Fourth Sunday of Lent - Year C

 God always is happy and delighted to have us return 

My sisters and brothers in Christ,  

 Today’s readings draw us into the Promised Land.  The first reading speaks about this change in the lives of our ancestors in the faith.  They no longer had manna but they had food from the produce of the land.  God no longer fed them with the manna and quail.  Instead they now took on the responsibility of obtaining their own food.  God remains with them, but now in a different way.

The second reading repeats the theme, now in terms of Christ saving us and making us a new creation.  Far too often we forget that we have been made a new creation in Christ Jesus and we live as if we had never been baptized or changed at all.  This is our human condition of sinfulness.  The more we become aware that we are made new, the more we can life in the newness of life and give glory to the Lord.  It is always a matter of asking our loving Father:  change us and make us in your image.

The Gospel is the story of the two sons who are so very different and yet both of whom in the end seek to do the Father’s will.  We can presume that if the Father is so good, then the second son eventually accepts His words.  We find elements of both the first son and the second son within ourselves.  It doesn’t matter whether we think in terms of sons or daughters, the teaching is the same.  We can also think of God as our Mother here, as Pope John Paul I once said.  The teaching is about our humanity and not about our gender.

What is the teaching:  we are made new, we make mistakes, we reject the good—but God always is happy and delighted to have us return to the way of salvation and to come to enjoy divine life with Him.  We are invited to the Promised Land.  We are invited to be part of the New Creation.  We are invited to see the love our Father has for us, whether we have been one of those who strayed or one of those who tried to stay on the path always.

May our Lord send His Spirit on us this Sunday and move our hearts and our minds so that we may love others as He has loved us.

 Your brother in the Lord,

 Abbot Philip, OSB

The Vietnamese Catechetical Committee in the United States of America is organined with the purpose of helping the Vietnamese Catholic in America to grow in Faith in the Vietnamese spirit as Pope John Paul II said in the encyclical "The Church in Asia."  This spirit is to be faithful with the Gospel's Messages and to reserve and develop the beauty of the Vietnamese culture.  

• Publish catechetical documents in English-Vietnamese. 
• Organize Vietnamese Catechetical Assembly every other year.
• Conduct catechist formation and training at the Vietnamese churches and communities in the United States of America.
• Utilize mass media to reach American churches and Vietnamese catechist who are living in this country.