On Saturday 20 March, the Spiritual Councilor of the ERI, Fr. Ricardo Londoño, celebrated a Mass in Bogotá, where he is at home to carry out the quarantine as a precaution due to the world pandemic, and which was transmitted via international facebook.
It was amazing how he and the whole ERI were joined in prayer by thousands of members of Teams of Our Lady from all over the world.
The new technologies and the circumstances of human history that we are given to live through, at a time that has marked everyone positively. Praise the Lord!
Here is the homily given by Father Ricardo Londoño.
Homily for the Celebration of the Fourth Sunday of Lent 22 March 2020
On this Sunday, although the texts of the Word of God are especially rich in content and teachings, I want to focus on the question the disciples asked of Jesus: “Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?” I want to reflect on this question because it is one that millions of people are asking themselves today, particularly in the current world situation. A very small virus that appeared just a few months ago, has multiplied to almost infinity. It has made the world tremble and has transformed all human realities, such as interpersonal relationships, politics and economies.
It is the never-ending question in the face of human suffering: in the face of pain, illness, catastrophe, tragedy. We look for a reason, a motive or fault. Why? Why? Why us? This question is directed, most often, to God himself. We search, we reason, we strive to understand and to know. However, the cause, the reason or the fault is not clear. We try to know, to explain or to understand, but we are always left without a satisfactory answer.
For human beings, suffering seems to be totally meaningless. Moreover, the answer Jesus offers his disciples gives us little satisfaction. There is something that remains in the shadows, that cannot be clarified. We are told only that this blindness is not due to his sin or that of his parents; but God’s action must be manifested in him. Jesus presents himself as the light. “While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
We too need that light. We need Him to make what is happening clear to us. We keep on asking, questioning and looking for where, and in whom the fault lies; and where and through whom we will find an explanation, an answer, a solution.
We will always keep trying to explain the evil and the bad. Philosophies, religions, theologies, human sciences and pure sciences, will continue to try to find an explanation and to keep searching. But something satisfactory does not appear. So the mystery will remain. We are left with the confidence that Jesus, the Light of the world, will offer us a path and a meaning.
This was the experience of one who, through his blindness, met Jesus and his whole life was turned upside down. Not only did he regain the possibility of seeing physically, but by washing himself, a new path was opened for him. It is our understanding of baptismal grace that we live through the Church. Baptism opens up a new and challenging path for us, but only to the extent that we take it seriously.
Today, there is too much darkness around us. Moreover, our customs, habits and faith commitments are frustrated. Our churches are closed, our communities cannot meet, and yet we continue to be called to be a light for others. What God has accomplished in each of us, we must embrace and share with others. Our service, our compassion, our mercy, must be a light for our brothers and sisters in their suffering and intense pain.
Jesus is the light of the world and he wants to continue to be so through each one of us. Therefore, let us ask Him to help us, through His presence, to illuminate the path of all those who, in this painful time, are suffering and wondering about the meaning of what is happening. Let it be so.
