Homily: March 29, 2025, Saturday of theThird Week in Lent (Rain)

 “He will come to us like the rain, like spring rain that waters the earth.”

Do you like the rain?

I have always enjoyed rain, not just watching it from my window, but walking or playing in the rain. Rain is refreshing, especially on hot days.

When I was little, growing up in India, we always looked forward to the summer rain. It wasn’t until I came to Iowa that I experienced spring rain, which is gentle, joyful and uplifting.

During summer in India, the scorching heat would dry up everything; water in the creeks and ponds would vanish, grass and plants would wither. In those days before there was tap water, people would walk long distances in the summer heat to collect water then carry it home in huge plastic pots. The intense heat, the lack of oxygen and the loss of liveliness in the environment also dulled everybody’s mood.

Then after some months, the rain would come. Sometimes suddenly, sometimes in thunderstorms, but we would always know it was coming. The hornbill birds would somehow make loud calls; the old folks believe that hornbills only drank rainwater and so they would yearn for rain throughout the dry summer, and when they finally called out, it would mean the rain was coming.

And when it finally rained, the hornbills were happy, so were the children. We would sit and watch the rain, enjoying the rhythm and the cool. Or we would all run out to play in it, laughing and splashing at each other.

The rain brought back life to the land, and joy to our hearts. I can still remember the characteristic smell of the earth when the summer rain first touched the dry parched ground.

So, when prophet Hosea said, “He will come to us like the rain,” I can imagine how it will be; life awakens, joy bursting, the smell of freshness, the beauty of colors all rushing back to world.

God comes to us like rain after a long drought.

Is your heart weary from worry?

Is life becoming dry and relationships withering?

Our God comes to us every day, most especially and most real in the Holy Eucharist. Receive Him and know that you are receiving rain for the parched areas of your life.

So let us always yearn for the Lord, like the hornbill yearning for rain, and be full of joy when our Lord comes, like life-giving rain that waters the earth.

Amen.