Lesson from Fr. Paulus | Jesus Is Our Savior, Not Our Consultant

We live in a technology-centered world. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that. Even advanced technology is morally neutral; it is a useful tool, either for doing good or for doing evil.

But our experience of the power of technology to solve material difficulties can pose a danger to our spiritual lives. We can forget that as Christians, what matters most is not what we are able to do for God or for ourselves, but what God has done and wants to do for us.

Jesus is first and foremost our Savior, not our consultant. Jeremiah makes this clear in today's First Reading.

Through the prophet's words, God explains that, he will make an everlasting covenant with us; he will plant the law of freedom and interior peace within our hearts; he will forgive our evildoing and remember our sin no more.

The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us of this same truth.

Jesus doesn't point out how to reach everlasting happiness and then send us on our way, as if we could make the journey by our own efforts. Rather, through his life, death, and resurrection, he himself becomes the "source of eternal salvation."

And in today's Gospel passage, Jesus himself explains that his total love and obedience, up to the point of his humiliating death on a cross, is the turning point of history. With his self-sacrificial crucifixion, "the ruler of this world will be driven out."

In other words, Christ's faithful love will undo Adam's original sin and conquer the devil's sinful rebellion, the source of evil in the world. By announcing this beforehand, he shows that he is going to suffer it willingly, freely fulfilling his Father's plan of salvation.

And this - what God has done for us - matters more than anything we can possibly do for God.

Letting Christ Be Our Savior

The more we experience Jesus as our Savior, the more we will experience the abundant life, the interior peace, wisdom, strength, and meaning, that comes with his salvation.

But because our culture is so secularized, we have to make an effort to let him be our Savior. Two of the key activities for Lent (which is almost over!) can help us do that.

First, we can choose to spend time with him in prayer, even if, from a practical, technical standpoint, prayer may seem like a waste of time.

Second, we can choose to spend time serving others who are suffering and in need. The traditional name for this kind of Christian charity is almsgiving.

We all know people who are suffering. They may be suffering economically - their marriage and family life stressed by financial pressures beyond their control. They may be suffering physically - their body and mind weakened or ravaged by disease, injury, or old age. They may be suffering emotionally - working through an experience of betrayal, infidelity, or loss. They may be suffering existentially - wondering why they are on the planet and where they can find a reason for living.

As Catholics, we experience those same forms of suffering, but we know what to do with them. We bring them to Christ, our all-powerful, all-wise, and all-loving Savior; we grip our crucifixes; we offer them to the Father for the salvation of souls and the reparation of sins. In the few remaining weeks of Lent, let's reach out and help lighten someone else's cross, just as our Savior constantly helps lighten ours.

Let's show-and-tell, with our actions and words, someone else about the Savior they are looking for. Who knows, maybe by sharing the good news of God's love with others, we will come to believe it more deeply ourselves.