2 April 2025 - Wednesday of the 4th Week in Lent
Homily
“My Father is always at work, and I too am at work.” It is not unimportant to note that this phrase of Jesus comes at the beginning of a discourse in which he speaks of his love of the Father and his union with him, and of the love and union to which we too are invited, if we know how to come out of ourselves.
Yesterday, in the vision of Ezekiel that we had as our first reading, we saw Ezekiel increasingly engulfed by the waters of life (first up to his ankles, then up to his knees, then up to his waist...). Going further and further from himself, forgetting himself and allowing himself to be invaded by these waters, he returned to the shore where he had been at the beginning, to discover the trees and fruit that had always been there and that he had not seen before.
In today's first reading, from Isaiah, God is presented as the most tender of mothers, who opens her arms and leaps for joy when her sons and daughters return from exile
The Gospel takes us to an even deeper level. Jesus invites us to be one with our Father in heaven, just as he is one with his Father. He invites us not only to be objects of his mercy, but to share the mercy he has for all others as well as for us - not only to do his will, but to have only one will, only one will, only one love with him: which is the most radical form of obedience.
This radical transformation of our hearts, which remains the goal of our Christian and monastic life, will be offered to us as a special grace in our celebration of the Paschal Mystery. It is also a grace offered to us in every Eucharistic celebration.
Let us open our hearts to this grace.
Armand Veilleux