans need to turn to God or else they would all die violently, as many did when the Jewish War broke out in AD 66? What is the Lenten message can we glean from this in 2019? 

We do need to recognize that we are a pilgrim people and that suffering, which is sometimes cruel and meaningless or absurd, can happen. Yet, just as we look forward during Lent to Easter so too we long for our heavenly homeland: "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." (Rm 8: 18-21) The real tragedy, I suggest, therefore, is not so much suffering rather it is the death of hope. Unless we repent and recognize grace for what it is we too will find ourselves frustrated, bewildered and embittered by suffering and death, regardless of when it happens or what its cause is. We will die not rejoicing in what we have received at God's hands but full of regrets and recriminations. It is through our Lenten penances that we can rediscover the gift of hope and entrust ourselves to God regardless of our circumstances.