Bishop Enrique Díaz Díaz shares with Exaudi readers his reflection on the Gospel for this Sunday, March 23, 2025, entitled: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

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Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15: “I am, he sends me to you.”

Psalm 102: “The Lord is compassionate and merciful.”

I Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12: “The life of the chosen people, with Moses, in the desert, is a warning for us.”

Luke 13:1-9: “If you do not repent, you will perish in the same way.”

The latest censuses show us a clear choice among many people to live without God. The number of those who say they profess no religion has grown enormously. A young man told me: “I prefer not to have any religion. Religions have only caused divisions, so I have no god but myself, and I try to live in peace.” And this kind of longing and the certainty that God prevents him from living fully, when God is the God of life, of unity, of community, and of peace, leaves me deeply in my heart. Should I distance myself from God or distance myself from the false images of God that we have created and that distort Him? A great author once said that “there is nothing more harmful than a bad image of God. Behind many human, psychological, interracial, or cultural conflicts, lies a problem of a distorted conception of God.”

Today’s readings help us clarify the image of God that Christ proposes to us. He confronts a tradition that views God as the terrible punisher, the oppressor who is attentive to human deviations, ready to inflict cruel punishments. These are the accusations of those men who think that some horrible evil must have been committed by those who are put to death by Pilate’s order. This is the image they form of God and the distorted image we can see today. The image of God is not always an element that elevates us, inspires us, or liberates us. It is a complex of fears, terrors, repressions, and injustices. God is not always a force that unties knots, unravels entanglements, and lifts people above existential and daily miseries. Often, people carry the image of a god like a very heavy burden, almost unbearable, but one that cannot be thrown away because serious misfortunes would occur. Is this the image that Jesus reveals to us of our Father God?

This is not the image Jesus offers us, and today’s readings offer us a path to discover that these “images of God” are not the God Jesus teaches us, to whom he draws us closer, but rather their distortions. As if Jesus were now inviting us to let God be God and not the “ideas” we have formed of Him. The questions his disciples ask him echo what we continue to think. Both when we judge others and when we judge ourselves, we discover what image we have of God and how we perceive God in our lives. It is interesting how the disciples read “the events” and how Jesus himself reads the events. In fact, we can learn from this text to hear God’s voice in each and every event. But the conclusion the former draw, and the image they have of God, is mistaken. They have the concept of an avenging God, a policeman, attentive to human errors in order to precipitate them into their own ruin for being sinners. Jesus tells us the opposite: God is a God of mercy, who always waits for us, who loves us despite our mistakes and deviations. When we feel that unconditional love of God, because we are sinners, we must convert and bear fruits of conversion. How different it is to convert out of love and convert out of fear and with fear! Having a poor image of God is a disease that damages the spirit, harms the body and the mind. We must be willing to live the experience of the God that Jesus presents to us. Respect and love for God, respect and love for ourselves and our neighbors depend on it. The idol of fear is the most widespread image of God and the one that can cause us the most harm. Jesus always speaks of mercy, of boundless love, and of the Father’s tenderness.

Another image of God that often harms us is to consider Him as a being thirsty for sacrifice, who desires people’s pain and who takes solace in human suffering. The theophany of Exodus presents us with a God very close to His people, who listens to their cries of pain and is committed to their liberation. When tragedies occur, we often ask ourselves: “And in these moments, where was God?” God is present in human suffering because He is radically supportive; He is its source and foundation. It is the root of His name: “He who is,” “He who is close and always present with the people He loves.” And His solidarity is effective and intelligent, which is why He asks Moses for concrete and liberating actions. This is why He demands that we be attentive to social causes, destructive structures, injustices, and the suffering of the little ones. Solidarity based on pity and compassion is not enough; solidarity that transforms and changes will always be necessary. And God is at the center of this transformation, but He is not a providential God who solves all our problems. Rather, He places on our shoulders the responsibility of building this new world. God’s solidarity relies on human solidarity and offers us all a task. We can all collaborate to remove the slavery and injustice from our world. God accompanies us, sustains us, and helps us discover that this world of freedom is possible, far from the chains of Egypt. Jesus, His Son, becomes flesh to live this solidarity with us and to show us the path to true freedom.

God is love and wants to envelop us in His love, inviting us to welcome and grow in His creative and supportive power. Jesus, especially during this season of Lent, invites us to believe in this immense love of God, to allow ourselves to be enveloped in His mercy and take refuge in His Fatherly heart. Conversion is the task of Lent, but conversion is sustained by the deep love of our God. Which image of God drives me to act: do I fear Him as a judge, or do I love Him as a Father? How can I experience true conversion?

Lord, loving and merciful Father, whose goodness overcomes our sins, grant us this Lent a true conversion and a change of heart, which will lead us to bear the fruits of justice, love, and peace that your Son Jesus came to teach us. Amen.