V Sunday of Lent

V SUNDAY OF LENT Homily A professor gave his class a tricky test. He set out a big jar and dropped into it a number of large rocks until no more would fit. “Is this jar full now?” he asked. “Yes!” said the class.

“No, it isn’t!” he replied, as he poured a small bucket of gravel between the big rocks. “Now is it full?” he asked again. “Yes!” they replied.

“Still wrong”, he said as he added a cup of sand to fill in the crevices. “And how about now?”. “It’s full!” shouted the class. And then they watched him add a quart of water!

“So”, he smiled, “what have you learned from our little test?”.

“I know”, shouted one. “The moral is, no matter how full your schedule is, you can always fit in one more thing”.

“No” said the professor. “The real moral is: if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them all in at all”.

So what are the really “big rocks” for us –the ones we absolutely can’t live without?

There’s really only one, and that is communion, God’s big family. When we finally come to that realization, we have the ultimate yardstick for measuring the success or failure of our lives: Am I bringing life to the family or not? Am I helping people to thrive or not?

Whatever our life’s work is at any given moment, those two questions always stay the same. And if we’re listening to them carefully, they’ll reshape our life and bring us to a whole new level of wisdom. We’ll understand what Jesus told us in Sunday’s gospel: “Unless the grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit”.

What is this dying that he’s talking about? It’s what happens when we become wholehearted lovers and life-givers. As we focus our full attention on helping another person to thrive, we think less and less about our own agenda, our own ambitions, prejudices, and fears. Somehow they seem to lose their importance. And we let go of them and almost forget them as we become more and more deeply invested in the people with whom God has filled our life.

It is a kind of dying, but not a sad one, because in the process of investing ourselves deeply in others, something wonderful happens in us. We break out of the narrow confines of our little hopes and fears. We grow larger on the inside and find ourselves filled with a new kind of joy. The wonderful irony which Jesus understood so well is that in setting out to help others to thrive, we ourselves thrive and find true freedom.

Give yourself away, and you’ll find you true self. Give yourself away, and you’ll find the one thing you can’t live without: communion, the big family with the good Lord at very center. And that will fill you very full indeed!

Lord Jesus, let me be wheat sown in the earth, to be harvested for you. I want to follow wherever you lead me. Give me fresh hope and joy in serving you all the days of my life.

Entrance A grain of wheat has to die in order to bear fruit. We too have to die so ourselves in order to live more fully as human beings and children of God. This dying to self is a gradual thing and happens in very ordinary ways, The Lord, who died for us, gives us courage, strength and love.

Now, let us ask forgiveness from the Lord for the times we have refused his love or remained indifferent to it.

• Lord Jesus, your Father loves us with so much love that he gave you to us: Lord, have mercy.

• Jesus Christ, your Father sent you not to condemn us but to save us and all people: Christ, have mercy.

• Lord Jesus, you want us to bring to others the great love with which you love us: Lord, have mercy.

Prayer of the Faithful Jesus turned to the Father in his hour of need. Let us now turn to God with all our needs.

All-powerful God, our source of life, you know our weakness. May we reach out with joy to grasp your hand, and so walk more readily in your ways. We make this prayer through the same Christ our Lord.