"For God so loved the world..."
4th Sunday of Lent
March 14, 2021
Immaculate Conception Church in Durham
Fr. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM
One of my favorite NPR podcasts that I regularly listen to is called On Being. It’s hosted by Krista Tippet. Last month, she interviewed rabbi Ariel Burger. He shared a powerful, true story he heard from a young Jewish man by the name of Mason.
Mason’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors. His grandmother was taken to a concentration camp but shortly after was transferred to a rabbit farm on the outskirts of Auschwitz. The Nazis were doing experiments on rabbits. They were trying to find a cure for typhus. That rabbit farm was run by a Polish man. He started to sneak in food for the Jewish inmates.
At one point, Mason’s grandmother cut her arm on a piece of barbed wire. The cut became seriously infected. She would die if she didn’t get antibiotics. But they were not available. So, what did this Polish, Catholic man do? He cut his own arm open, and he placed his wound on her wound so that he would get the same infection. And that’s what happened. Then, he went to the Nazi officer, and he said, "I’m one of your best managers. This rabbit farm is very productive. If I die, you’re going to lose a lot of productivity. I need medicine." Well, they gave him medicine, and he shared it with her. He saved her life.
On his recent trip to Poland, Mason, visited the Polish man. He was still alive and living outside Warsaw. He thanked him for saving the life of his grandmother and for his own life.
This story has stayed with me. It filled me with a sense of amazement. I asked myself: could I ever love and sacrifice for a stranger under extreme circumstances? I felt like Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the darkness of night; asking questions, not sure if I was ready for answers that would inconvenience and challenge me too much.
Today’s Gospel came out of the Johannine community. They brought up the image of Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert. They claimed that, likewise, “the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” By the time that the Gospel of John was written, 60 years after the death of Jesus, the Christian community was already lifted up from the terror and gloom of the state-sponsored death penalty imposed upon Jesus. The two generations of his followers had experienced a healing and empowering love of God. They found it in Jesus Christ and in each other. It had a divine quality. They spoke about it in terms of having eternal life -of what’s possible, an earthly glimpse of divinity. The passage in today’s Gospel continues: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”.
How does God’s self-giving, humble, sacrificial love for the world play out in the world around us? I think of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. It was a particularly tough year for them. Some of them put their lives on the line helping COVID patients. They experienced acute stress, faced burnout. God’s love has also been on display by those who work to provide equitable access to the vaccination and address racial and ethnic disparities.
Another example: Have you watched the commemorative video created by our parish to mark the 15th anniversary of the Emily K Center? You can find it on our parish website, or Facebook and YouTube channels: https://youtu.be/x0-51oINrcY.
In the video, Coach Mike Krzyzewki and Fr. David speak about how the center came about. They wanted to serve, to give back to the community, to help others fulfill their dreams. Now, the dedicated staff and volunteers at the Emily K Center are impacting and transforming many young lives. And you too may want to consider pitching in: https://emilykcenter.typeform.com/to/FaACbZfr. This is one of my working images of God’s humble, sacrificing love in our neighborhood.
And speaking of God’s love for the world, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention you and others in this amazing Immaculate Conception community.
Despite these challenging times, so many of you have been generously supporting our parish, and school. You believe in their mission. You put skin in the game. You get involved personally as much as you can. You support it financially. I am in awe of God’s love in action in and through you.
The Gospels were written in Greek. And the phrase, “For God so loved the world” should be more accurately translated as “God so loved the cosmos”. Yes, this is a big love. At least as immense as the 14-billion-year-old universe. It continues to expand and unfold, revealing its amazing potentiality, a profound meaning and beauty.
On a microscale, when you go for a walk and feel a gentle breeze and warm sun touching your face -this is God’s loving and caressing you. The soil and the forests, rivers and oceans, all ecosystems large and small that support, nourish and make lives possible –this is all part of the wonder of God’s love for the cosmos; and for you. This humble, self-giving, crucified love –in the beating heart of the world– is also what we celebrate in this Eucharist.
Each one of you, in your own particular circumstances of life, brings forth that divine love unto the world.
A few days ago, Catherine, one of our parishioners asked me: “Fr. Jacek, I want to talk to you about a unique opportunity to help preserve some of the affordable housing in Durham’s West End. As you may know, it is a heavily African American community. Many families struggle to stay afloat. We can create a fund and ask our fellow parishioners who are doing okay financially to contribute some of their stimulus checks to that project. We can make a difference promoting racial equity and restorative justice.” She continued: “It will also help us to get to know our neighbors and build relationships.” I thought of it as part of God’s love renewing the face of the earth, one person, one family, one neighborhood at the time. So, I said yes to Catherine’s proposal.
Some of you have chosen to participate in Greener Lent. Probably, not so much because you want to lose weight. You did it because you care for our common home and want to ensure that the future generation can draw substance from it and survive. Thank you for incarnating God’s love for the world. And if you would like a recipe for a delicious Greener Lent, Sweet Potato Chili Casserole, you can find a video from our parishioners, the Concannon’s, on our Website, Facebook and Instagram pages: https://www.facebook.com/224312817586796/videos/780732512875591.
We heard in today’s Gospel that, “whoever lives the truth comes to the light.” And to live the truth about ourselves and the world, to plum its depth –we need other people. We need others –who are not carbon copies of you and me. We need others to challenge us, stretch us, make us grow, and support us in that process. When that happens, that too is God loving you into being.
It is the divine love that empowers a young man who made a lot of mistakes in his late teens to become a faithful husband and self-sacrificing father. It is God’s love for the world that empowers a woman who made some rushed and painful decisions earlier in her life to become a staunch defender of life inside and outside of the womb.
I can also speak about God’s love for the world touching me. It has transformed me from being a judgmental and homophobic person in the past to become a more mature Christian, supportive of the LGBTQ Ministry at our parish. That is the pure grace of God.
We bathe in God’s unconditional love and we reveal it to others –even as we struggle to become more authentically human. Is it a contradiction? I don’t think so. It is more akin to a dance. That divine and human dance –that holy Mystery that so loved the world, allured a Polish Catholic man 78 years ago to risk his life to rescue a Jewish woman. Let me end with a verse from a popular, religious song:
I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.
March 14, 2021
Immaculate Conception Church in Durham
Fr. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM
One of my favorite NPR podcasts that I regularly listen to is called On Being. It’s hosted by Krista Tippet. Last month, she interviewed rabbi Ariel Burger. He shared a powerful, true story he heard from a young Jewish man by the name of Mason.
Mason’s grandparents were Holocaust survivors. His grandmother was taken to a concentration camp but shortly after was transferred to a rabbit farm on the outskirts of Auschwitz. The Nazis were doing experiments on rabbits. They were trying to find a cure for typhus. That rabbit farm was run by a Polish man. He started to sneak in food for the Jewish inmates.
At one point, Mason’s grandmother cut her arm on a piece of barbed wire. The cut became seriously infected. She would die if she didn’t get antibiotics. But they were not available. So, what did this Polish, Catholic man do? He cut his own arm open, and he placed his wound on her wound so that he would get the same infection. And that’s what happened. Then, he went to the Nazi officer, and he said, "I’m one of your best managers. This rabbit farm is very productive. If I die, you’re going to lose a lot of productivity. I need medicine." Well, they gave him medicine, and he shared it with her. He saved her life.
On his recent trip to Poland, Mason, visited the Polish man. He was still alive and living outside Warsaw. He thanked him for saving the life of his grandmother and for his own life.
This story has stayed with me. It filled me with a sense of amazement. I asked myself: could I ever love and sacrifice for a stranger under extreme circumstances? I felt like Nicodemus who came to Jesus in the darkness of night; asking questions, not sure if I was ready for answers that would inconvenience and challenge me too much.
Today’s Gospel came out of the Johannine community. They brought up the image of Moses lifting up the serpent in the desert. They claimed that, likewise, “the Son of Man must be lifted up so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” By the time that the Gospel of John was written, 60 years after the death of Jesus, the Christian community was already lifted up from the terror and gloom of the state-sponsored death penalty imposed upon Jesus. The two generations of his followers had experienced a healing and empowering love of God. They found it in Jesus Christ and in each other. It had a divine quality. They spoke about it in terms of having eternal life -of what’s possible, an earthly glimpse of divinity. The passage in today’s Gospel continues: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life”.
How does God’s self-giving, humble, sacrificial love for the world play out in the world around us? I think of doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. It was a particularly tough year for them. Some of them put their lives on the line helping COVID patients. They experienced acute stress, faced burnout. God’s love has also been on display by those who work to provide equitable access to the vaccination and address racial and ethnic disparities.
Another example: Have you watched the commemorative video created by our parish to mark the 15th anniversary of the Emily K Center? You can find it on our parish website, or Facebook and YouTube channels: https://youtu.be/x0-51oINrcY.
In the video, Coach Mike Krzyzewki and Fr. David speak about how the center came about. They wanted to serve, to give back to the community, to help others fulfill their dreams. Now, the dedicated staff and volunteers at the Emily K Center are impacting and transforming many young lives. And you too may want to consider pitching in: https://emilykcenter.typeform.com/to/FaACbZfr. This is one of my working images of God’s humble, sacrificing love in our neighborhood.
And speaking of God’s love for the world, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention you and others in this amazing Immaculate Conception community.
Despite these challenging times, so many of you have been generously supporting our parish, and school. You believe in their mission. You put skin in the game. You get involved personally as much as you can. You support it financially. I am in awe of God’s love in action in and through you.
The Gospels were written in Greek. And the phrase, “For God so loved the world” should be more accurately translated as “God so loved the cosmos”. Yes, this is a big love. At least as immense as the 14-billion-year-old universe. It continues to expand and unfold, revealing its amazing potentiality, a profound meaning and beauty.
On a microscale, when you go for a walk and feel a gentle breeze and warm sun touching your face -this is God’s loving and caressing you. The soil and the forests, rivers and oceans, all ecosystems large and small that support, nourish and make lives possible –this is all part of the wonder of God’s love for the cosmos; and for you. This humble, self-giving, crucified love –in the beating heart of the world– is also what we celebrate in this Eucharist.
Each one of you, in your own particular circumstances of life, brings forth that divine love unto the world.
A few days ago, Catherine, one of our parishioners asked me: “Fr. Jacek, I want to talk to you about a unique opportunity to help preserve some of the affordable housing in Durham’s West End. As you may know, it is a heavily African American community. Many families struggle to stay afloat. We can create a fund and ask our fellow parishioners who are doing okay financially to contribute some of their stimulus checks to that project. We can make a difference promoting racial equity and restorative justice.” She continued: “It will also help us to get to know our neighbors and build relationships.” I thought of it as part of God’s love renewing the face of the earth, one person, one family, one neighborhood at the time. So, I said yes to Catherine’s proposal.
Some of you have chosen to participate in Greener Lent. Probably, not so much because you want to lose weight. You did it because you care for our common home and want to ensure that the future generation can draw substance from it and survive. Thank you for incarnating God’s love for the world. And if you would like a recipe for a delicious Greener Lent, Sweet Potato Chili Casserole, you can find a video from our parishioners, the Concannon’s, on our Website, Facebook and Instagram pages: https://www.facebook.com/224312817586796/videos/780732512875591.
We heard in today’s Gospel that, “whoever lives the truth comes to the light.” And to live the truth about ourselves and the world, to plum its depth –we need other people. We need others –who are not carbon copies of you and me. We need others to challenge us, stretch us, make us grow, and support us in that process. When that happens, that too is God loving you into being.
It is the divine love that empowers a young man who made a lot of mistakes in his late teens to become a faithful husband and self-sacrificing father. It is God’s love for the world that empowers a woman who made some rushed and painful decisions earlier in her life to become a staunch defender of life inside and outside of the womb.
I can also speak about God’s love for the world touching me. It has transformed me from being a judgmental and homophobic person in the past to become a more mature Christian, supportive of the LGBTQ Ministry at our parish. That is the pure grace of God.
We bathe in God’s unconditional love and we reveal it to others –even as we struggle to become more authentically human. Is it a contradiction? I don’t think so. It is more akin to a dance. That divine and human dance –that holy Mystery that so loved the world, allured a Polish Catholic man 78 years ago to risk his life to rescue a Jewish woman. Let me end with a verse from a popular, religious song:
I danced on the Sabbath
And I cured the lame;
The holy people
Said it was a shame.
They whipped and they stripped
And they hung me on high,
And they left me there
On a Cross to die.
Dance, then, wherever you may be,
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he,
And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be,
And I'll lead you all in the Dance, said he.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHOLIC CHURCH | 810 W CHAPEL HILL STREET, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA 27701 | 919-682-3449
Contact the Webmaster to report a problem.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CATHOLIC CHURCH | 810 W CHAPEL HILL STREET, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA 27701 | 919-682-3449
Contact the Webmaster to report a problem.