1st Week of Lent - Wednesday - 40 days of repentance

 As I mentioned in my homily on Ash Wednesday, which begins the 40 days of Lent, there are quite a few instances of the number 40 in the Bible:

Moses was on Mt Sinai for 40 days conversing with God in preparation to receive the commandments.

The Israelites wandered through the desert for 40 years in preparation to enter the promised land.

Elijah fasted for 40 days in preparation for his prophetic mission.

And of course, the Lord Jesus fasted for 40 days in preparation for his Gospel mission which culminated in his self-sacrifice on Good Friday.

These periods of 40 days and year represent 40 days of intense, intentional preparation for God’s will and new life with God.

In today’s first reading we heard of another 40, 40 days of preaching by Jonah to a pagan people. For 40 days, the prophet Jonah preached to the Ninevites, calling them to conversion, warning them of destruction if they failed to repent. And after those 40 days, the Ninevites did repent, beginning a new life turned toward God. And they did so, in quite the elaborate and enthusiastic fashion. They did so in visible ways, outward ways—in sack cloth and ashes and fasting—in order to show their inward repentance.

Throughout these 40 days we are called by the prophetic voice of the Church to repent as the Ninevites did—to show our repentance for our sins and waywardness in outward, enthusiastic, and deeply sincere ways.

In the Gospel today, the Lord Jesus in fact condemns those of his generation for failing to repent. Lent presents us with a stark option: will we associate with the Ninevites, who repent and show their repentance by their holy works and actions? Or will we be condemned by Jesus for failing to repent as wholeheartedly as we should.

Next week, Wednesday evening, every parish in the diocese will have confessions from 5 to 8pm. If there is anyone in your life who has fallen away from the Church, be Jonah for them, call them to repentance. Your invitation might be the prophetic gesture which leads them back to God. And be a Ninevite for them, show them the power of repentance, the joy that comes from encountering God’s mercy, of returning to Him with your whole heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -  

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

28th Week in Ordinary Time 2022 - Monday - Repentance and Wisdom

 In today’s Gospel, The Lord contrasts the failure of his audience to believe in Him and heed His call to repentance with two Old Testament stories. 

First, he references the repentance of the Ninevites at the preaching of Jonah. Jonah, a mere man, preaches God’s message of repentance to a pagan nation, and the entire kingdom enthusiastically heeds his words, from the king all the way down to the humblest stablehand. the Ninevites repent in sackcloth and ashes of their wickedness.

So, Jesus contrasts the dramatic, enthusiastic, nation-wide repentance of the Ninevites with the unbelieving, hardhearted, near nation-wide rejection of His call to repentance. The Church is challenged by the Lord to make sure that we are a lot more like the Ninevites than those he calls an evil generation for their failure to repent and believe.

Next, the Lord references a second Old Testament story: that of the queen of the south. When it became known throughout the world that Solomon was the wisest of rulers, the Queen of Sheba traveled over 1,660 miles to hear of his wisdom—a journey that took at least three months, to meet him, not to mention the lavish expense of the journey—feeding her courtiers and whatnot. The book of proverbs says seek wisdom at all costs. Wisdom is more precious than gold and silver, and the one who cherishes wisdom, shall prosper. 

So again, Jesus contrasts the dramatic, enthusiastic, spare-no-expense search for wisdom of the queen of Sheba, with the foolish, hardhearted rejection of his Godly wisdom. Jesus is essentially calling his audience fools to their faces, for Proverbs says, fools despise wisdom and instruction. The Church is challenged here to make sure that we are doing everything we can to grow in wisdom, to live according to the wisdom of God rather than the foolishness of the worldly.  

Repentance and wisdom go hand-in-hand. Wisdom acknowledges that we have been foolish in our sins and leads us to repentance. It is a fool who fails to acknowledge his sin. Repentance opens us up to the wisdom that we have foolishly disregarded. Repentance means a new beginning.

St. James says, “if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and he will be given it.”

Today and all days, may we lavishly and enthusiastically pursue wisdom, the wisdom of God revealed in his scriptures, in the lives and writings of the saints, in the teaching of the Church, and with the help of God, may we apply that wisdom to our lives, wisely considering all of those attitudes, behaviors, and selfish choices of which we need to repent for the glory of God and salvation of souls. 

- - - - -  

That all people may seek the wisdom that comes forth from the mouth of God; that Church leaders may wisely order the life of the Church, and that government leaders may conduct their affairs with wisdom, prudence, and justice.

For our young people, that they may be raised in homes where the Word of God is studied, cherished, and practiced. 

During this month of October, dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, may Catholics take up this devotion with renewed vigor and trust in Our Lady’s never-failing intercession. {Cantor will sing}

For all victims of war, For hurricane victims and for all affected by flooding and severe weather conditions, and for those experiencing any kind of hardship or sorrow, isolation, addiction, or disease: that they may know God’s sustaining grace.

For the deceased members of our families, friends, and parish; for all of the poor souls in purgatory and for N.

Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord.

1st Week of Lent 2022 - Wednesday - Stop fighting God

 

In his Lenten reflection this morning, Bishop Malesic called the story of Jonah, “the story of a man who did all he could to go in the opposite direction that God had determined for him.” And then the Bishop asks, “Isn’t that the case for many of us?  We know where God wants us to be. We know what God wants us to do?  But we run away in the opposite direction. [But] the story of Jonah reminds us that God will not give up on us.”

Sometimes, it takes a storm to wake us from our spiritual sleep. Perhaps we might even need to be swallowed by a whale in order to be brought to the place where God wants us to be.

Sometimes, what we might describe as terrible forces or sets of circumstances, is God, trying to alert us to the state of our souls, that we’ve been fighting against God, and what God wants for us. We might even have a brush with death in order to reawaken us to the fact that we will stand judgment for our lives and the need to repent. God uses every event of our lives to draw us deeper into relationship with Him, if we are paying attention.

In the first reading, having finally awakened to his prophetic calling through all of these strange and unfortunate events and repented, Jonah is led by God to Nineveh to help them repent. The one who has been awakened by God and repented and granted vision and the words to speak is always sent to help others do the same. 

And, what happens when Jonah, finally surrenders and accepts his prophetic mission? The entire city of 120,000 pagans—nobles and peasants alike—repent, and open their hearts to the God of Israel. God works in mysterious ways to wake us up, that we may become an instrument of purification and enlightenment in the world.

During this Lenten season, we like Jonah are called to repent and surrender to God, recognizing that God has not given up on us, nor has he given up on any of the people of the world, to whom he wants to send us.

May our repentance be sincere. May we stop fighting God, who desires what’s best for us. May our we turn to God with all our hearts and become instruments in the world of faith, hope, and love for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -  

For “an immediate end to the hostilities in Ukraine, for a restoration of peace and for the safety of all Ukrainian citizens. And for the Ukrainian community in Northeast Ohio, that their friends and family members in their beloved homeland be kept out of harm’s way.”

During these 40 days for Life, we pray for the unborn and for a change in laws, policies, and attitudes which devalue the sanctity of life.

For those preparing to enter the Church at Easter: that they will be profoundly blessed in their preparation for full initiation into the Body of Christ.  .

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

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, for all the poor souls in purgatory, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ Our Lord.

5th Week of Lent 2021 (EF) - Monday - Sin is turned in on itself (incurvatus in se)

 The epistle today contains one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament—the entire a city of Nineveh—about 120,000 people—the nobility, the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—all repented when God sent Jonah to preach to them. 

Contrast the response of the Ninevites to the response of the Pharisees in the Gospel. They have not responded to the Lord with signs of repentance—quite the opposite. They have sent out their own agents to silence the Word of God—to arrest and murder Him.

Where the Ninevites show by their actions how they have turned from evil, the Pharisees have shown how they remain turned toward evil.

St. Augustine coined a phrase to describe this unwillingness to turn toward God. He called it, “incurvatus in se”. Sin is turned in on itself, curved in on itself. Instead of using our gifts and our time for the glory of God, sin has us curved in on ourselves, concerned more for the fulfillment of earthly appetites, than pursuing heavenly goods. 

You will find this same idea in tomorrow’s epistle, in the great story of Susanna from the book of Daniel. You likely know the story well. The two elders lust after Susanna and conspire to have their way with her. Scripture says that as they began to lust for her, “they suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven.” Sin always involves a failure to turn one’s eyes to heaven, the suppression of our consciences, the silencing of the Word that has been preached to us. 

In times of temptation, rather, we are invited by the Lord to turn to him and recognize that He offers the waters that truly satisfy. In times of temptation, we must turn to the Lord for help, for strength, for fortitude. God is never displeased when we lift our eyes to heaven for help, especially when we are being assailed by assaults from the flesh, the enemy, or the world.

In less than two weeks we will celebrate the Great Sacred Triduum. In the Lenten days we have left, let us like the Ninevites show by our actions, our Lenten penances our desire to turn definitively from all sin, to allow the Word of God to echo in our lives, to drink deeply of the life giving waters, that the spring of living water may rise up within us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

1st Week of Lent 2021 - Wednesday - Lavish, dramatic, and over-the-top repentance

 A week into the penitential season of Lent, we read one of the most dramatic responses to the call to repentance in the entire old testament—the entire a city of Nineveh—about 120,000 people—everyone, the nobility, the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—all repented when God sent Jonah to preach to them.  

We then read of the Lord Jesus referencing the story of Nineveh in his ministry. The Lord looks around at this crowd of pharisees, scribes, and common folk and he calls them an evil generation for failing to repent at his preaching. If an entire city of non-Jews will repent due to the preaching of Jonah, a lesser prophet, how hard hearted must this generation be for failing to repent at his teaching! some of these folk probably took their religion pretty seriously---and didn’t appreciate his tone, as we might say, these days.

Why are we presented with these readings, in tandem, a week into Lent. Well, for a number of reasons. First, we begin to understand a bit of the hostility toward Jesus. He’s basically telling folk that they’re evil for not accepting Gospel. So we hear these readings so that we are not surprised by calls for his crucifixion come Holy Week.

Secondly, we begin to understand our own need to repent. For unlike that evil generation of the Lord’s day, we are called to imitate the Ninevites in their dramatic, lavish, and over-the-top repentance. Our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving should be lavish, dramatic, and a little over-the-top…we shouldn’t let a bunch of Ninevites show us up, after all.

And thirdly, perhaps we remember that in preaching the Gospel in the midst of the fallen world and undergoing our Lenten penances, we might experience some of the same hostility as the Lord experienced. For turning our hearts to the Lord in visible signs of repentance, we might experience from the members of the current wicked generation, mockery or hostility—for pricking their consciences. They might try to convince us that we are wasting our time with all these “silly” penances.

Hostility, will certainly come from our spiritual enemy, who hates to see us taking Lent seriously. The devil hates signs of repentance. The devil hates our efforts to pray more, fast more, and give more. He hates that we seek to spread the kingdom because he knows that we’ll be successful. For just as in the Lord’s time, some people did respond positively to his call, and some people will respond positively to the call to conversion by the Church in this generation.

So may we persevere throughout these 40 days in our signs of repentance, our Lenten penances, that through us the Lord may continue to draw souls to himself for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - - -  

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.

16th Week of OT 2020 - Monday - Signs of Repentance

“Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”  At this point in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus had offered more than enough healings and exorcisms and other miracles to show that he was not only from God, but also that He himself was God.  So, at this point, you really begin to wonder, are the Pharisees really seeking the truth about Jesus, or are they seeking to validate their own narrow view.

In response to this request for a sign, the Lord references two Old Testament stories: the repentance of Nineveh and the Queen of Sheba making a great journey to learn the wisdom of Solomon.

We should know the story of Nineveh well, as we hear it every Lent. The people of Nineveh had fallen into great wickedness, and God sends Jonah to call them to repentance. The Ninevites recognized Jonah as God’s prophet and repented en masse, a city of 120,000 people repented.

So too with the Queen of the South, she heard mere rumors of Solomon’s wisdom, and she travels hundreds, if not, thousands of miles to hear it.

And the Lord is saying, even the wicked Ninevites and this pagan queen could detect what was good and holy and made every effort to respond to it. And now the Pharisees had something greater in their midst, God Himself Incarnate, and they were failing to acknowledge Him. Jesus isn’t just another prophet delivering a message from God—he IS God, and for the sake of their eternal souls he is calling them to turn away from wickedness, from narrow-mindedness, for he says “there is something greater than Jonah here.”

Since the earthly ministry of our Lord, not just thousands, but billions have done what the Pharisees failed to do: they’ve recognized Jesus as the Son of God and repented. Yet throughout these two Christian millennia many have still not headed the word of Christ and come to follow him. 

In light of the rampant unbelief in the world, St. John Paul II offered some very challenging words to Christians: "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyles. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.”

Some challenging words, no? That you and I have a responsibility for the faith and the souls of others. Unbelievers and hardened souls are waiting to see in our conduct the fruit of authentic repentance—of true faith.

So our call today, is the same as it is every day: to turn away from every sinful attitude, to seek to be perfectly generous with all of our time, talent, and treasure, to give witness to Christ—for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

- - - - - -
 
That Christians may be a sign for the world of God’s boundless mercy, by striving to practice Christian virtue in every circumstance.

For the conversion of hearts hardened to the Gospel, for those who have fallen away from the Church, for non-believers and unrepentant sinners, and that Christians may be attentive to our responsibility of sharing the Gospel with all.

For all those who suffer from violence, war, famine, extreme poverty, addiction, discouragement, loneliness, and those who are alienated from their families.  May they know God’s mercy and be gathered to the eternal kingdom of peace. 

For all those who suffer illness, and those in hospitals, nursing homes and hospice care, that they may be comforted by the healing light of Christ. 

For the repose of the souls of our beloved dead, the deceased members of our families friends and parishes, for those who fought and died for our freedom, and N. for whom this Mass is offered.

 Incline your merciful ear to our prayers, we ask, O Lord, and listen in kindness to the supplications of those who call on you. Through Christ our Lord

1st Week of Lent - Wednesday - Heed the call to repentance

Our Lenten readings urge us each year to consider the story of Jonah. Jonah, a Jewish prophet, and a reluctant one, was sent by God to preach to a pagan people, to a people who did not know the God of Israel, and certainly didn’t follow his ways. Nineveh was the capital city, in fact, of Israel’s great enemy at the time, the Assyrians. Nineveh is described as enormous, taking three days to walk across, and thoroughly evil. Nineveh is symbolic of every city of the earth, whose inhabitants are far from God.

God certainly sends his modern day prophets, Christians, us, to preach to the pagan cities of the earth. And yet, the point of the story during Lent is for us to identify not so much with Jonah, but with the Ninevites, who surprisingly, respond wholeheartedly to the call of repentance.

Hearing the Word of God, the 120,000 residents of Nineveh, everyone from the nobility to the peasantry, even the cattle and sheep—expressed their repentance by fasting, covering themselves with sackcloth, and sitting in ashes. God saw by their actions, how their repentance was genuine.

Now consider in the Gospel today, how the Lord Jesus condemns those of his generation for failing to repent. Jonah preached the Word of God and the Ninevites repented, now Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, preached, and his generation fails to repent. The Lord himself explains the eternal judgment for those who fail to repent.

Lent presents us with a stark option: will we associate with the Ninevites, who repent and show their repentance by their holy works and actions? Or will we be condemned by Jesus for failing to repent?

Next week, Wednesday evening, every parish in the diocese will have confessions from 5 to 8pm. If there is anyone in your life who has fallen away from the Church, be Jonah for them, call them to repentance. Your invitation might be the prophetic gesture which leads them back to God. And be a Ninevite for them, show them the power of repentance, the joy that comes from encountering God’s mercy, of returning to Him with your whole heart, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
 
- - - - - - -

That the season of Lent may bring the most hardened hearts to repentance and bring to all people purification of sin and selfishness.

For those preparing for baptism and the Easter sacraments, that they may continue to conform themselves to Christ through fervent prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

That we may generously respond to all those in need: the sick, the suffering, the homeless, the imprisoned, and victims of violence. And for all victims of the coronavirus and their families.

For all who have died, and for all the poor souls in purgatory, and for X. for whom this Mass is offered.

Grant, we pray, O Lord, that your people may turn to you with all their heart, so that whatever they dare to ask in fitting prayer they may receive by your mercy. Through Christ our Lord.