Monday, March 23, 2020 — Fourth week of Lent — Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 4, 43-54 — Seek good, not evil, in order to live. So the Lord will be with you.

Jesus violently criticized faith based on miracles. This is what is happening nowadays, God is forced to perform miracles and true faith is found where there are extraordinary phenomena that are assimilated to miracles. But let us not forget that the miracle is only one of the many manifestations of grace, that is to say that the grace of God can be dispensed to us otherwise than by miracles alone. All the more so since God is a mystery: He is not subject to the whims of man, He has His time and His way. Lent is the ideal time to renew and strengthen our trust in God; it is the time to express unconditional faith.

The royal official, mentioned in the Gospel, is the very example of this unconditional faith. Humbly and with faith, he implored Jesus, whose one word was sufficient to heal his dying son. He believed before there was a miracle.