On this day of Lent we reflect on God's heartfelt desire to make all things new for us; to give us a new and better place to live; to make a new and lasting relationship of friendship with us! The first reading refers to the reestablishment of God's people after the Babylonian Captivity; and also the beginning of the new creation at the end of the world when this new place and this new relationship would reach their fulfillment – but it also has to do with the fact that each and every day – today – can be new, and the relationship of friendship that we have with God and with others for God's sake, can be mutually beneficial and even redemptive.
Today we praise the Lord who has rescued us all. The only qualification for inclusion in the new heavens and earth; the new relationship of friendship with God is that we seek after it. They will not be given to those who do not want them!
The royal official sought after the blessings and healing that could come from Jesus with belief. Jesus did cure his son – and the whole family thereafter became believers in Jesus and his offer of Divine Friendship and newness of life!
May we rejoice that sacramentally Jesus comes to us each day to renew our lives, to nurture that precious Friendship that he wants to have with us – so that we can better love and serve our neighbors as caring and Divine Friends!
Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you. Today, if you hear the voice of the Lord, harden not your hearts.
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