11th Week of Ordinary Time 2022 - Wednesday - The importance of regular penance

 

Today’s Gospel Reading should sound familiar to us; we heard it on a Wednesday earlier this liturgical year: on Ash Wednesday at the beginning of Lent. 

This section of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount sets the tone for Lenten season—giving the Church her marching orders for the forty days. And what does those marching orders consist of? Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, that is, the importance of doing penance, and the manner in which it is to be done, not for outward show, but with a genuine spirit—out of love and worship for God.

We fittingly reflect upon the Lord’s precept to pray, fast, and give alms not just at the beginning of Lent, but also, now, during Ordinary Time, because these penitential practices are to be part of the ordinary life of the Christian.

Doing penance for sins is an importance dimension of the Christian life. Our Lady of Fatima repeatedly called for penance – penance for our own sins and for the sins of others—especially for blasphemies against her Son. “Penance, Penance, Penance” the Angel told the three shepherd children at Fatima. 

By penance we make atonement for offenses against God. Additionally, Penance is medicine for the wounds caused by sin: wounds in our human relationships, wounds in our minds and souls, wounds in our relationship with God. Penance brings about personal and interior conversion.

Pope Francis echoed the ancient call to prayer and penance saying, “penance and prayer will help us to open our eyes and our hearts to other people’s sufferings and to overcome the thirst for power and possessions that are so often the root of those evils.”

Penance also strengthens our fortitude, our ability to suffer for the sake of goodness. Willingly undertaking penance out of love for God strengthens us against temptation and strengthens us for the mission of the Church.

So many Christians are pushovers against temptation, they fall to the slightest temptations, especially temptations of the flesh, because they have not mortified their senses, appetites, and passions through penance. And many Christians recoil at expending any effort for the spread of the Gospel, again, because they have no fortitude built up from intentional acts of penance.

The Lord doesn’t say, “if you pray…if you fast…if you give alms”, but “when you pray, when you fast, when you give alms” implying that these penitential practices are to be part of the ordinary life of the Christian.

Today is a good day for examining our attitude toward penance and mortification, and asking the Holy Spirit to guide us to all truth concerning the penances that should be part of our every day life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That all Christians will commit to fervent prayer so as to grow in greater love and holiness.  

For the faithfulness to fasting and to all the ways that the Lord wishes to sanctify us.  

For greater generosity for the needs of the poor, the hungry, the homeless, those who are sick, unemployed, or suffering from addiction, mental, or physical illness, and those most in need: that the Lord in his goodness will be close to them in their trials.  

That the Lord will rescue all those who live at a distance from Him because of self-absorption or sin.  

For all those who have died, for all the poor souls in purgatory, for those who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  

Mercifully hear, O Lord, the prayers of your Church and turn with compassion to the hearts that bow before you, that those you make sharers in your divine mystery may always benefit from your assistance.

11th Week of Ordinary Time 2021 - Wednesday - Year-round Prayer, Fasting, Almsgiving

 Today’s Gospel Reading should be familiar to us; we hear it at least twice a year, most notably on Ash Wednesday, at the beginning of the penitential season of Lent.

In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord teaches his disciples about some important practices that are to mark their spiritual lives: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These penitential practices are to be part of the ordinary life of the Christian. We aren’t to pray, fast, and give alms just during Lent, but all year round. 

Why? Why does the Lord introduce these practices in his great Sermon? His mention of these practices immediately follows his teaching on holiness. Remember, the holiness of his disciples is to surpass that of the scribes and the pharisees. His disciples aren’t merely to avoid the sins that are prohibited by the 10 commandments: even the scribes and pharisees did that. Rather, his disciples are to seek an inner transformation of mind and heart so that the very life of God fills us and flows from us.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the prescribed medicines to bring about this transformation, they are the exercise routine, they are the activities which will open up the floodgates of grace within us. 

Certainly, the Scribes and Pharisees also engaged in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, so even the way Christians do these things are going to be different too. The Lord does simply teach THAT we are to do them, but HOW we are to do them.  Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving is to be marked by humility, not for show, but in a hidden way—humbly trusting that they are pleasing to God. Humility, poverty of spirit, like that prescribed by the first beatitude at the beginning of his sermon, will bring about the inner transformation.

I know a lot of people who don’t like lent. They don’t like the extra effort demanded by the penitential practices. Yet, consider the call to the penitential practices in light of the words of St. Paul today: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We are to engage in these practices cheerfully, eagerly, trusting that what we give to God change us for the better. The person who fasts sparingly will gain little. But the person who fasts cheerfully, eagerly, generously, will reap a bounty in their spiritual life and for the good of the church. There is a spiritual economy at work, to which we can only benefit when we contribute generously.

As part of your ordinary time, ordinary spiritual retinue, ensure you’ve factored in these penitential practices prescribed by the Lord for the transformation of your hearts, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That the bishops of the Church will act as true prophets through their faithful teaching, their courageous witness, and their self-sacrificing love. We pray to the Lord.

That government leaders around the world may carry out their duties with justice, honesty, and respect for freedom and the dignity of human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For the Church’s missions amongst the poor and unevangelized throughout the world, that the work of Christ may be carried out with truth and love. We pray to the Lord.

For the grace to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to love our neighbors and enemies and those who persecute us, and to share the truth of the Gospel with all.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who share in the sufferings of Christ—the sick, the sorrowful, and those who are afflicted or burdened in any way.  We pray to the Lord.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, for the deceased priests and religious of the diocese of Cleveland, for the poor souls in purgatory, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom. We pray to the Lord.

O God, who know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.

27th Week in OT 2019 - Tuesday - Ordinary Spiritual Growth

Every year we hear this passage from the prophet Jonah on the first week of Lent, 7 days after Ash Wednesday.  It’s one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament: a city of about 120,000 people all come to repent the nobility, the peasantry, show signs of their repentance by fasting, covering themselves with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes.

We begin Lent on Ash Wednesday doing the exact same thing—with fasting and the imposition of ashes on our foreheads.  And throughout Lent we undertake practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving—visible and external signs of our internal sorrow for our sins.

Repentance is a pre-requisite for new spiritual life.  Repentance seeks to end the cycle of sin by acknowledging it with heartfelt sorrow and firmly resolving to sin no more.  Repentance ends the illusion that independence from God and his commandments brings the fulfillment we long for.

I’ve spoken before of the order of monks who take as their motto: “Semper Quadragesima”— “Always Lent”.  They seek to live, all year round, in that penitential Lenten Spirit because it is so effective in disposing us to the new spiritual life God wants to bring forth in us. If we are not actively seeking to be free from selfishness and to grow in generosity and charity, then we are in trouble.

Penitential Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, are taken up, particularly during Lent, but they are meant to be part of our normal spiritual growth—our Ordinary Time spiritual growth.

In the Gospel, Jesus rebuked Martha for being anxious about many things and not focusing on the one thing that really matters, namely, Himself, his presence in her life.  So what are the modes of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that perhaps we need to commit to or recommit to, in order to be more centered on Christ, more serious about becoming liberated from selfishness.

Semper Quadragesima—always Lent.  May we be generous in surrendering all the different parts of our life to God’s transforming mercy, and allow God to reform, reshape, and renew us today and every day, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That hearing the call to repentance preached by the Church, all men may turn away from their sins to the mercy of Christ.

That world leaders may look upon the Son of God, believe in him, and seek the peace and justice that only he can bring.

That our young people may take seriously the missionary call of Christ, that they will turn away from the evils of our culture to spread the good news of Christ’s eternal kingdom.

For all whose lives are marked by suffering, may they come to know the healing and peace of Christ.
For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish, and all the poor souls in purgatory, for deceased clergy and religious, and for those who have fought and died for our freedom.

O God, you know that our life in this present age is subject to suffering and need, hear the prayers of those who cry to you and receive the prayers of those who believe in you. Through Christ our Lord.