Thursday Reflection

Daily Gospel Reflection April 23^rd 2020

Gospel                                                      JN 3:31-36

The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things.
But the one who comes from heaven is above all.
He testifies to what he has seen and heard,
but no one accepts his testimony.
Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy.
For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God.
He does not ration his gift of the Spirit.
The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him.
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life,
but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God remains upon him.

Dear Friends and Family,

            “He testifies… but no one accepts his testimony.”  Have you ever been in that place where something fantastic has happened and you try to tell someone but they do not believe you?  My Dad and I truly enjoy ice fishing and whenever we had chance, we would go fishing.  One beautiful sunny Saturday morning we went fishing.  The weather was perfect but the fish were not biting.  So I moved away from the crowd and drilled a hole in the ice.  I was soon distracted by the nice weather and lost my focus on my pole.  Then out of nowhere I had a bite, it was a large mouth bass that was so big his open mouth was the size of the hole in the ice.  I quickly reached down to grab it, but it shook the hook from its mouth and it sank back into the dark waters.  I stuck my whole arm in the hole in a vain attempt to catch it but it was too late.  It was incredible and I rushed back to tell everyone that was fishing what had happened but most of the old timers just laughed it off and did not believe me.  My Dad believed me and patted me on the shoulder and shared in my disappointment at the one that got away. 

            Jesus has an incredible truth he longs to share with us all.  He wants us to know of the love of his Father in heaven.  Jesus wants us to understand the kingdom has come and our salvation is being realized in their hearing.  They hear him but they do not believe.  Maybe Jesus truth is too fantastic to believe.  But maybe we hear Jesus, we put our hope and trust in him, and we make a move toward him.  That move would bring us the promise of eternal life.

            I would like to tell you the old timers picked up their gear and started fishing near me.  I would like to tell you I returned to my spot and caught five more fish but that would not be true.  Nobody caught any fish that day, but my encounter did teach me a couple of lessons.  Number one; there are some big fish out there. Number two; just because others don’t believe you, does not change your experience of the truth.  Number three; don’t be afraid to step away from the crowd and try fishing somewhere else, you never know what you might catch. 

            We believe God dreams much bigger than we do.  Others may not believe or recognize how our powerful encounter with the risen Christ has transformed us.  Finally, we are called, through our baptism, to share our love of God with others no matter where that will take us. Let us pray that we will embrace our trustworthy God and allow that belief and trust to bring us the gift of eternal live.