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“No one laid a hand on him because his hour had not come” (John 7:30).

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Throughout John’s Gospel, Jesus makes constant reference to his “hour.” 

We first hear him speak about it at the wedding at Cana, when Jesus turns 150 gallons of water into wine at the prompting of Mary.

We hear further reference of his “hour” in today’s Gospel. The religious authorities are collapsing in on Jesus, plotting to kill him but they do not because his “hour” has not yet come.

What is this “hour” Jesus is so concerned about?

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The “hour” of his crucifixion, death, and resurrection.

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Everything that Jesus does throughout his life, throughout his ministry, every sermon he preaches, every miracle he performs is somehow inspired by this “hour.”

In two weeks from today, you and I will journey with Jesus as his “hour” begins to unfold. 

On Good Friday, he will be mocked, scourged, and crucified.

And on Easter Sunday he will rise again, the fulfillment of his “hour.”

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Jesus prepared himself for his “hour” throughout his life. 

It’s also what we’re called to do particularly during Lent. So how well have we journeyed with Jesus this Lent? 

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There’s no doubt this has been a unique Lent. Never before, at least in my lifetime, has Mass be publicly suspended. 

But let’s not use this as an excuse to fall into a type of spiritual complacency or laziness. Rather, seize every opportunity we have to grow in our prayer life.

There’s only two weeks left until Good Friday. Jesus will embrace this “hour” with incredible courage, knowing his death will lead to his resurrection.

Make every effort to remain by his side. For his resurrection promises our own.

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Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, there’s been a flurry of panic buying.

People have flooded grocery stores, clearing shelves left and right. There’s even a rush on toilet paper. 

It’s all driven by this underlying fear of the unexpected, of being ill prepared for disaster.

Sadly, whenever hard times strike, there’s not only widespread fear, there are also opportunists looking to make an extra buck. 

Two Tennessee men, for example, stockpiled 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer hoping to price gouge people on Amazon. Thankfully, they were forced to donate them.

Shelf clearing, toilet paper hoarding, and especially price gouging on household essentials sounds ludicrous and unfair.

Because it is.

But all of these behaviors are driven by varying degrees of selfishness, a tendency that can twist any human heart.

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In the Gospel, for example, a man has been ill for 38 years. 

He’s staked his hope for being healed on dipping in the waters at the pool of Siloam. Think of Siloam a bit like the shrine at Our Lady of Lourdes in France. 

Christians who are ill for any reason make a pilgrimage there, seeking to bathe themselves in this blessed – and freezing cold – water. 

In a similar way, the waters beneath Siloam bubbled up on rare occasions.

People believed the eruption was caused by an angel, thus the first person to bathe in those waters would be healed from his or her infirmities. 

This poor man had been waiting for his chance for 38 years. But every time those waters were stirred, a stampede ensued.

“Everybody gets down there before me,” he says to Jesus. Though everyone was in need, no one, it seems, thought of giving this man his chance.

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“Everybody gets down there before me.” 

Can’t we hear this crippled man’s voice echo in the throats of our neighbors – the sick, the elderly, the stay-at-home mom – who hope for their own share of groceries and hygienic supplies, only to find shelves emptied?

Selfishness.

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This Gospel is a gentle reminder to us all that we’re still in Lent. 

Though we’re all in need of things – from hand sanitizer to a hug – we have to fight our selfish tendencies and the spiritual malaise that can set in from being bored at home.

Theres an unknown number of days of this to come.

As we wait for the light at the end of the tunnel, make every effort to be thoughtful, generous, and patient.

Maybe even call up that stay-at-home mom with her hands full or an aging neighbor to see if you can pick up their groceries and leave them at their doorstep.

Though charity is always the best path to take, it’s even more important now.

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One of the worst parts about being sick is the sense of loneliness or isolation that sets in. 

Despite the care of family, doctors, and nurses, our world becomes increasingly small; we’re confined to our own room, to our own bed, to our own thoughts and feelings.

No one can take the illness from us. We simply have to push through it.

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Images of those hospitals in Italy immediately come to mind. Patients infected with the Coronavirus are so isolated their family can’t even visit them. 

They’re quarantined; many stuck inside tents.

But the ironic thing about Covid-19 is that it’s quarantined all of us. Even if we’re perfectly healthy, we still have to stay inside because our state is on lockdown.  

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In the Gospel, Jesus heals a boy who’s deathly ill, maybe with something like the Coronavirus. As a result of being healed, the boy becomes doubly blessed.

He’s not only blessed because he’s been physically healed; he’s also blessed because he’s been freed from his social isolation. 

That’s that blessing we’re all praying for.

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Standing here in an empty church, it’s devastatingly clear how important you are. 

We learned the same lesson when Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was nearly burnt to the ground. As bystanders stood and watched, the world was reminded that the Church is not a physical building.

The Church is you. The Church is me.

Saint Catherine’s is not the composite of brick and mortar that surrounds us tonight; it’s us.

How important it is, then, that you’re tuning into Mass, praying with us, even from a distance.

We know the day will come when we’ll be freed from this imposed self-isolation.

But may we never forget how beautiful it is to stand shoulder to shoulder, hand-in-hand, worshiping our God together as one family of faith.