February 21, 1999First Sunday of Lent |
The Lenten practices of "giving up" something such as desserts, candies, gum, soft drinks, alcohol, junk food, and snacks between meals are all meant to be a spiritual discipline that brings us closer to Jesus' way of life. They remind us that God is the one who is in charge of life and that we belong to Him. The "giving up" should be accompanied by setting aside the money that would have been spent and giving it to the poor. Almsgiving has long been a traditional Lenten practice. Some families choose to "give up" television and movies and spend extra time together in sharing the Scriptures and prayer. Practicing spiritual discipline helps us to control our self centered wants and desires and helps us prepare our hearts to renew our Baptismal promises at Easter.
Lent can be said to be a built-in retreat for us in the liturgical cycle, a time of penance offered to us by the Church to deepen our relationship with Christ. It is a time of spending forty days in the desert (which the starkness of our altar and sanctuary suggests) and a time to pray for those who will be receiving baptism at the Easter vigil, and those who will be received into the Church at that time, and in the coming year. The Sunday readings: the Temptations, the Transfiguration, the Woman at the Well, and the Man Born Blind are meant (in addition to their inspired purpose) to instruct those who are preparing for Baptism. Besides the Liturgy, the three hallmarks of Lent - prayer, fasting, and almsgiving - are to mark our lives as the Christian Faithful. A deeper relationship with the Lord through personal and liturgical prayer (Stations of the Cross, daily Mass, the Sacrament of Penance, etc.) genuine sacrifices which we should feel, and care for the poor should be part and parcel of our daily lives.
We are invited to enter with Jesus into the desert as we begin this lenten season. A priest friend mentioned to me the other day that this is the LAST LENT of the millenium. When I heard these words I realized that this is a special opportunity to prepare us for the coming of the Lord.
Lent brings so many images to mind - ashes, fasting, letting go, special acts of charity -- but what is most important is that it is a call to purify ourselves for the celebration of the Easter event.
One area of focus I should like to suggest is that we take advantage of this graced time to make use of the sacrament of Confession or if you please, reconciliation. I am not suggesting just the ritual but a deeper examination of our lives to see what needs to be changed, accepted or overcome to be more in harmony with God's life.
That which is most important is the preparation - or as some would say - the examination of conscience. A few questions: to what is God calling me here and now?; am I focused on my life commitment?; am I using the talents God gave me?; how can I serve my "neighbor" better?
These are some suggestions. You might focus on one per week. We are all in need of deeper conversion. Let this Lent be such that the Lord can speak to the heart.
May the Holy Spirit guide you.
Fr. Ron
FROM THE PASTOR: The Holy Father in his visit to St. Louis continues his message to our young people when he quotes MT 5: 14-16 - YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD...YOUR LIGHT MUST SHINE BEFORE ALL. The Pope continues: "Dear young people ask yourselves: Do I believe these words of Jesus in the Gospel? Jesus is calling you THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. He is asking you TO LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE BEFORE OTHERS. I know that in your hearts you want to say: 'Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.' BUT ONLY IF YOU ARE ONE WITH JESUS CAN YOU SHARE HIS LIGHT AND BE A LIGHT TO THE WORLD. Are you ready for this? Sadly, too many people today are living apart from the light--in a world of illusions, a world of fleeting shadows and promises unfulfilled. IF YOU LOOK TO JESUS, if you LIVE THE TRUTH THAT IS JESUS, you will have in you the light that reveals the TRUTH AND VALUES on which to build your own happiness, while building a world of justice, peace and solidarity. Because Jesus is the Light, WE TOO BECOME LIGHT when we proclaim Him. This is the heart of the Christian Mission to which each of you has been called through Baptism and Confirmation. YOU ARE CALLED TO MAKE THE LIGHT OF CHRIST SHINE BRIGHTLY IN THE WORLD.---You are teenagers and young adults, but already you realize that there is another kind of darkness in the world. The darkness of doubt and uncertainty---of homeless people---of violence against the unborn child, violence in families, the violence of gangs--of sexual abuse--of drugs that destroy the body, mind and heart. There is something terribly wrong when so many young people are overcome by hopelessness to the point of taking their own lives. And already in parts of this nation, laws have been passed which allow doctors to end the lives of the very people they are sworn to help. GODS GIFT OF LIFE IS BEING REJECTED.---But you believe in the light---do not be taken in by FALSE VALUES AND DECEPTIVE SLOGANS, especially about your freedom. True freedom is a gift from God---but when freedom is separated from truth, individuals lose their moral direction and the very fabric of society begins to unravel. Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want, whenever we want. Rather, FREEDOM IS THE ABILITY TO LIVE RESPONSIBLY THE TRUTH OF OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND WITH ONE ANOTHER---YOU BELONG TO CHRIST---YOU WILL GET TO KNOW HIM TRULY AND PERSONALLY ONLY THROUGH PRAYER. WHAT IS NEEDED IS THAT YOU TALK TO HIM AND LISTEN TO HIM. Today we are living in an age of instant communication. But do you realize WHAT A UNIQUE FORM OF COMMUNICATION PRAYER IS? IN PRAYER YOU BECOME ONE WITH THE SOURCE OF OUR TRUE LIGHT, JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF.---ALL OF YOU MUST BE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.---Remember that the Pope came to the United States, to the city of St. Louis, to call the YOUNG PEOPLE OF AMERICA to Christ---REFLECT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST THROUGH YOUR LIVES OF PRAYER AND JOYFUL SERVICE TO OTHERS. Remember, CHRIST IS CALLING YOU, THE CHURCH NEEDS YOU; THE POPE BELIEVES IN YOU AND HE EXPECTS GREAT THINGS OF YOU."
Lent is the 40-day season of preparation for the Pascal Triduum. The 40 days are counted from the First Sunday of Lent until Holy Thursday. (Lent ends on Holy Thursday.) The four days between Ash Wednesday and the First Sunday are an introduction to the season. The readings at Mass on these days were chosen to teach us about the three Lenten disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Why 40 days? The number 40 calls to mind the 40 days of rain during Noah's flood, when evil drowned and the earth was washed clean. It also calls to mind the 40 years the Hebrew people traveled through the desert to the promised land. We fast for 40 days because Moses and Elijah and Jesus fasted 40 days in the wilderness to prepare for their work.
The days of Lent are often compared to a journey. That means that at the end of Lent we expect to find ourselves somewhere different than where we started. That is why the stories of the journey of father Abraham and mother Sarah and other scriptures about journeys are an important part of Lent. On the final Sunday of Lent, we will come to our destination. We will enter Jerusalem, the holy city.
The word Lent comes from the same root as the word lengthen. It is an old word for springtime, when daytime lengthens rapidly. Together with the Pascal Triduum and the Eastertime, Lent is the church's spring.
Two groups of Christians are particularly important during Lent. First, there are the catechumens who have chosen to be baptized this coming Easter. During Lent, they make their final preparations. Second, there are the baptized people who are in some way returning to the church. During Lent, we try to join in praying for these people and for all of us.
Every Lent, we come back to our baptism. We struggle with the hard questions we are asked: Do you reject Satan? Do you believe in God? Do you believe in the church? We stand alongside the people who are soon to be baptized. With them we look into that frightening water. In the sixth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, St. Paul tells us that we die in the water of baptism! We die in the hope that we will be raised with Christ.
At baptism, Christians take on three lifelong disciplines. These are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. They help us remain faithful to our baptismal promises. Each of these disciplines can take many forms. Prayer is communication with God. Fasting is self-denial, self-control, simple living. Almsgiving is giving to those in need. We share our goods, our money, our talents and time.
These three disciplines function best when they are done together. They balance each other. The word itself, discipline, reminds us that we are disciples of Christ. Another word for prayer, fasting and almsgiving is exercise. Exercise does little good unless it is done according to a schedule that we stick to. If we make excuses not to exercise, if we cheat on the program, then we won't get results.
The same can be said for prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent is the season to renew good ways to practice these three kinds of activity. Most Christians find that, in time, these three exercises transform their way of life. This is the season to give the earth and ourselves a spring cleaning. This is the season to turn away from our wanderings and to travel home to God.
When Pope john Paul issued his Apostolic letter, Tertio Millennio Adveniete, As the Third Millennium Draws Near, he indicated that the celebration of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000 is to be preceded by three years of preparation. The first year, 1997, was dedicated to reflection on Jesus Christ. The second year, 1998, focuses our attention on the Holy Spirit. This year, 1999 directs us on our journey to God the Father. Before we can celebrate fully the 2000th anniversary of the Incarnation, we must prepare ourselves by prayer and renewed faith.
Pope John Paul, in addition to his titles as Vicar of Christ is also called Holy Father and because of his warm and embracing personality, he is a Father figure symbolizing to many (especially youth) the Father portrayed in the Return to the Father of the Prodigal Son Gospel story in St Luke's (Chapter 15) Parables of Mercy.
This Sunday is traditionally called Temptation Sunday because the Gospel and the First Reading present temptation themes. Many contemporary Catholics appear to face the temptation to bypass Lent as a season calling for different living patterns, hoping to arrive at Easter without the discipline of Lent. The question needs to be asked-how does Lent differ for you and your family from the rest of the year. Catholics are encouraged especially this year to go beyond the minimum guidelines of the Lenten laws regarding the traditional exercises of Penance, Prayer and Almsgiving.
Penance or fasting is to be an expression of self-denial that is to aid our journey of conversion from self-centered to God-centered living. Fasting traditionally means a pattern of eating less food, consuming less for the forty days of Lent, however it is extended by many to include fasting from such activities as watching TV, Internet, VCR movies, etc. This extension of fasting is cited in the First Reading on Friday after Ash Wednesday. "This is the fasting that I wish; releasing those bound unjustly, setting free the oppressed, sharing your bread with the hungry...Is 58:1-9. There the principle less (fasting) is more applies-more room in ourselves to focus on God and God's ways of compassion, etc.
Prayer includes liturgical prayer (e.g. Eucharist) and private prayer with the emphasis on quiet time, away from distractions, meditation on God's word and listening to God. These quiet moments where we are encouraged to give God permission to speak to our hearts furthers conversion in many unexpected ways. Take for example this perspective from Christian author Gerald May-"We have this idea that everyone should be totally independent, totally whole, totally together spiritually, totally fulfilled. That is a myth. In reality, our lack of fulfillment is the most precious gift we have. It is the source of our passion, our creativity, our search for God. All the best of life comes out of our human yearning, our not being satisfied."
Almsgiving is the third traditional Lenten exercise that is emphasized to further the conversion journey - "Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, weeping, mourning; send your hearts, not your garments and return to the Lord, your God"-(Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12). Almsgiving means primarily giving financial contribution and other expressions of assistance to those in special needs. But it would include all varieties of charitable works, especially the traditional spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. In all of this we become more like the God of love and compassion in whose image and likeness we are made. May our lives this Lent be enriched in our "Âent of lengthening days.
The Call is to the whole community, those going to the font for the first time and those returning to renew their baptismal covenant. The hymn these Christians sang, morning after Lenten morning pictured not only the whole community, but the whole creation beginning all over again with joy:
Jesus, the sun of ransomed earth,
Shed in our inmost souls thy light,
As in Spring days a fairer birth
Heralds, each morn, the doom of night.
The day is come, the accepted day,
When grace, like nature, flowers anew;
Trained by thy hand the surer way
Rejoice we in our Springtime, too.
(Fr. Ronald Knox)
1. GENESIS 2:7-9;3:1-7.
Today we encounter one of the most famous stories in all literature - the creation and fall of Adam and Eve. Here in picturesque language the ancient writer explained why the world was so imperfect and so filled with evil. He insisted the humankind, not God, was the source of evil.
APPLICATION: Here is where Lent began back at the beginning, when the first human beings chose something other than God and goodness.
2. 1 ROMANS 5:12-19.
Here, in St. Paul's impacted thought, is where Lent begins to turn to Easter: in the life and death of Jesus Christ who firmly chose God and overcame evil. Just as Adam had deformed the world by his lawless disobedience, so Jesus would restore it to its original condition by his obedience to the Father.
APPLICATION: Believe that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ who far surpasses any and every sin.
3. MATTHEW 4:1-11.
The story of Jesus begins where Adam's story ended, outside the garden in the desert where evil seems to reign supreme. In the desert Jesus faces the temptations that also mark our Lenten time. By obedience to the world of God, he overcame the temptations of the world, the flesh and the Devil.
APPLICATION: Our whole religion and our whole celebration of Lent depend on our belief in the reality of sin in our lives and in our world. Repent and believe in our Redeemer and his forgiving love.
Fr. Eugene R. Sinz
By: Joe Pearce, C.O.
The season of Lent is upon us, in the church it is a penitential season. In the minds of many Catholics, it is a time of giving something up; as children, it might have been candy; as an adult, it might have been smoking. While giving something up-making a sacrifice is part of the penance, it is an external and not the essence of Lent. Lent is a time of preparation. We are preparing for the holiest of seasons, Easter and the Passion of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Just as Easter is no ordinary Sunday, but rather is the SUNDAY of Sundays, or if you prefer, the Mother of all Sundays, Lent is not an ordinary time of preparation. But rather is the most important preparatory season of the Church. It is not to be taken lightly. The Ancient Church saw Easter Sunday as the culmination of the Liturgical Year. Easter is the greatest feast of all. Because it is the Holiest of Holy Days, it needed to be preceded by a period of preparation. Lent is that period. Let us not look at Lent as a time of sacrifice but rather let's look at Lent as the time we prepare ourselves for the greatest day of our faith life. Just like a host prepares his home for the arrival of his guests, Lent prepares our souls (our spiritual homes) for the coming of Our Lord Jesus the Christ in all his glory on the day of His Resurrection.
A RENEWED EARTH: The Holy Spirit does not close doors, but opens them. The Holy Spirit enables us to speak in every tongue to those with whom we share a common humanity, even if not a common faith. The Holy Spirit enables us to see the kernels of truth present in other religions, as their believers see them, and allows us to build upon those shared understandings. The Holy Spirit shines forth in the most unlikely places, renewing the face of the earth and making it whole once again while preserving the diversity of faith.
In the first reading we see that God created Adam and Eve and set them in the garden of Eden; they had all they needed, but the serpent tempted them and they disobeyed God's command. The second reading tells us that, just as through Adam's disobedience all became sinners, so through Christ's obedience all shall become justified, that is, right with God. The gospel reading narrates to us the story of Jesus in the desert. After fasting for forty days and nights, the devil tempted him in three ways. Jesus resisted temptation and remained faithful to the Lord God. When the devil left, angels came to wait on Jesus.
Message:
The theme for all of Lent during this year (Cycle A when we center the readings on the Gospel of Matthew) is that we become fully alive through the renewal of our Baptism. On this First Sunday of Lent our particular focus is the human condition which threatens God's gift of life through temptation of power, presumption, and possessions. Obedience and faithfulness after Jesus' example are the remedies to overcome temptation. On our part the virtue we need to work on this week is faith.
Application:
We find ourselves bombarded with the same kind of temptations that Jesus himself faced. His confronting temptation brings us the fullness of life in general and shows us the way to become fully alive ourselves.
Temptation of Power: We are tempted to "play god" in our lives by nourishing our inner self with things of this world or by making decisions that exclude others, judge others, put unnecessary burdens on others, or control others.
Temptation of Presumption: All around us we are lured into living a life that excludes God, especially in the area of morality and religious practices. We also are tempted to impose standards and expectations on others without dialoguing with them first.
Temptation of Possessions: So easily in our society of materialistic consumerism we are enticed into acquiring possessions which clutter up our lives and shut out God and which deprive the less fortunate of their basic needs.
Our response? A choice to return power to God and to communal decisions, to replace presumption with surrender to God and dialogue with others, and to let go of unnecessary possessions by sharing in a spirit of justice.
In this way we can be fully alive, fulfill our baptism, and open ourselves to the new life of faith which God offers us.
--Father Benet OFM
Preparing for 2000: "Acknowledging Our Sin"
In spite of all the witness of creation ... the spirit of darkness (see Eph 6:12, Lk 22:53) is capable of showing God as an enemy of His own creature, and in the first place as an enemy of man, as a source of danger and threat to man. ... The analysis of sin in its original dimension indicates that, through the influence of the "father of lies," throughout the history of humanity there will be a constant pressure on man to reject God, even to the point of hating him: "Love of self to the point of contempt for God," as St. Augustine puts it. Man will be inclined to see in God primarily a limitation of himself, and not the source of his own freedom and the fullness of good. [DV n. 38]
In the words of St. John the apostle, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins" (1 Jn 1:8-9, RSV). Written at the very dawn of the Church, these inspired words introduce better than any other human expression the theme of sin. ...
These words present the question of sin in its human dimension: sin as an integral part of the truth about man. But they immediately relate the human dimension to its divine dimension, where sin is countered by the truth of divine love, which is just, generous, and faithful, and which reveals itself above all in forgiveness and redemption. ...
To acknowledge one's sin, indeed ... to recognize oneself as being a sinner, is the essential first step in returning to God. ...
In effect, to become reconciled with God presupposes and includes detaching oneself consciously and with determination from the sin into which one has fallen. It presupposes and includes, therefore, doing penance in the fullest sense of the term: repenting, showing this repentance, adopting a real attitude of repentance -- which is the attitude of the person who starts out on the road of return to the Father. [RP n. 13]
-- Pope John Paul II
In the beginning we were created to live in a garden, God's own garden. But we sinned, and the sign of our sinfulness was eating. We stole the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We reached for knowledge, but what we tasted was death.
Soon after his baptism, our Lord entered not a garden but a desert (a garden in potential!), and he refused to eat. By the sign of fasting he showed his willingness to live according to his Father's will.
That is the primary intent of the Lenten fast: Fasting is a sign of our willingness to make our lives a resounding yes to the Father. It is a sign of our eagerness for God to restore this old earth to the original goodness of Eden.
Fasting is a profound sign, and, like any sacramental sign, it's function is to point the way toward God's reign. In the longstanding tradition of the Church, in addition to limiting the quantity and the kind of food we eat, fasting includes whatever helps to make life healthier, simpler, cleaner, less selfish, more wholesome, more noble, more just, more peaceful - anything that directs us home to paradise. To this end, according to our tradition, fasting must always be accompanied by prayer and almsgiving.
When the Church relaxed the rules of the Lenten fast, the intention wasn't to put an end to the discipline. The relaxing of legislation was simply a step toward enabling the fast to be a gift, given freely, that the Christian people share with one another, and together offer to God.
As feasting fits the season of harvest, fasting fits Lent, the tail-end of winter, when foodstores are at their lowest, when animals are giving birth. Especially in times past, by fasting and sharing charity a community survived the lean times of the year. This joint effort became for the Church an image of itself as the Body of Christ, whose members work together for the common good. No wonder a grand, old image of the Church is the beehive!
The fast is not a diet, Father Robert Farrar Capon wrote: The dieter says: 'Sweets are bad; I cannot have them ever.' The faster says: Sweets are good; I will not take them now.' Bishop Fulton J. Sheen wrote: Actually, there are only two philosophies of life: one is 'first the feast and then the headache'; the other is Ôfirst the fast and then the feast.' Deferred joys purchased by sacrifice are always the sweetest.
God willing, when Lent is past and the Paschal Triduum arrives, we will be brought back to the garden, to our first and best home, to a place made verdant by the waters of baptism. Our fasting will pass over into feasting. In that place of live, we will be invited to reach longingly and lovingly toward the tree of life - the holy cross.
The risen Lord Jesus will be the gardener who offers us the fruit - his own Body and Blood - that gives eternal life.
The powerful words of Pope John Paul II to America were words of hope and challenge. He didn't waste any time getting to the real reason for his visit. He had a message and he began delivering his message at the airport. After some preliminary niceties, he reminded us that very serious mistakes had been made in the past and originated here in our city. He did it politely but clearly reminded us that there is a conflict between a culture that celebrates life and a culture that only recognizes usefulness; a culture that "seeks to declare entire groups of human beings--the unborn, the terminally ill, the handicapped, and others considered 'unuseful'--to be outside the boundaries of legal protection." When the Pope referenced the Dred Scott decision, Roe vs Wade immediately came to mind. He was reminding the President and the nation of his forceful position on all life issues. Yes, he is opposed to abortion but he also made it clear that he is against assisted suicide, euthanasia, the death penalty, and other quality of life issues that challenge us to choose life as a gift given by God. "My fervent prayer is that through the grace of God at work in the lives of Americans of every race, ethnic group, economic condition and creed, America will resist the culture of death and choose to stand steadfastly on the side of life." He even clarifies his meaning--rejecting every form of violence: the violence of hunger and poverty; the violence of armed conflict; the violence of abhorrent weapons; the violence of drug trafficking; the violence of racism; the violence of mindless damage to the natural environment. He knows violence. He grew up under Nazi oppression; he lived under Communist rule; he was shot in Saint Peter's Square. This is a man who knows that violence begets violence. This is the fall of Cain and Able. Lent is a time to examine our personal conscience. Does violence have a place in my life? How do I treat others? Does driving make me violent? What about sports? When was the last time I was compassionate? That I showed real concern? Would I shout BARABAS on Good Friday?
Fr. Michael Doyle, OSM
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