Third Sunday of Lent (C), The burning bush - recognizing His voice - drawing near.

LESSON: Draw near the Burning Bush John Wooden was one of the most successful coaches in NCAA basketball history.

 • His UCLA Bruins won 10 national championships in 12 years.
 • He coached them to 4 undefeated seasons.

You might think that John Wooden had learned everything there was to know about basketball. Think again. He often repeated the maxim: “If you’re finished learning…. you’re finished!” Let’s take that to heart today, as we celebrate the 3rd Sunday of Lent.

• What lesson do we learn from the readings we just read? And in particular, what lesson does the burning bush teach us? Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro. Think about this for a minute.
• Moses was the foster-son of the daughter of the king of Egypt. He was acustomed to a life of luxury. • But he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave and had to flee from Egypt into the desert.
• He had a lot of time on his hands as he tended sheep. He started to recalibrate his life. He started to ask questions. And God spoke to him. He saw that Moses was seeking him. And so he appeared in a burning bush.
 • The bush intrigued Moses, because it was burning but not consumed.
 • But this was more than idle curiosity. Moses says to himself: “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight.” And that choice made all the difference. Moses may well have said, along with John Wooden, “If you’re finished learning… you’re finished!” He wanted to know more. He drew near the burning bush and God called him by name. There’s a profound lesson here for our own lives.

Today we’re halfway through Lent, a time God gives us as a journey into the desert.

• We too need a little more silence and a little more reflection in order to see the burning bush of God’s presence and draw near it. And God is hoping that we have the same response as Moses:
• “I want to know this God who is not distant but who, in Jesus, has come into my life.”
• “I want to draw near him; I want his light that helps me find my purpose in life. I want to hear God call my name.”

 ILLUSTRATION: Recognize God's Voice In today’s gospel Jesus uses a parable to illustrate that God longs for us to recognize his closeness to us. God longs for us to say, along with Moses, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight.” Jesus talks about a fig tree that did not bear fruit.

• It would be bad enough if it didn’t give fruit one year, or even two years. But the owner has come out for three years seeking figs and hasn’t found any. The tree seems useless.
• So he orders the gardener to cut it down. But the gardener sees something in that tree which no one else sees. He believes that it can bear fruit, that it can be something wonderful and beautiful.
• And so he asks for one more year. He will water that tree, and fertilize it, and cultivate the adjacent ground. Each one of us is that tree.
• We all have the experience of being sinners.
• We all have the experience of failing. Sometimes we all have the question “Am I getting this right? Usually, it feels like I’m not…” But that’s not the voice of God.
• The voice of God tells us that we’re called to be saints, and that, with Christ, we can be.
• When we experience that, we say with Moses, “I want to draw closer to this God who is so close to me.”

APPLICATION: Draw near the Burning Bush of the Eucharist Lent is a 6-week intensive training course in holiness. And holiness means friendship with Jesus Christ.

• Jesus is the burning bush for us. When we see Jesus we see God. When we know Jesus we are touching God. We are touching the happiness we were created for. Imagine someone who said: “I really love you, but I don’t want to ever see you again. Hopefully, we’ll meet at the end of your life, but until then you’re on your own.” We probably wouldn’t want to know much more about that person. But Jesus isn’t like that. And he gave us the Eucharist as his real presence.
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us: “Because Christ himself is present in the sacrament of the altar, he is to be honored with the worship of adoration.
• To visit the Blessed Sacrament is…a proof of gratitude, an expression of love, and a duty of adoration towards Christ our Lord” (Number 1418).

So here’s a take-away for the 3 remaining weeks in Lent. I invite you to spend half an hour each week with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

• Bring to him whatever’s going on in your life.
• Just as it is sitting in the presence of the sun, the sun changes you, it tans your skin, so is it when you sit in the presence of the son, the son of God, he changes your soul.
• It is with these changes that will change our lives change as well.

When we receive Christ in a few moments we are receiving the real presence of God who calls to us like he called to Moses. What we do with this call, The response is up to us.